The ESS Weathertech Himawari groundstation in Richmond has received stunning images of the eruption of Mt Raung in Indonesia from the new satellite.
By processing the IR channels to highlight the ash clouds from the volcano, a sequence of images is produced which clearly show the progress of the eruption over a period of two days.
One of Himawari's advanced features is the ability to provide updates every 10 minutes. The previous satellite covering the region, MTSAT, could at best give updated images every half hour. Volcanic eruptions can change significantly in that time. As the above image shows, the ability to produce images rapidly allows details in the time evolution of the volcano which would not be seen previously with MTSAT.