2019 Eruption of Raikoke volcano, Kuril Islands captured by the International Space Station
2019 Eruption of Ulawun volcano, Papua New Guinea. Photograph taken by Craig Powell.
The 2019 program of the Cooperative Institute for Dynamic Earth Research (CIDER) was organized on the notion that multidisciplinary teams can advance understanding of volcanic processes. Fortuitously, two of the largest explosive volcanic eruptions of the past decade occurred during the program, at Raikoke, Kuril Islands and Ulawun, Papua New Guinea, providing an opportunity to apply this notion in the immediate aftermath of these events. As a CIDER work group, we integrated data from satellites (including Sentinel-2, TROPOMI, MODIS, Himawari-8), the International Monitoring System infrasound network, and globally-detected lightning (e.g., GLD360, WWLLN) with information from local authorities and social media to improve understanding of the pre-, syn- and post- eruptive behavior of these volcanoes.