remote sensing
eklemetti | June 12, 2008
Most people don't realize that a majority of the earth's volcanoes are underwater. That is to say, the mid-ocean ridge system that runs along the bottom of all the major oceans can be considered one big volcano. However, thanks to its location deep underwater, we have only had second- or third-hand evidence of eruptions at mid-ocean ridges or seamounts.
Not any longer according to my graduate alma mater, Oregon State University. An active eruption was captured at Brimstone Pit in 2006, near Guam, by a team looking for hydrothermal activity at the sea's bottom. The eruption appears to be a…
eklemetti | June 4, 2008
If you needed any evidence that Chaiten is still erupting quite vigorously, just check out the MODIS image taken on 5/31 (above). The eruptive column is still delivering ash across southern Chile, over the Andes and into Argentina. This eruption just keeps on impressing me with its duration and magnitude - this is one for the ages (well, human ages).
eklemetti | May 26, 2008
I'm always amazed by the number of volcanic eruptions captured by satellites that we might not have ever even had known occurred otherwise. Case in point is Rabaul on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. An Aqua satellite captured this shot of Rabaul erupting on May 20th, leaving a gorgeous plume heading off into the Pacific. Sure, most likely someone might have noticed the eruption, but its good to see that we can find eruptions going on even when we're not really looking.
Rabaul is a caldera volcano that is most famous for the simultaneous eruptions of Vulcan and Tavurvur in 1994…
eklemetti | May 19, 2008
It has been rather quiet on the volcano news front over the weekend. A couple tidbits:
- There are some new data showing the sulfur dioxide flux from Mt. Etna (Italy). The image above is an eruption of Etna from 2001 (and it makes a great wallpaper).
- I've heard very little about Chaiten lately, mostly because I don't think much has changed. The last update provided by the SERNAGEOMIN was on 5.16 (in spanish) and pretty much that is exactly what it says: the volcano continues to erupt. Apparently some USGS folks will be arriving on the scene soon as well. Most of the town of Chaiten has…