I might have gone a little overboard again with this one. But I love the idea that one can track down satellite imagery to see Earth’s active volcanoes in action, especially when some of these remote or brief eruptions are barely captured on the ground. Each image is the culmination of hours sifting through Landsat and Sentinel data, editing, stitching and learning a little bit more about these incredible formations.
(Top) Ulawun, New Britain, Papua New Guinea on June 25, 2019. True color Sentinel-2 image. Papua New Guinea volcanoes are famous for emitting sulfur dioxide, which in turn affects global sunsets and climate. Read more about monitoring volcanic emissions here.
(1) Shiveluch, Kamchatka, Russia on February 23, 2019. False color Landsat 8 image to distinguish the stratovolcano plume from snowy landscape. Follow Shiveluch’s current explosive activity here (currently erupting continuously since 1999 to now, 3/2020).
(2) Kilauea, Big Island, Hawai’i on May 23, 2019. True color Sentinel-2 image with added IR layer to see active lava flow. As new fissures spilled lava into the sea on the bottom right of the image, one of the main craters of the shield volcano began to collapse due to a loss in magma, causing a debris plume that can be seen in the bottom left of the image.
(3) Raikoke, Kuril Islands, Russia on June 23, 2019. False color Sentinel-2 image to distinguish plume from clouds. Stratovolcano rising to 1800’, with name derived from Ainu language, meaning “hellmouth”. The plume from this recent eruption is thought to have reached 50,000 feet into the atmosphere. Read more about the remote Kurils here.
(4) Mt. Etna, Sicily, Italy on January 8, 2019. True color stitched Sentinel-2 image. A stratovolcano with constantly varying elevation (currently 10,900’) due to constant eruptions. Yet, you can find two ski resorts on its slopes and a sizable city nearby.
(5) Nyamuragira (top) & Nyiragongo, Virunga Mountains, Democratic Republic of the Congo on February 9, 2015. False color Landsat 8 image shows crater heat signature. These stratovolcanoes are known for their lava lakes, with Nyiragongo’s at times being the largest and longest lasting in the world.
Satellite data adapted from ESA’s Copernicus program and NASA/USGS’s Landsat 8. CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.