The 1000 m-high volcano had been dormant for thousands of years before erupting on 2 May, causing the evacuation of thousands. Chaiten Volcano is located in southern Chile 10 km northeast of the town of Chaiten on the Gulf of Corcovado.
Envisat’s Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument processed this image at a resolution of 1200 m.
Satellite data can be used to detect the slight signs of change that may foretell an eruption. Once an eruption begins, optical and radar instruments can capture the lava flows, mudslides, ground fissures and earthquakes.
Atmospheric sensors onboard satellites can also identify the gases and aerosols released by the eruption, as well as quantify their wider environmental impact.
To boost the use of Earth Observation (EO) data at volcanic observatories, ESA has started to monitor volcanoes worldwide within the Agency’s Data User Element programme.
The Globvolcano project, started in early 2007, will define, implement and validate information services to support volcanological observatories in their daily work by integration of EO data, with emphasis on observation and early warning.
Source: European Space Agency
Related stories:
Mars Mission Lasts Well Past Sell-By Date
At this very moment, on an alien world millions of miles from Earth, two wheeled robots named Spirit and Opportunity are dutifully exploring Mars. But by all previous accounts, these Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs) should have stopped functioning ages ago. After all, their warranty was only good for 90 days.
Satellite reveals Yellowston's deep secret
Satellite images acquired by ESA's ERS-2 revealed the recently discovered changes in Yellowstone's caldera are the result of molten rock movement 15 kilometres below the Earth's surface, according to a recent study published in
Nature.
Earth from Space: ALOS sends its first image
This image of Mt. Fuji is the first data to be acquired by Japan’s recently launched Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) on 24 January 2006.
Fire and Ice: Mars Images Reveal Recent Volcanic and Glacial Activity
Mars isn’t as sleepy as scientists suspected. An international research team, which includes Brown University planetary geologist James Head, has found evidence of recent glacial movement and volcanic eruptions in 3-D images from the Mars Express mission. The team’s latest work, laid out in three Nature papers, also includes evidence of a frozen sea close to the equator. These and other Mars Express findings are stoking debate about the possibility of life on the Red Planet.
Shifting glaciers and exploding volcanoes aren’t confined to Mars’ distant past, according two new reports in the journal
Nature.
Double volcanic eruption in Eastern Russia
Acquired from orbit 800 kilometres away, this Envisat image shows two volcanoes erupting simultaneously on Russia's snowy Kamchatka Peninsula this week.
Located in the Russian Far East, the Kamchatka Peninsula is a landscape covered with volcanoes, part of the Pacific 'Ring of Fire'. Two stratovolcanoes, Kliuchevskoi and Shiveluch are currently erupting simultaneously.
NASA Infrared Images May Provide Volcano Clues
NASA scientists took infrared (IR) digital images of Mount Saint Helens' last week. The images
revealed signs of heat below the surface one day before the volcano erupted last Friday in southern Washington. The images may provide valuable clues as to how the
volcano erupted.
Scientists flew an IR imaging system aboard a small Cessna Caravan aircraft over the mountain to acquire the data. "Based on the IR signal, the team predicted an imminent eruption," said Steve Hipskind, acting chief of the Earth Science Division at NASA's Ames Research Center (ARC), Moffett Field, Calif.
Envisat's rainbow vision detects ground moving at pace fingernails grow
Originally developed to pinpoint attacking aircraft during World War Two, today's advanced radar technology can detect a very different moving target: shifts of the Earth's crust that occur as slowly as the growth of your fingernails.
Radar data from satellites such as
ESA's Envisat are used to construct 'interferograms' that show millimetre-scale land movements. These rainbow-hued images provide scientists with new insights into tectonic motion, and an enhanced ability to calculate hazards arising when this slow motion speeds up, in the form of earthquakes or volcanic activity.
The ten-instrument payload on Envisat includes an Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument designed to acquire radar images of the Earth's surface. Part of Envisat's assigned 'background mission' as it orbits the world every 100 minutes is to prioritise ASAR acquisitions over the seismic belts that cover 15% of the land surface.
Icelandic volcanoes help researchers understand potential effects of eruptions
(PhysOrg.com) -- For the first time, researchers have taken a detailed look at what lies beneath all of Iceland's volcanoes – and found a world far more complex than they ever imagined.
