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Home Reef Reborn
title Home Reef Reborn
description In the South Pacific, south of Late Island along the Tofua volcanic arc in Tonga, the volcanic island Home Reef is being re-born. The island is thought to have emerged after a volcanic eruption in mid-August that also spewed large amounts of floating pumice into Tongan waters and swept across to Fiji about 350 km (220 miles) to the west of where the new island formed. In 2004, a similar eruption created an ephemeral island about 0.5 by 1.5 km (0.3 by 0.9 miles) in size, it was no longer visible in an ASTER image acquired November 2005. This simulated natural color image shows the vegetation-covered stratovolcanic island of Late Island in the upper right. Home Reef is found in the lower left. The two bluish plumes are hot seawater that is laden with volcanic ash and chemicals, the larger one can be traced for more than 14 km (8.4 miles) to the east. The image was acquired Oct. 10, 2006 and covers an area of 24.3 by 30.2 km. It is located at 18.9 degrees south latitude, 174.7 degrees west longitude. With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters (about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitors the changing surface of our planet. It is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched Dec. 18, 1999, on NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the data products. Image credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team
Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cov …
Title Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cover, Sea Ice, Sea Surface Temperature and Biosphere
Abstract This animation is part of an NSF-funded, international project, Exploring Time. The two-hour television special, broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the spring of 2007, explores how the world changes over different timescales ... from billionths of seconds to billions of years. This animation portrays a variety of remotely sensed data elements at different temporal resolutions. Initially, the animation shows cloud cover in motion over North America in half-hour increments from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7, 2005. The temporal pace quickens to show a 5-day moving average of daily MODIS snow cover along with daily AMSR-E sea ice from Dec. 7, 2005 to Mar. 15, 2006. As the view swings south over the Gulf of Mexico, the AMSR-E Sea Surface Temperature reveals warming ocean temperatures from March through August, 2006. As it passes over the Atlantic Ocean, the biosphere fades into view, showing both chlorophyll concentration in the ocean along with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index over the land areas. The biosphere animates over time while the view pans over northern Africa and Europe, showing data collected from September 2002 through February 2006. This program was also broadcast in Japan through a partnership with the NHK international broadcasting service and in France through a partnership with the ARTE television network.
Completed 2006-11-29
Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cov …
Title Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cover, Sea Ice, Sea Surface Temperature and Biosphere
Abstract This animation is part of an NSF-funded, international project, Exploring Time. The two-hour television special, broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the spring of 2007, explores how the world changes over different timescales ... from billionths of seconds to billions of years. This animation portrays a variety of remotely sensed data elements at different temporal resolutions. Initially, the animation shows cloud cover in motion over North America in half-hour increments from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7, 2005. The temporal pace quickens to show a 5-day moving average of daily MODIS snow cover along with daily AMSR-E sea ice from Dec. 7, 2005 to Mar. 15, 2006. As the view swings south over the Gulf of Mexico, the AMSR-E Sea Surface Temperature reveals warming ocean temperatures from March through August, 2006. As it passes over the Atlantic Ocean, the biosphere fades into view, showing both chlorophyll concentration in the ocean along with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index over the land areas. The biosphere animates over time while the view pans over northern Africa and Europe, showing data collected from September 2002 through February 2006. This program was also broadcast in Japan through a partnership with the NHK international broadcasting service and in France through a partnership with the ARTE television network.
Completed 2006-11-29
Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cov …
Title Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cover, Sea Ice, Sea Surface Temperature and Biosphere
Abstract This animation is part of an NSF-funded, international project, Exploring Time. The two-hour television special, broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the spring of 2007, explores how the world changes over different timescales ... from billionths of seconds to billions of years. This animation portrays a variety of remotely sensed data elements at different temporal resolutions. Initially, the animation shows cloud cover in motion over North America in half-hour increments from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7, 2005. The temporal pace quickens to show a 5-day moving average of daily MODIS snow cover along with daily AMSR-E sea ice from Dec. 7, 2005 to Mar. 15, 2006. As the view swings south over the Gulf of Mexico, the AMSR-E Sea Surface Temperature reveals warming ocean temperatures from March through August, 2006. As it passes over the Atlantic Ocean, the biosphere fades into view, showing both chlorophyll concentration in the ocean along with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index over the land areas. The biosphere animates over time while the view pans over northern Africa and Europe, showing data collected from September 2002 through February 2006. This program was also broadcast in Japan through a partnership with the NHK international broadcasting service and in France through a partnership with the ARTE television network.
Completed 2006-11-29
Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cov …
Title Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cover, Sea Ice, Sea Surface Temperature and Biosphere
Abstract This animation is part of an NSF-funded, international project, Exploring Time. The two-hour television special, broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the spring of 2007, explores how the world changes over different timescales ... from billionths of seconds to billions of years. This animation portrays a variety of remotely sensed data elements at different temporal resolutions. Initially, the animation shows cloud cover in motion over North America in half-hour increments from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7, 2005. The temporal pace quickens to show a 5-day moving average of daily MODIS snow cover along with daily AMSR-E sea ice from Dec. 7, 2005 to Mar. 15, 2006. As the view swings south over the Gulf of Mexico, the AMSR-E Sea Surface Temperature reveals warming ocean temperatures from March through August, 2006. As it passes over the Atlantic Ocean, the biosphere fades into view, showing both chlorophyll concentration in the ocean along with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index over the land areas. The biosphere animates over time while the view pans over northern Africa and Europe, showing data collected from September 2002 through February 2006. This program was also broadcast in Japan through a partnership with the NHK international broadcasting service and in France through a partnership with the ARTE television network.
Completed 2006-11-29
Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cov …
Title Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cover, Sea Ice, Sea Surface Temperature and Biosphere
Abstract This animation is part of an NSF-funded, international project, Exploring Time. The two-hour television special, broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the spring of 2007, explores how the world changes over different timescales ... from billionths of seconds to billions of years. This animation portrays a variety of remotely sensed data elements at different temporal resolutions. Initially, the animation shows cloud cover in motion over North America in half-hour increments from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7, 2005. The temporal pace quickens to show a 5-day moving average of daily MODIS snow cover along with daily AMSR-E sea ice from Dec. 7, 2005 to Mar. 15, 2006. As the view swings south over the Gulf of Mexico, the AMSR-E Sea Surface Temperature reveals warming ocean temperatures from March through August, 2006. As it passes over the Atlantic Ocean, the biosphere fades into view, showing both chlorophyll concentration in the ocean along with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index over the land areas. The biosphere animates over time while the view pans over northern Africa and Europe, showing data collected from September 2002 through February 2006. This program was also broadcast in Japan through a partnership with the NHK international broadcasting service and in France through a partnership with the ARTE television network.
Completed 2006-11-29
Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cov …
Title Sequence of Clouds, Snow Cover, Sea Ice, Sea Surface Temperature and Biosphere
Abstract This animation is part of an NSF-funded, international project, Exploring Time. The two-hour television special, broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the spring of 2007, explores how the world changes over different timescales ... from billionths of seconds to billions of years. This animation portrays a variety of remotely sensed data elements at different temporal resolutions. Initially, the animation shows cloud cover in motion over North America in half-hour increments from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7, 2005. The temporal pace quickens to show a 5-day moving average of daily MODIS snow cover along with daily AMSR-E sea ice from Dec. 7, 2005 to Mar. 15, 2006. As the view swings south over the Gulf of Mexico, the AMSR-E Sea Surface Temperature reveals warming ocean temperatures from March through August, 2006. As it passes over the Atlantic Ocean, the biosphere fades into view, showing both chlorophyll concentration in the ocean along with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index over the land areas. The biosphere animates over time while the view pans over northern Africa and Europe, showing data collected from September 2002 through February 2006. This program was also broadcast in Japan through a partnership with the NHK international broadcasting service and in France through a partnership with the ARTE television network.
Completed 2006-11-29
China Dust Storm seen by Ter …
Title China Dust Storm seen by Terra/MODIS and Earth Probe/TOMS in April of 2001
Abstract A thick shroud of dust appears over China on April 6-7, 2001. The densest portion of the aerosol pollution travels east over China, Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and The United States.
Completed 2003-12-01
China Dust Storm seen by Ter …
Title China Dust Storm seen by Terra/MODIS and Earth Probe/TOMS in April of 2001
Abstract A thick shroud of dust appears over China on April 6-7, 2001. The densest portion of the aerosol pollution travels east over China, Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and The United States.
Completed 2003-12-01
China Dust Storm seen by Ter …
Title China Dust Storm seen by Terra/MODIS and Earth Probe/TOMS in April of 2001
Abstract A thick shroud of dust appears over China on April 6-7, 2001. The densest portion of the aerosol pollution travels east over China, Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and The United States.
Completed 2003-12-01
China Dust Storm seen by Ter …
Title China Dust Storm seen by Terra/MODIS and Earth Probe/TOMS in April of 2001
Abstract A thick shroud of dust appears over China on April 6-7, 2001. The densest portion of the aerosol pollution travels east over China, Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and The United States.
Completed 2003-12-01
China Dust Storm seen by Ter …
Title China Dust Storm seen by Terra/MODIS and Earth Probe/TOMS in April of 2001
Abstract A thick shroud of dust appears over China on April 6-7, 2001. The densest portion of the aerosol pollution travels east over China, Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and The United States.
Completed 2003-12-01
China Dust Storm seen by Ter …
Title China Dust Storm seen by Terra/MODIS and Earth Probe/TOMS in April of 2001
Abstract A thick shroud of dust appears over China on April 6-7, 2001. The densest portion of the aerosol pollution travels east over China, Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and The United States.
Completed 2003-12-01
China Dust Storm seen by Ter …
Title China Dust Storm seen by Terra/MODIS and Earth Probe/TOMS in April of 2001
Abstract A thick shroud of dust appears over China on April 6-7, 2001. The densest portion of the aerosol pollution travels east over China, Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and The United States.
Completed 2003-12-01
China Dust Storm seen by Ter …
Title China Dust Storm seen by Terra/MODIS and Earth Probe/TOMS in April of 2001
Abstract A thick shroud of dust appears over China on April 6-7, 2001. The densest portion of the aerosol pollution travels east over China, Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and The United States.
Completed 2003-12-01
China Dust Storm seen by Ter …
Title China Dust Storm seen by Terra/MODIS and Earth Probe/TOMS in April of 2001
Abstract A thick shroud of dust appears over China on April 6-7, 2001. The densest portion of the aerosol pollution travels east over China, Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and The United States.
Completed 2003-12-01
China Dust Storm seen by Ter …
Title China Dust Storm seen by Terra/MODIS and Earth Probe/TOMS in April of 2001
Abstract A thick shroud of dust appears over China on April 6-7, 2001. The densest portion of the aerosol pollution travels east over China, Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and The United States.
Completed 2003-12-01
China Dust Storm seen by Ter …
Title China Dust Storm seen by Terra/MODIS and Earth Probe/TOMS in April of 2001
Abstract A thick shroud of dust appears over China on April 6-7, 2001. The densest portion of the aerosol pollution travels east over China, Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and The United States.
Completed 2003-12-01
Typhoon Etau
Title Typhoon Etau
Abstract The MODIS instrument onboard NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this birds-eye view of Typhoon Etau as it was buffeting the southern island chain of Okinawa, affecting airlines, a refinery and other industries.
Completed 2003-08-06
Typhoon Etau
Title Typhoon Etau
Abstract The MODIS instrument onboard NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this birds-eye view of Typhoon Etau as it was buffeting the southern island chain of Okinawa, affecting airlines, a refinery and other industries.
Completed 2003-08-06
Typhoon Etau
Title Typhoon Etau
Abstract The MODIS instrument onboard NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this birds-eye view of Typhoon Etau as it was buffeting the southern island chain of Okinawa, affecting airlines, a refinery and other industries.
Completed 2003-08-06
Typhoon Etau
Title Typhoon Etau
Abstract The MODIS instrument onboard NASA's Terra spacecraft captured this birds-eye view of Typhoon Etau as it was buffeting the southern island chain of Okinawa, affecting airlines, a refinery and other industries.
Completed 2003-08-06
Seasonal Landcover Change ov …
Title Seasonal Landcover Change over Eastern Asia in 2004
Abstract The Blue Marble Next Generation dataset provides a monthly global cloud-free true-color picture of the Earth's landcover at a 500-meter spatial resolution. This visualization of the dataset shows seasonal variations such as snowfall, spring greening and droughts in a seamless fashion, thereby heightening awareness of changes in the Earth's climate. Here we focus on the seasonal landcover changes over the Eastern Asia. This dataset is derived from imagery taken in 2004 by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite.
Completed 2005-10-12
Seasonal Landcover Change ov …
Title Seasonal Landcover Change over Eastern Asia in 2004
Abstract The Blue Marble Next Generation dataset provides a monthly global cloud-free true-color picture of the Earth's landcover at a 500-meter spatial resolution. This visualization of the dataset shows seasonal variations such as snowfall, spring greening and droughts in a seamless fashion, thereby heightening awareness of changes in the Earth's climate. Here we focus on the seasonal landcover changes over the Eastern Asia. This dataset is derived from imagery taken in 2004 by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite.
Completed 2005-10-12
Seasonal Landcover Change ov …
Title Seasonal Landcover Change over Eastern Asia in 2004
Abstract The Blue Marble Next Generation dataset provides a monthly global cloud-free true-color picture of the Earth's landcover at a 500-meter spatial resolution. This visualization of the dataset shows seasonal variations such as snowfall, spring greening and droughts in a seamless fashion, thereby heightening awareness of changes in the Earth's climate. Here we focus on the seasonal landcover changes over the Eastern Asia. This dataset is derived from imagery taken in 2004 by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite.
Completed 2005-10-12
AMSR-E Sea Surface Temperatu …
Title AMSR-E Sea Surface Temperature
Abstract This animation is part of an NSF-funded, international project, Exploring Time. The two-hour television special, broadcast on the Discovery Channel in the spring of 2007, explores how the world changes over different timescales ... from billionths of seconds to billions of years. This animation portrays a 3-day moving average of AMSR-E sea surface temperature (SST) over the western hemisphere from the beginning of 2005 to early December, 2006. In addition, seasonal MODIS landcover shows the advance and retreat of snow over the northern hemisphere. This program was also broadcast in Japan through a partnership with the NHK international broadcasting service and in France through a partnership with the ARTE television network.
Completed 2006-12-06
Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Title Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Description The floods that claimed the lives of at least 1,500 Haitians and left as many missing, also filled a large lake basin outside of Gonaives. The basin, which was a dry dust bowl on August 8, 2001, was still completely covered with water on October 3, 2004, two weeks after Hurricane Jeanne's heavy rains induced the flooding. Some of the water may have been present before the floods, but the recent influx of water has pushed the lake far beyond its shores. According to the Associated Press, the lake has covered the primary road connecting Gonaives to Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, with over a meter (four feet) of water, making food delivery difficult. The road can be seen here, a blurred white line under the dark blue water. The grey area at the end of the road near the shore is Gonaives. These images were acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]). They were made by combining the infrared, near infrared, and red wavelengths (ASTER bands 4, 3, & 2). In this treatment, bare land appears pink, healthy croplands are light green, and concrete structures such as city buildings have a grey or deep purple tone. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory using data obtained courtesy of the of NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ].
Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Title Floods in Gonaives, Haiti
Description The floods that claimed the lives of at least 1,500 Haitians and left as many missing, also filled a large lake basin outside of Gonaives. The basin, which was a dry dust bowl on August 8, 2001, was still completely covered with water on October 3, 2004, two weeks after Hurricane Jeanne's heavy rains induced the flooding. Some of the water may have been present before the floods, but the recent influx of water has pushed the lake far beyond its shores. According to the Associated Press, the lake has covered the primary road connecting Gonaives to Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, with over a meter (four feet) of water, making food delivery difficult. The road can be seen here, a blurred white line under the dark blue water. The grey area at the end of the road near the shore is Gonaives. These images were acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]). They were made by combining the infrared, near infrared, and red wavelengths (ASTER bands 4, 3, & 2). In this treatment, bare land appears pink, healthy croplands are light green, and concrete structures such as city buildings have a grey or deep purple tone. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory using data obtained courtesy of the of NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ].
Floods in Kansas and Missour …
Title Floods in Kansas and Missouri
Description Floods that started with heavy rain on June 26, 2007, still surrounded parts of Coffeyville, Kansas, on July 9, when the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]) flying on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image. Coffeyville was flooded on July 1, when the swollen Verdigris River burst through a levee. Water swamped neighborhoods and businesses, including the Coffeyville Resources Refinery. Though the refinery had been shut down in anticipation of the flooding, it leaked more than 42,000 gallons of crude oil into the Verdigris River, reported the Environment News Service. [ http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2007/2007-07-03-01.asp ] The Environmental Protection Agency [ http://www.epa.gov/region7/cleanup/coffeyville/index.html ] was coordinating with Coffeyville Resources to clean up the spill and to ensure that oil did not contaminate drinking water downstream. In these false-color images, the city of Coffeeville is silver and white. Vegetation is red, bare earth is pale gray, and water is dark blue. The Coffeyville Resources Refinery is the concentrated mass of silver, accented with large, white circular storage tanks, northeast of the city. In the top image, the refinery is surrounded by a pool of blue flood water. The lower image, taken on May 19, 2007, shows the area in normal conditions. Downstream from the refinery (to the south) is a grid of streets surrounded by plant-covered land. A few clusters of buildings line the larger streets, but few other large buildings are evident in the area, indicating that this is probably a residential neighborhood. Residual oil-tainted water creates traces of dark blue in the eastern half of the neighborhood. Smudges of blue west of the refinery indicate that the river flooded this part of the city as well. Beyond these areas, the flooded river seemed to remain confined behind levees on its flood plain. The high levees resemble dark red walls hemming in defined geometric shapes, which are filled with water in the top image, but are mud-gray in the lower image. Additional flooding along the Verdigris River is shown in the large image. A broader view [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14353 ] of floods in southeastern Kansas is available in the Natural Hazards section of the Earth Observatory. You can download a 15-meter-resolution KMZ file of Coffeyville [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/kansas_ast_2007187.kmz ] suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA image by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.
Floods in Kansas and Missour …
Title Floods in Kansas and Missouri
Description Floods that started with heavy rain on June 26, 2007, still surrounded parts of Coffeyville, Kansas, on July 9, when the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]) flying on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image. Coffeyville was flooded on July 1, when the swollen Verdigris River burst through a levee. Water swamped neighborhoods and businesses, including the Coffeyville Resources Refinery. Though the refinery had been shut down in anticipation of the flooding, it leaked more than 42,000 gallons of crude oil into the Verdigris River, reported the Environment News Service. [ http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2007/2007-07-03-01.asp ] The Environmental Protection Agency [ http://www.epa.gov/region7/cleanup/coffeyville/index.html ] was coordinating with Coffeyville Resources to clean up the spill and to ensure that oil did not contaminate drinking water downstream. In these false-color images, the city of Coffeeville is silver and white. Vegetation is red, bare earth is pale gray, and water is dark blue. The Coffeyville Resources Refinery is the concentrated mass of silver, accented with large, white circular storage tanks, northeast of the city. In the top image, the refinery is surrounded by a pool of blue flood water. The lower image, taken on May 19, 2007, shows the area in normal conditions. Downstream from the refinery (to the south) is a grid of streets surrounded by plant-covered land. A few clusters of buildings line the larger streets, but few other large buildings are evident in the area, indicating that this is probably a residential neighborhood. Residual oil-tainted water creates traces of dark blue in the eastern half of the neighborhood. Smudges of blue west of the refinery indicate that the river flooded this part of the city as well. Beyond these areas, the flooded river seemed to remain confined behind levees on its flood plain. The high levees resemble dark red walls hemming in defined geometric shapes, which are filled with water in the top image, but are mud-gray in the lower image. Additional flooding along the Verdigris River is shown in the large image. A broader view [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14353 ] of floods in southeastern Kansas is available in the Natural Hazards section of the Earth Observatory. You can download a 15-meter-resolution KMZ file of Coffeyville [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/kansas_ast_2007187.kmz ] suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA image by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.
Angora Fire
Title Angora Fire
Description South of Lake Tahoe, the Angora Fire burned more than 3,000 acres in late June 2007. The fire, which started from an illegal campfire, destroyed more than 250 homes in the region, and left a huge charcoal-colored burn scar across the landscape. This image of the aftermath of the fire was captured by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite on June 29. The streets and communities south of the lake are light gray and white. The burn scar is centered in the scene, and it is clear how the fire engulfed residential areas along its eastern margin (for example, near bottom center). NASA image by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.
Angora Fire
Title Angora Fire
Description On the weekend of June 23, 2007, a wildfire broke out south of Lake Tahoe, which stretches across the California-Nevada border. By June 28, the Angora Fire [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14323 ] had burned more than 200 homes and forced some 2,000 residents to evacuate, according to The Seattle Times and the Central Valley Business Times. On June 27, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite captured this image of the burn scar left by the Angora fire. The burn scar is dark gray, or charcoal. Water bodies, including the southern tip of Lake Tahoe and Fallen Leaf Lake, are pale silvery blue, the silver color a result of sunlight reflecting off the surface of the water. Vegetation ranges in color from dark to bright green. Streets are light gray, and the customary pattern of meandering residential streets and cul-de-sacs appears throughout the image, including the area that burned. The burn scar shows where the fire obliterated some of the residential areas just east of Fallen Leaf Lake. According to news reports, the U.S. Forest Service had expressed optimism about containing the fire within a week of the outbreak, but a few days after the fire started, it jumped a defense, forcing the evacuation of hundreds more residents. Strong winds that had been forecast for June 27, however, did not materialize, allowing firefighters to regain ground in controlling the blaze. On June 27, authorities hoped that the fire would be completely contained by July 3. According to estimates provided in the daily report from the National Interagency Fire Center, [ http://www.nifc.gov/information.html ] the fire had burned 3,100 acres (about 12.5 square kilometers) and was about 55 percent contained as of June 28. Some mandatory evacuations remained in effect. You can download a 15-meter-resolution KMZ file of the Angora fire [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/tahoe_ast_2007178.kmz ] suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA image by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.
Ash Plume from Karymsky
Title Ash Plume from Karymsky
Description The Karymsky Volcano in far northeastern Russia had been erupting several times a day for about a week prior to emitting this ash plume on June 19, 2006. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this false-color image. In this picture, red indicates vegetation, which is lush around the volcano but very sparse on its slopes. The water of Karymskoye Lake appears in blue. The volcano's barren sides are dark gray, and the volcanic plume and nearby haze appear in white or gray. Karymsky Volcano is the most active volcano in the eastern volcanic zone of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The volcano is composed of alternating layers of hardened lava, ash, and rocks. Historical eruptions have involved explosive eruptions of lava fragments and the release of volcanic gases. At the time of the June 19 eruption, Karymsky had an alert status of orange, indicating that a small ash eruption was expected or confirmed, but not likely to exceed an altitude greater than 7,620 meters (25,000 feet) above sea level. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using expedited ASTER data provided the NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Bialowieza National Park
Title Bialowieza National Park
Description Biolowieza National Park lies on the border between Poland and Belarus. It was first established as a park in 1932, and restored in 1947 in the wake of the Second World War. The park was also declared a biosphere reserve in 1977. It is also a transboundary World Heritage site in conjunction with the Belovezhskaya Pushcha Biosphere Reserve adajacent to it on the Belarus side of the border. It is a section carved out of the much larger Bialowieza Forest: the park is slightly less than one fifth of the forest area. The Biolowieza Forest is a unique ecosystem: not only does it contain a rare European lowland old growth forest, but it also lies in a border zone between the boreal and temperate climate zones. Within its borders are some of the southernmost stands of boreal species such as the norway spruce. It also contains temperate species at their northernmost limits, such as sessile oak. The forest also contains a complex mosaic of plants and animals, including forest ungulates, birds of prey, and a wide assortment of vascular plants, mosses, lichens, and fungi. It is also the site of successful reintroduction of species including the European bison and beaver. The preservation of this area owes a great deal to its protection over several centuries from leading figures in central Europe, from Polish kings, Lithuanian princes and dukes, and the Russian Tsars. Their interest in maintaining the land focused on its leisure use as hunting grounds, but this also provided protection from most agricultural use and land clearing. Its national park status in the 20th century has further protected it from development, though areas around it have been subjected to conversion to commercial lumber industry. In the summer of 2003, a new management plan for the Bialowieza Forest called for removing trees in an effort to contain infestations of bark beetles. These new policies have been the subject of heated debate in the forestry and ecology communities, with conservationists accusing the government of clearing the most valuable timber under a dubious guise of forest protection, while government officials cite the plan as an example of sustainable forestry practices. Forest clearing and poor land practices in the adjacent land in Belarus, such as felling trees that are hosts for the bark beetle and failing to remove the logs promptly, continue to be a source of growing concern to ecologists as these last stands of primeval European forest are turned to commercial land use and pressures. In this scene, acquired on April 29, 2002, by the Terra satellite's ASTER instrument, many of these features can be discerned. The old palace grounds are quite evident, as are the clear cut areas in the Biolowieza Forest outside the park, whose boundaries are partially defined by the Lesna River and the international border with Belarus. The international boundary appears as the linear feature to the top right of this image where forest has been cleared along the border. This, image was created by combining red, near-infrared and green wavelengths (ASTER VNIR bands 2, 3, and 1). Image created from data collected by NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team Data processed by the American Museum of Natural History's Science Bulletins
Bockfjorden
Title Bockfjorden
Description Far north within the Arctic Circle off the northern coast of Norway lies a small chain of islands known as Svalbard. These craggy islands have been scoured into shape by ice and sea. The effect of glacial activity can be seen in this image of the northern tip of the island of Spitsbergen. Here, glaciers have carved out a fjord, a U-shaped valley that has been flooded with sea water. Called Bockfjorden, the fjord is located at almost 80 degrees north, and it is still being affected by glaciers. The effect is most obvious in this image in the tan layer of silty freshwater that floats atop the denser blue water of the Arctic Ocean. The fresh water melts off land-bound glaciers and flows over the sandstone, collecting fine red-toned silt. In this image, the tan-colored fresh water flows northward up the fjord and is being pushed to the east side of the fjord by the rotation of the Earth. Glaciers here and elsewhere on Spitsbergen are cold bottom glaciers, which means that they are frozen to the ground rather than floating on top of a thin layer of melt water. The glaciers are also land glaciers since their terminus (end) lies on land, rather than floating on the water (a tidewater glacier). Land glaciers grow and retreat slowly, balancing fresh snow with the melting and draining of old ice. Their rate of growth or retreat can be affected by global warming. In most cases, including the glaciers around Bockfjorden, global warming has caused glaciers to retreat from increased melting. On the eastern side of Svalbard, however, glaciers are growing from enhanced snowfall. The reason for this pattern remains only one of many intriguing unanswered questions of Arctic science in the islands. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this false-color image on June 26, 2001. The image was created by combining near-infrared, red, and green wavelenghts (ASTER bands 3, 2, & 1 respectively). NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC [ http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Brins Fire Near Sedona, AZ
Title Brins Fire Near Sedona, AZ
Description Northeast of Sedona, Arizona, the Brins Fire continued to threaten parts of Oak Creek Canyon on June 23, 2006. This image from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite shows the Brins Fire and the town of Sedona. The image doesn't appear exactly like a digital photo because it uses ASTER's observations of shortwave and near-infrared light to make the burned area stand out from the unburned vegetation. Vegetation appears red, the burn scar appears charcoal, and bare ground or thinly vegetated ground appears tan or yellow. Route 89, sections of which have been closed by the fire, runs in a gray ribbon through Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. The haze in the scene may be a mixture of smoke and thin clouds. According to reports from the National Interagency Fire Center [ http://www.nifc.gov/nicc ] on June 26, the Brins Fire was threatening residences, commercial structures, endangered species habitat, and the Oak Creek watershed and Scenic Highway. On that date, the agency estimated the fire was 4,222 acres and about 50 percent contained. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Floods in the Midwestern Uni …
Title Floods in the Midwestern United States
Description August 2007 was the wettest month ever recorded for many places in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, with rainfall totals ranging from 23.86 inches in Hokah, Minnesota, to 12.79 inches in Winona Dam, Minnesota, said the National Weather Service. [ http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=arx&storyid=9990&source=0 ] While the entire month was rainy, much of the rain fell on August 18-20, when several thunderstorms rolled across the region. The thunderstorms triggered disastrous flooding in several Midwest communities, including La Crosse, Wisconsin. A little over 10 inches of rain fell in La Crosse in the 24-hour period that spanned August 18 and August 19, and flash floods resulted. Combined with rains from the rest of August, this rainfall let La Crosse set a new monthly precipitation record of 17 inches. By August 27, when the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]) captured the top image, the floods had largely retreated, though visible signs of flooding remained. Compared to the lower image, acquired on September 7, 2006, the landscape to the west of the Mississippi River is pocked with pools of water. The city of La Crosse, the bright white and gray grid on the east side of the river, appears to have dried out. The city appears much as it did nearly a year earlier with no visible sign of flooding. You can download a 15-meter-resolution KMZ file of the 2007 image of La Crosse [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Sep2007/lacrosse_ast_2007239.kmz ] suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Floods in the Midwestern Uni …
Title Floods in the Midwestern United States
Description August 2007 was the wettest month ever recorded for many places in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin, with rainfall totals ranging from 23.86 inches in Hokah, Minnesota, to 12.79 inches in Winona Dam, Minnesota, said the National Weather Service. [ http://www.crh.noaa.gov/crnews/display_story.php?wfo=arx&storyid=9990&source=0 ] While the entire month was rainy, much of the rain fell on August 18-20, when several thunderstorms rolled across the region. The thunderstorms triggered disastrous flooding in several Midwest communities, including La Crosse, Wisconsin. A little over 10 inches of rain fell in La Crosse in the 24-hour period that spanned August 18 and August 19, and flash floods resulted. Combined with rains from the rest of August, this rainfall let La Crosse set a new monthly precipitation record of 17 inches. By August 27, when the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]) captured the top image, the floods had largely retreated, though visible signs of flooding remained. Compared to the lower image, acquired on September 7, 2006, the landscape to the west of the Mississippi River is pocked with pools of water. The city of La Crosse, the bright white and gray grid on the east side of the river, appears to have dried out. The city appears much as it did nearly a year earlier with no visible sign of flooding. You can download a 15-meter-resolution KMZ file of the 2007 image of La Crosse [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Sep2007/lacrosse_ast_2007239.kmz ] suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Central Pyrenees
Title Central Pyrenees
Description The Alps may be more famous, but the Pyrenees have been around much longer—tens of millions of years longer, in fact. These mountains formed between 100 and 150 million years ago when the landmass that Spain occupies pushed into the one that France occupies. The mountains have served as a natural barrier between the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and the rest of Europe ever since. Stretching east to west across 430 square kilometers (267 miles), the Pyrenees fall mostly within Spain's borders, but also pass into the independent state of Andorra. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ] on NASA 's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite captured this image of part of the Central Pyrenees—the highest part of the range—on August 1, 2000. In this false-color image, clouds appear white, snow appears pale blue, vegetation appears green, and bare ground appears as either pink or dark, bluish-purple. Water on the ground appears dark blue (or nearly black). In this shot, the vegetated areas are mostly to the north, and the peaks to the south are mostly bare rock. In the large image, patches of dark purple that are visible along rivers and in valley floors are probably developed areas. As mountain peaks rise higher, the land they support rises above the treeline (the topmost elevation where trees can grow). At even higher altitudes, hardly any plants can survive at all, so the highest mountain peaks show just snow or bare rock. This mountain chain owes its ruggedness to granite, a volcanic rock that erodes slowly. The mountains also contain other rocks: gneiss and limestone. Glaciers didn't act on the Pyrenees as extensively as they did on the Alps, so these mountains don't sport big lakes left behind by glaciers. They do have water, however, including many small lakes and waterfalls. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using ASTER data made available by NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Chikurachki Volcano
Title Chikurachki Volcano
Description Off Russia's east coast, The Kuril Islands run in a southwesterly arc between the Kamchatka Peninsula and the northernmost island of Japan, Hokkaido. Located where the Pacific tectonic plate (covered by the Pacific Ocean) is being forced underneath the Eurasian tectonic plate (on which Russia, China, Japan, and Europe all sit), the twenty islands in the Kuril chain all have volcanoes in residence, 45 in all. This true-color MODIS image of the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula and the northern Kuril Islands shows the region shrouded in clouds, but roughly in the center of the image, a dark brown ash plume from the Chikurachki Volcano on Paramushir Island has punctured the cloud layer and casts its gray shadow to the northwest. Chikurachki began erupting on January 25. This image was made from data acquired on February 24, 2002. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] at NASA GSFC
Chilean Lake Disappears
Title Chilean Lake Disappears
Description In May 2007, the Chilean Forestry Corporation discovered that a lake in the Southern Patagonia Icefield in the Chilean Andes had disappeared. Chilean glaciologists had observed the 20,000-square-meter (roughly 215,000-squre-foot) lake, which was located between the tongues of the Glaciar Témpanos and Glaciar Bernardo, in March. (Glaciar is Spanish for "glacier.") Two months later, nothing remained except a 30-meter- (100-foot-) deep crater and some stranded ice that had once floated on the water's surface. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite captured the top image on June 23, 2007, showing a crater that the lake had occupied. In this image, the crater lies mostly in shadow, due to the low angle of the Sun during the Southern Hemisphere's winter. Despite the shadows, contour lines around the lake show where the ground level is lower than the surroundings. East of the drained lake, water still appears near the tongue of Glaciar Bernardo. In this image, made from a combination of visible and infrared light detected by ASTER, red indicates vegetation, and patches of red peek through the snow cover. ASTER acquired the bottom image on April 4, 2007, when the lake was still in place. In this image—acquired in the Chilean autumn—both the lake and a nearby tributary appear full, shown by the blue-tinted water. Vibrant red, lush vegetation covers the landscape. Although the sudden draining of a lake is rare, it is not unheard of. One explanation that scientists proposed was an earthquake in the region that measured 6.2 on the Richter scale. Earthquakes can open up fissures in the rock, giving water an escape route. Another explanation was more prosaic: melting. Blocks of ice dam many glacial lakes, and when the ice melts, the lake can drain away. Sometimes a lake can drain in a rapid deluge, known as a glacial lake outburst flood. After flying over the region in late June 2007, scientists from Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECS) and the Chilean Navy concluded that the likely culprit for the lake's disappearance was such a flood. Dr. Andrés Rivera, a glaciologist from CECS, described the flow. "The lake's water flowed to the north along the western margin of Glaciar Bernardo and into a big hole, [ http://www.imaginaccion.cl/cecs.html ] where the water went down into a glacier tunnel in the direction to Bernardo Fjord," he said. Bernardo Fjord empties into the Pacific Ocean. You can also download a 15-meter-resolution KMZ file of the region around the "missing" lake [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/lagotempanos_ast_2007174.kmz ], including both April 4 and June 23, 2007, images, suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA image by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.
Chilean Lake Disappears
Title Chilean Lake Disappears
Description In May 2007, the Chilean Forestry Corporation discovered that a lake in the Southern Patagonia Icefield in the Chilean Andes had disappeared. Chilean glaciologists had observed the 20,000-square-meter (roughly 215,000-squre-foot) lake, which was located between the tongues of the Glaciar Témpanos and Glaciar Bernardo, in March. (Glaciar is Spanish for "glacier.") Two months later, nothing remained except a 30-meter- (100-foot-) deep crater and some stranded ice that had once floated on the water's surface. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite captured the top image on June 23, 2007, showing a crater that the lake had occupied. In this image, the crater lies mostly in shadow, due to the low angle of the Sun during the Southern Hemisphere's winter. Despite the shadows, contour lines around the lake show where the ground level is lower than the surroundings. East of the drained lake, water still appears near the tongue of Glaciar Bernardo. In this image, made from a combination of visible and infrared light detected by ASTER, red indicates vegetation, and patches of red peek through the snow cover. ASTER acquired the bottom image on April 4, 2007, when the lake was still in place. In this image—acquired in the Chilean autumn—both the lake and a nearby tributary appear full, shown by the blue-tinted water. Vibrant red, lush vegetation covers the landscape. Although the sudden draining of a lake is rare, it is not unheard of. One explanation that scientists proposed was an earthquake in the region that measured 6.2 on the Richter scale. Earthquakes can open up fissures in the rock, giving water an escape route. Another explanation was more prosaic: melting. Blocks of ice dam many glacial lakes, and when the ice melts, the lake can drain away. Sometimes a lake can drain in a rapid deluge, known as a glacial lake outburst flood. After flying over the region in late June 2007, scientists from Centro de Estudios Cientificos (CECS) and the Chilean Navy concluded that the likely culprit for the lake's disappearance was such a flood. Dr. Andrés Rivera, a glaciologist from CECS, described the flow. "The lake's water flowed to the north along the western margin of Glaciar Bernardo and into a big hole, [ http://www.imaginaccion.cl/cecs.html ] where the water went down into a glacier tunnel in the direction to Bernardo Fjord," he said. Bernardo Fjord empties into the Pacific Ocean. You can also download a 15-meter-resolution KMZ file of the region around the "missing" lake [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/Images/lagotempanos_ast_2007174.kmz ], including both April 4 and June 23, 2007, images, suitable for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/ ] NASA image by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.
Chiliques Volcano, Chile
Title Chiliques Volcano, Chile
Description The Chiliques volcano, which hasn't erupted in at least 10,000 years, is now showing signs of life. This pair of images from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) shows the volcano in visible and nrea-infrared light (top) and thermal infrared (lower). The thermal infrared image shows hot spots in the summit crtaer caused by magma just under the surface. For more information, read: Dormant Volcanoes Shows Signs of Life [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/earth/volcano/index.html ] Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Chiliques Volcano, Chile
Title Chiliques Volcano, Chile
Description The Chiliques volcano, which hasn't erupted in at least 10,000 years, is now showing signs of life. This pair of images from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) shows the volcano in visible and nrea-infrared light (top) and thermal infrared (lower). The thermal infrared image shows hot spots in the summit crtaer caused by magma just under the surface. For more information, read: Dormant Volcanoes Shows Signs of Life [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/earth/volcano/index.html ] Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/redirect?http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]
Gobi Dust Storm
Title Gobi Dust Storm
Description In early and mid-April 2006, waves of dust washed out of the Gobi Desert and spread across eastern China, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan. According to news reports, a dust storm that hit South Korea [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13484 ] over the weekend of April 8 was the worst the country had seen in four years. This pair of images shows a massive wave of dust that blew out of deserts in north-central China on April 10, 2006. The top image, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] on April 7, 2006, shows the landscape of north-central China, including two large, sandy deserts that are part of the Gobi Desert region. Just a few days later, an image from the MODIS sensor on the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite shows that the area was completely hidden by a wave of bright dust that reached beyond the Yellow River. Gobi dust is whipped eastward with prevailing winds by spring storms and can spread all the way to the United States. The storms can be hazardous to public health both in terms of air quality and visibility. In addition, the dust storms can devastate croplands and contaminate sensitive electronic equipment. Dust storms in China are on the rise, probably as a result of land degradation, such as deforestation and overgrazing, and drought. The Chinese government has undertaken a large reforestation effort to combat the spread of deserts and to mitigate the effects of dust storms, particularly around urban areas such as Beijing. The large images above are provided at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_China3 ] of this area of China in a variety of formats and resolutions. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC.
Gobi Dust Storm
Title Gobi Dust Storm
Description In early and mid-April 2006, waves of dust washed out of the Gobi Desert and spread across eastern China, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan. According to news reports, a dust storm that hit South Korea [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13484 ] over the weekend of April 8 was the worst the country had seen in four years. This pair of images shows a massive wave of dust that blew out of deserts in north-central China on April 10, 2006. The top image, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] on April 7, 2006, shows the landscape of north-central China, including two large, sandy deserts that are part of the Gobi Desert region. Just a few days later, an image from the MODIS sensor on the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite shows that the area was completely hidden by a wave of bright dust that reached beyond the Yellow River. Gobi dust is whipped eastward with prevailing winds by spring storms and can spread all the way to the United States. The storms can be hazardous to public health both in terms of air quality and visibility. In addition, the dust storms can devastate croplands and contaminate sensitive electronic equipment. Dust storms in China are on the rise, probably as a result of land degradation, such as deforestation and overgrazing, and drought. The Chinese government has undertaken a large reforestation effort to combat the spread of deserts and to mitigate the effects of dust storms, particularly around urban areas such as Beijing. The large images above are provided at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_China3 ] of this area of China in a variety of formats and resolutions. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC.
Grassfire in Iceland
Title Grassfire in Iceland
Description At the end of March 2006, a grassfire broke out in western Iceland, perhaps as a result of a smoldering cigarette butt. Although this area near the coast to the northwest of the country's capital, Reykjavik, is typically very wet, a period of persistent north winds dried out the grass and made it flammable. The fire burned for several days, threatening farms and livestock and resulting in Iceland's largest fire in its recorded history. This image from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov ] satellite was captured on April 6, 2006. The burned area appears as a large brownish-charcoal splotch in the center of the image. The fire started inland and burned all the way to the coast. This is a false-color image, and unburned vegetation appears red, clouds appear white, and the Atlantic Ocean (image left) appears nearly black. Several partially ice-covered lakes are scattered across the burned landscape, these lakes appear light blue. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov ]
Colima's Long Eruption
Title Colima's Long Eruption
Description , University of Hawaii Manoa. ASTER image courtesy NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], The Colima Volcano part of a complex of volcanoes that forms the center of the Western Mexico Volcanic Belt. Rising 3,850 meters above the forested valley around the Nevado National Park, Colima is one of Mexico's most active volcanoes. Most recently, on September 28, 2004, a new lava dome began to rise from Colima's summit crater. By September 30, block and ash flows—an avalanche of hot volcanic rock—began streaming down the mountain, and lava bubbled out starting on October 1. The eruption had not stopped by October 5, when the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program [ http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm ] released their most recent report. The current eruption is a continuation of a longer eruptive phase. From February 2002 to February 2003, the volcano erupted almost continuously and has burst forth with several smaller eruptions since that time. In one of Colima's quieter moments, on January 17, 2004, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]) aboard NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the above false-color image (Bands 3-2-1). The large snow-covered mountain to the north is Nevado de Colima. This older edifice dwarfs the younger and historically active Colima volcano to the south, shown here with a minor steam plume. Several lava flows from previous eruptions can be seen emanating from the Colima volcano summit area. ASTER is not the only instrument that has proven useful in monitoring volcanoes from space. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] and Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellites detects thermal anomalies like volcanic hotspots and fires. MODIS data are entered into the MODVOLC system, which automatically calculates the heat output from the volcano. This plot shows the 2002-2003 eruptive phase as well as later sporadic events. The first alert occurred on February 16, 2002, roughly coincident with the appearance of new lava on February 14, 2002, and the last alert of the main 2002-2003 eruptive phase was on January 25, 2003, when lava effusion was beginning to diminish. Alerts in August through December 2003, and one in February 2004, represent the periodic explosive activity that has followed the 2002-2003 lava effusion at Colima. The alert dated August 29, 2003, was acquired within hours of a large explosion on August 28, which produced a series of pyroclastic flows down Colima's flanks. To read more about the use of MODIS to monitor volcanoes, please read Sensing Remote Volcanoes [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/monvoc/ ]. Eruption information from the Global Volcanism Network. Satellite data provided by the HIGP Thermal Alerts Team [ http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu ]
Colima's Long Eruption
Title Colima's Long Eruption
Description , University of Hawaii Manoa. ASTER image courtesy NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ], The Colima Volcano part of a complex of volcanoes that forms the center of the Western Mexico Volcanic Belt. Rising 3,850 meters above the forested valley around the Nevado National Park, Colima is one of Mexico's most active volcanoes. Most recently, on September 28, 2004, a new lava dome began to rise from Colima's summit crater. By September 30, block and ash flows—an avalanche of hot volcanic rock—began streaming down the mountain, and lava bubbled out starting on October 1. The eruption had not stopped by October 5, when the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program [ http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm ] released their most recent report. The current eruption is a continuation of a longer eruptive phase. From February 2002 to February 2003, the volcano erupted almost continuously and has burst forth with several smaller eruptions since that time. In one of Colima's quieter moments, on January 17, 2004, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER [ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ ]) aboard NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the above false-color image (Bands 3-2-1). The large snow-covered mountain to the north is Nevado de Colima. This older edifice dwarfs the younger and historically active Colima volcano to the south, shown here with a minor steam plume. Several lava flows from previous eruptions can be seen emanating from the Colima volcano summit area. ASTER is not the only instrument that has proven useful in monitoring volcanoes from space. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] and Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellites detects thermal anomalies like volcanic hotspots and fires. MODIS data are entered into the MODVOLC system, which automatically calculates the heat output from the volcano. This plot shows the 2002-2003 eruptive phase as well as later sporadic events. The first alert occurred on February 16, 2002, roughly coincident with the appearance of new lava on February 14, 2002, and the last alert of the main 2002-2003 eruptive phase was on January 25, 2003, when lava effusion was beginning to diminish. Alerts in August through December 2003, and one in February 2004, represent the periodic explosive activity that has followed the 2002-2003 lava effusion at Colima. The alert dated August 29, 2003, was acquired within hours of a large explosion on August 28, which produced a series of pyroclastic flows down Colima's flanks. To read more about the use of MODIS to monitor volcanoes, please read Sensing Remote Volcanoes [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/monvoc/ ]. Eruption information from the Global Volcanism Network. Satellite data provided by the HIGP Thermal Alerts Team [ http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu ]
Haze over Korea
Title Haze over Korea
Description A thick band of haze crossed the Yellow Sea, Korean Peninsula, and Sea of Japan on October 9, 2006. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite took this picture the same day. In this image, the pollution appears as a dingy plume of grey-beige, so thick in places that it completely obscures the view of the underlying land or water. At least some of this haze may have resulted from fires on Borneo and Sumatra. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13925 ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] team.
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