ESA Satellites showing clouds of sulphur dioxide from Bardarbunga volcano

A plume of sulphur dioxide was detected drifting towards Europe from Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano late on 4 September 2014. 

These images are based on data from the Spinning Enhanced Visible & InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI) on the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) mission. 

Credit: NILU

Satellites are showing clouds of sulphur dioxide from Iceland's restive Bardarbunga volcano.

ESA's Volcanic Ash Strategic Initiative Team (VAST) and Support to Aviation Control Service (SACS) are monitoring the situation closely, and have detected sulphur dioxide emissions since early September.

A small cloud of sulphur dioxide has been drifting toward Europe since late last night.

The Bardarbunga volcano has shown heightening activity since mid-August, causing thousands of local earthquakes, spewing lava and threatening air travel.

The aviation alert level is high, fluctuating between orange and red as the potential of eruption is increased.

"The current volcanic activity is typically effusive and no ash has been detected so far with satellite measurements," said Nicolas Theys from the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy.

"SACS, VAST and ESA partners will continue monitoring volcanic emissions over Bardarbunga and provide added-value services, in case the eruption becomes explosive, causing ash-producing activity with possible consequences for European air space."

The presence of ash in the atmosphere can endanger jet engines, so timely information about ash, sulphur dioxide clouds and their dispersion are crucial to alert civil aviation authorities.

Earth-observing satellites can provide this information, especially for toxic gases like sulphur dioxide, which cannot be seen with the naked eye.

With frequent and worldwide measurements of ash plumes and sulphur dioxide emissions, satellites help to improve aviation safety.

This animation shows the spread of sulphur dioxide from Iceland’s Bardarbunga volcano from 31 August to 4 September 2014, as detected by the GOME-2 instrument on the MetOp-A and -B satellites. 

Credit: BIRA/IASB

SACS and VAST uses multiple satellites, including Europe's MetOp and Meteosat missions, to provide early warning information about volcanic eruptions.

When an eruption occurs, an alert is sent to interested users, most notably to Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres and airlines, and public maps are generated showing the extent and intensity of the volcanic plumes.

ESA: EUMETSAT's Metop-B Lift-off - YouTube

ESA's Metop-B lifts-off the launch pad at 18:28 CEST from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.

Europe will receive nearly infallible weather data and save almost $7 billion in weather-related damage annually thanks to this trio of bus-sized spacecraft. This is what the atmosphere will look like in HD.

The MetOp-B satellite, which launched on Monday (local time), is part of a $4 billion joint venture between the European Space Agency and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

The program is also coordinating with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) so that MetOp and similar NOAA satellites can maximise their orbital coverage.

The three MetOp satellites are nearly identical. They weigh slightly more than 4000kg and measure 17.6m × 6.5m × 5.2m with their solar panels fully extended, making them the second largest Earth-observation satellite produced by the Europeans.

They will each travel a 820km polar low Earth orbital trajectory during each of their five-year operations.

The individual MetOp satellites are not in orbit together but are instead being launched in five-year increments.

MetOp-A launched back in 2006, Met-Op-B launched on Monday from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, and MetOp-C is expected to launch some time between 2016 and 2018.

Each MetOp is packed with sensors from Europe, the US, Canada and France that are designed to monitor everything from atmospheric humidity to wind speeds over the ocean to levels of ozone and solar activity.

It shares eight instruments with its partner NOAA satellites, including microwave sounding units, very high-resolution radiometers, a search and rescue processor/repeater and a high-resolution infrared radiation sensor.

It also carries an Advanced Scatterometer, the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME), and the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI), the most accurate infrared sounding interferometer currently in orbit.

It can scan the atmosphere and measure the temperature and humidity to within 1C and relative 10 per cent respectively for every horizontal kilometre of the air column.

“These crucial instruments will be used for weather forecasting and to help us all gain a better understanding of the Earth’s systems,” said Gene Martin, POES Project instrument manager.

ESA Launch: Metop-B the Second European weather Satellite

Watch the replay of the launch of MetOp-B from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on-board a Soyuz launcher on 17 September 2012. MetOp-B is the second in the series of three identical polar-orbiting weather satellites to provide data for weather forecasting and climate monitoring. MetOp-A was launched in 2006, MetOp-B will be followed by MetOp-C, which is scheduled for launch in 2016.

ESA: Europe launches Metop-B the Second Weather Satellite

The Metop-B weather satellite was successfully launched into orbit last night from the Baikonur cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan.

Metop-B is the second Metop satellite, and its aim is to follow in the footsteps of its predecessor by monitoring the climate and atmosphere. Metop-A has been inhabiting a polar orbit since 2006, but has now exceeded its design lifetime.

The Russian Soyuz-Fregat vehicle launched at 16:28 UTC on September 17, and the weather satellite took up its position in a polar orbit 69 minutes later.

The first few days will be used to test the systems on board the satellite before commissioning of the payload.

Metop-B was developed for the polar satellite system by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), an international collaboration that operates several meteorological satellites.

Control of the satellite will take place at ESA’s Operations Centre in Germany.

ESA MetOp-B: Europe's next weather satellite - Launch Simulation

Next ESA MetOpB launch simulation at ESA's ESOC set for Fri, to practise payload activation. 

Credit: ESA