NASA SUOMI NPP: Data Mitigating aviation related volcanic hazards

This image from SUOMI NPP satellite shows ash trajectories over Iceland on May 6, 2010, created by the Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR). 

Credit: STAR

SUOMI NPP, a joint NOAA/NASA satellite is one of several satellites providing valuable information to aviators about volcanic hazards.

An aviation "orange" alert was posted on August 18, 2014, for Bárðarbunga, a stratovolcano located under the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland, indicating the "volcano shows heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption."

Much of the information leading to that alert came from satellites including Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on board the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/NASA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP).

While the Vatnajökull ice cap and its seismic activity has been gradually increasing over the past seven years, these recent events in Iceland are reminiscent of the destructive aftermath from the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland.

The Eyjafjallajökull eruption caused a six-day travel ban over the controlled airspace of many European countries.

Data from NOAA satellites were used in the volcanic ash detection and property retrieval algorithm to create products to be used by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAAC), including the London VAAC.

The data given to the air traffic control organizations provided the information they needed to make the decision to divert and ground more than 4,000 flights.

The ban was in effect to address the possibility of volcanic ash ejection causing damage to aircraft engines and risking human life.

This was the largest air-traffic shut down since World War II, costing $1.7 billion in losses for the airline industry, as well as innumerable losses within freight imports and exports; tourism industries and the access to fresh food and essential goods.

The MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured this view of the eruption Iceland's Bárðarbunga Volcano on Sept. 5, 2014. 

The red outline indicates heat. 

A plume of gas and steam is blowing east. 

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz/NASA MODIS Rapid Response

Recently, Mike Pavolonis, is a NOAA scientist from the Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR) presented his work on How Weather Satellites are Mitigating Aviation-related Volcanic Hazards during a NOAA event.

"Only 10 percent of the world's volcanoes are routinely monitored from the ground, making satellites the only frequently available tool that can reliably identify volcanic eruptions anywhere in the world," Pavolonis said.

Advanced analysis of data from polar orbiting and geostationary satellites reduces the probability of a disastrous and/or costly aircraft encounter with volcanic ash and helps to minimize the cost associated with avoiding volcanic ash.

He highlighted how volcanic ash can severely impact air travel, melting in a plane engine's combustion chamber and even shutting the engine down completely.

This occurred in June 1982, when a British Airways B747 aircraft flew into a volcanic ash cloud from Mount Galunggung (Indonesia) and lost power in all four engines.

They dropped from 37,000 feet to 12,000 feet before three engines were restarted and the plane was able to make an emergency landing in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The pilots were unable to see the ash on their radar. Thick, billowing ash clouds from volcanoes often spread out over large areas, well beyond the erupting volcano. Aircraft close calls with volcanic ash have continued over the years.

The STAR volcanic ash algorithm takes data from satellites to create actionable information that can assist in advanced warning of volcanic eruptions and ash detection.

The addition of the VIIRS instrument aboard the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite to the STAR volcanic cloud analysis system, has proven to be vital for detecting and characterizing small scale thermal signatures and clouds associated with volcanic activity.

These thermal signals can be a precursor to an explosive eruption.

The VIIRS instrument is suited to detect the relatively unique spectral signature difference of volcanic clouds often absorb and reflect radiation as a function of wavelength in a manner that is very different from other cloud types.

Future plans include incorporating information from Suomi NPP's Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) and the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) instruments into the algorithm.

NOAA's polar satellites are critical for a variety of "nowcasting" capabilities in addition to volcanic ash including imagery to monitor storms, fog, sea ice, and other dangerous weather and environmental conditions as well as providing data for more accurate weather forecasting to secure a more 'Weather-Ready Nation' thereby saving lives and protecting property.

Chronology of Christmas Island's volcanic history unearthed

Researchers established the age of the various rocks on Christmas Island at the time they were erupted, and established the position of the island through time. 

Credit: Peter McKiernan

Geological samples from Christmas Island have been analysed by a West Australian scientist, giving valuable insight into its unique volcanic history.

Curtin University geochronologist Dr Fred Jourdan says while continents are often the subject of geological investigation, ocean geology is less studied and the results of the Christmas Island study adds important information to the field.

The report he co-authored has been published in Gondwana Research.

It describes the Christmas Island area as an extensive zone of volcanism in the north-east Indian Ocean, consisting of numerous submerged seamounts and flat topped guyots.

It explains the island has experienced multiple episodes of volcanism that are exposed sporadically along its coastline.

It is the only island in the region to show intraplate volcanism in the form of basaltic rocks that are exposed above sea level.

Dr Jourdan says the project was a collaboration with Macquarie University. Samples were collected by a student from Macquarie University and tested at Curtin University using 40Ar/39Ar geochronology and paleomagnetism.

Dr Jourdan says this is where the 'real science' of finding their origin began.

"What we did was two things; we established the age of the various rocks on the island at the time they were erupted, and we established the position of the island through time," he says.

"We needed to look at where it was before, to understand why there is volcanic activity at all—is it random or related to something in particular?

"We measured two different ages but we know, comparing it to other seamounts, there are in fact three periods of volcanic activity.

Three stages of Christmas Island volcanic activity

"The oldest happened when Australia and India separated and the rock left behind melted to create a seamount—that was the first volcanic activity, although we didn't sample this and at this time, the island was much further south than it is now.

"The second, happened between 43 and 37 million years ago—it happened when the continent moved north above a hot zone in the mantle.

"Nothing happened for 30 million years until, in its northward movement toward the European-Asian plate; the plate cracked five million years ago and the magma could easily rise through the cracks."

Dr Jourdan says similar low volume intraplate volcanism had previously been observed at similar tectonic settings to the Japan and Tonga trench.

"…We put forward the Indo Australian plate subduction setting as a likely candidate for this phase of introceanic volcanism."

More information: Rajat Taneja, Craig O'Neill, Mark Lackie, Tracy Rushmer, Phil Schmidt, Fred Jourdan, "40Ar/39Ar geochronology and the paleoposition of Christmas Island (Australia), Northeast Indian Ocean," Gondwana Research, Available online 27 April 2014, ISSN 1342-937X, dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2014.04.004.

Volcanic eruption: Stromboli Lava Flow on Sciara del Fuoco

The activity at Stromboli has lately increased, over the holidays. Since 23 December small lava overflows occurred from the eastern crater area and produced lava flows with varying length on the upper part of the Sciara del Fuoco (360deg view).

Yesterday afternoon and evening, it looked as if the lava flow had increased and extended on a good portion of the Sciara where lava blocks detaching from the flow rolling down created a dense incandescent stream.

It is still unclear whether the flows come from a new vent at the eastern crater terrace or whether they are overflows of lava from an existing vent.

The seismic activity has increased and in addition to the tremor, explosion and rockfall, signals are elevated as well.

Such lava (over-)flows from the crater are usually relatively short-lived, but come often in phases.

All news about: Stromboli volcano

MARS: Student discovers new form of lava flow

Cooling lava on Mars can form patterns like snail shells when the lava is pulled in two directions at once. Such patterns, rare on Earth, have never before been seen on Mars. 

This image, with more than a dozen lava coils visible, shows an area in a volcanic region named Cerberus Palus that is about 500 meters (1640 feet) wide.

Photo by: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UA

High-resolution photos of lava flows on Mars reveal coiling spiral patterns that resemble snail or nautilus shells. Such patterns have been found in a few locations on Earth, but never before on Mars.

The discovery, made by Arizona State University graduate student Andrew Ryan, is announced in a paper published April 27, 2012, in the scientific journal Science.

The new result came out of research into possible interactions of lava flows and floods of water in the Elysium volcanic province of Mars.

"I was interested in Martian outflow channels and was particularly intrigued by Athabasca Valles and Cerberus Palus, both part of Elysium," says Ryan, who is in his first year as a graduate student in ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Philip Christensen, Regents' Professor of Geological Sciences at ASU, is second author on the paper.

"Athabasca Valles has a very interesting history," Ryan says. "There's an extensive literature on the area, as well as an intriguing combination of seemingly fluvial and volcanic features."

Among the features are large slabs or plates that resemble broken floes of pack ice in the Arctic Ocean on Earth. In the past, a few scientists have argued that the plates in Elysium are in fact underlain by water ice.

ESA MARS Express: Battered Tharsis Tholus volcano

Tharsis Tholis towers 8 km above the surrounding terrain. Its base stretches 155 x 125 km and what marks it out as unusual is its battered condition.

The main feature of Tharsis Tholus is the caldera at its centre. It has an almost circular outline, about 32 x 34 km, and is ringed by faults where the caldera floor has subsided by as much as 2.7 km.

The image was created using a Digital Terrain Model (DTM) obtained data taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft during four orbits of Mars: 0997, 1019, 1041, 1052 between 28 October and 13 November 2004. 

Elevation data from the DTM is colour coded: purple indicates the lowest lying regions and beige the highest. The scale is in metres.

The latest image released from Mars Express reveals a large extinct volcano that has been battered and deformed over the aeons.

By Earthly standards, Tharsis Tholus is a giant, towering 8 km above the surrounding terrain, with a base stretching over 155 x 125 km.

Yet on Mars, it is just an average-sized volcano. What marks it out as unusual is its battered condition.

Shown here in images taken by the HRSC high-resolution stereo camera on ESA's Mars Express spacecraft, the volcanic edifice has been marked by dramatic events.

At least two large sections have collapsed around its eastern and western flanks during its four-billion-year history and these catastrophes are now visible as scarps up to several kilometres high.

The main feature of Tharsis Tholus is, however, the caldera in its centre.

It has an almost circular outline, about 32 x 34 km, and is ringed by faults that have allowed the caldera floor to subside by as much as 2.7 km.

It is thought that the volcano emptied its magma chamber during eruptions and, as the lava ran out onto the surface, the chamber roof was no longer able to support its own weight.

So, the volcano collapsed, forming the large caldera.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

ESA Mars Express: Neighbouring volcanoes on Mars

Ceraunius Tholus and Uranius Tholus are two volcanoes in the Tharsis region of Mars. Ceraunius Tholus is 130 km across and rises 5.5 km above its surroundings.

The flanks of this volcano are etched with many valleys. Its neighbour, Uranius Tholus is a smaller volcano, with a base diameter of 62 km and a height of 4.5 km.

This image is derived from data acquired during three separate orbits of Mars Express, which took place between 25 November 2004 and 22 June 2006.

During the second orbit, Mars Express’s camera captured icy clouds drifting past the summit of Ceraunius Tholus.

In the finished mosaic image there is a sharp line because the clouds had long since dispersed by the time Mars Express crossed again and took the final strip of data needed for the image.

Credits: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

NASA ALI Image: Sea Ice Surrounds Shikotan

Ostrov Shikotan (or Shikotan-to) is a volcanic island at the southern end of the Kuril chain. At about 43 degrees North—more than halfway to the Equator—Shikotan lies along the extreme southern edge of winter sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this natural-color image of Shikotan on February 14, 2011. The island is surrounded by sea ice—swirling shapes of ghostly blue-gray. Although sea ice often forms around Shikotan, the extent varies widely from year to year, and even day to day.

The ice in this image may have formed in a matter of several days, and it is prone to moving with currents. North of the western end of Shikotan, eddies have shaped the ice into rough circles. The eddies may result from opposing winds—winds from the north pushing the ice southward, and winds from the southwest pushing the ice toward the northeast.

Uneven snow cover exaggerates the island’s rugged appearance. Multiple forces have shaped Shikotan over millions of years. Geologic studies indicate that it has been battered by multiple tsunamis, although wind, rain, and tectonic forces likely play a greater role in shaping the surface. Part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, the island is seismically active.

Onekotan Island, Kuril Islands, Russia

Snow cover highlights the calderas and volcanic cones that form the northern and southern ends of Onekotan Island, part of the Russian Federation in the western Pacific Ocean.

Calderas are depressions formed when a volcano empties its magma chamber in an explosive eruption and then the overlaying material collapses into the evacuated space.

In this astronaut photograph from the International Space Station, the northern end of the island (image right) is dominated by the Nemo Peak volcano, which began forming within an older caldera approximately 9,500 years ago. The last recorded eruption at Nemo Peak occurred in the early 18th century.

The southern end of the island was formed by the 7.5 kilometer (4.6 mile) wide Tao-Rusyr Caldera. The caldera is filled by Kal’tsevoe Lake and Krenitzyn Peak, a volcano that has only erupted once in recorded history (in 1952).

Extending between northeastern Japan and the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, the Kurils are an island arc located along the Pacific “Ring of Fire.” Island arcs form along an active boundary between two tectonic plates, where one plate is being driven beneath the other (subduction).

Magma generated by the subduction process feeds volcanoes—which eventually form volcanic islands over the subduction boundary.

NASA Earth Observatory: Klyuchevskaya Volcano eruption

After a respite of less than a month, Klyuchevskaya Volcano resumed erupting in late November 2010.

The Global Volcanism Program reported several ash plumes that rose up to 7.9 kilometers (26,000 feet) above sea level from November 25–29.

According to the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) seismicity was “slightly above background levels” on November 26th and 27th, and they reported observations of strombolian activity on December 1st and 2nd.

A plume of ash, steam, and other volcanic gases streamed from Klyuchevskaya on December 4, 2010, visible in this natural-color image acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite.

In the large image, a much smaller plume is visible above neighboring Bezymianny Volcano.

NASA MARS Images: Fountain

Originally released May 30, 2007, this image is centered on a small cone on the side of one of Mars' giant shield volcanoes.

The cone shows some layers of hard rock but most of it is made of relatively soft material.

This appears to be an example of a "cinder" cone composed of pieces of lava thrown into the air during a small volcanic eruption.

Typically, such eruptions produce fountains of molten lava. Most of the lava would have cooled in this fountain, producing a loose pile of lava rocks.

However, it appears that some pulses of the eruption allowed the lava to land without cooling much. These pieces were hot enough to weld together to make the hard layers seen today. The cone is about 2,300 x 3,600 feet, or 700 x 1,100 meters, in size, similar to many cinder cones on Earth.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Mount Merapi: Indonesian Volcano

A view from a domestic flight from Denpasar to Yogyakarta that was subsequently diverted to Surabaya airport shows a plume of gas and ash billowing some 10 km (six miles) high from the Mount Merapi volcano.

Indonesia's most active volcano Merapi, located in Central Java province, is a sacred landmark in Javanese culture whose name translates as "Mountain of Fire"

Volcanic Hazard Map Produced For Island Of Gran Canaria

Volcanic Hazard Map Produced For Island Of Gran Canaria

Spanish and French researchers have defined the age, location, size and geochemistry of the volcanoes of Gran Canaria during the Holocene, 11,000 years ago, in order to draw up a map of volcanic hazards for the island.

The research shows that the area of greatest volcanic activity is one of the most heavily populated areas in the north east of the island, which has suffered 24 eruptions over the period studied.

The team of French and Spanish scientists led by researchers from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and the "Jaume Almera" Institute of Earth Sciences (CSIC, Barcelona) combined the data from previous studies with the results of analysis of 13 new radiocarbon ages in order to gain an understanding of the history of the island and predict the areas to be struck by future volcanic eruptions.

The result, which has been published recently in the Journal of Quaternary Science, is a map of volcanic hazards for Gran Canaria, describing risk scenarios.

"We have identified 24 volcanic eruptions that took place over the past 11,000 years on Gran Canaria. We know that volcanism was concentrated in the northern sector of the island and produced small monogenetic strombolian cones (eruptions that are not very violent and which release lava and pyroclastic flows) and, occasionally, phreatomagmatic calderas (which release ash), Alejandro Rodriguez-Gonzalez, lead author of the study and a researcher at the ULPGC, tells SINC.

In order to create the map, the researchers based themselves on detailed field work, which enabled them to define the limits of the various volcanic units (cone, lava and horizontal spread of pyroclastic flows) with a great degree of exactitude, using geomorphologiccal and stratigraphic criteria.

The data now made available by the scientists makes it possible to better evaluate the scale and type of future eruptions in this area. By working out the areas, before and after, of each eruption using Digital Land Models (DLM), the researchers have developed a novel and very detailed morphometric methodology for this kind of volcanic environment.

The study started with palaeotopographical reconstructions of areas affected by recent volcanic activity. "This allows our methodology to show geomorphological changes according to volcanic type and the periods of erosion involved", explains Rodriguez-Gonzalez.

Mysterious Spot found on Venus

(Illustration: Melillo/Maxson/ESA/University of Wisconsin-Madison/ALPO)

A new, bright spot in the clouds of Venus was reported by amateur astronomer Frank Melillo on 19 July

Observations show that the spot had already spread out somewhat by the end of last week, and astronomers are awaiting more recent observations from Venus Express.

The spot is bright at ultraviolet wavelengths, which may argue against a meteoroid impact as a cause. That's because rocky bodies, with the exception of objects very rich in water ice, should cause an impact site to darken at ultraviolet wavelengths as it fills with debris that absorbs such light, says Sanjay Limaye of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a member of the Venus Express team.

Powerful eruption?

Another possibility is that a gust of charged particles from the sun could have created the glow by energising a patch of the upper atmosphere. Alternatively, waves in the atmosphere, which trigger turbulence and are thought to carry material up and down, could have concentrated bright material to create the spot.

A volcanic eruption is another suspect. Venus boasts the most volcanoes of any planet in the solar system, and nearly 90% of its surface is covered by basaltic lava flows, although no 'smoking gun' has yet been found for current volcanic activity. But an eruption would have had to be very powerful to punch through a dense layer in Venus's atmosphere to create the spot some 65 to 70 kilometres above the planet's surface.

"It's fair to say something unusual happened on Venus. Unfortunately, we don't know what happened," Limaye