Geology Picture of the Week, February 22-28, 2004: Mount Belinda Eruption

NASA Earth Observatory ^ | February 24, 2004

[cogitator]

Click image for full-size version; click article link or read text below for explanation.

[cogitator]

On October 20, 2001, the satellite monitoring system (called MODVOLC) at the University of Hawaii-Manoa detected the first recorded eruption of Mount Belinda volcano on Montagu Island in the remote South Sandwich Islands. Scientists were able to detect the heat escaping from Mount Belinda using thermal data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites.

Above is a true-color image acquired on December 7, 2003, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), another sensor onboard Terra. The image (made using ASTER bands 3, 2, and 1) shows that the eruption of Mount Belinda has progressed steadily for an impressive two years, with low-level ash emission and a 2-kilometer-long lava flow darkening the ice shelf on the north side of the summit.

Heat output from the volcano, which is an automated product of the MODVOLC system, is shown in the graph below. The tick marks on the graph are monthly intervals beginning at the origin (zero-point at left end of graph) in October 2001 and ending with November 2003. The plot indicates that, far from diminishing after its initial eruption in 2001, the eruption reached its highest intensity in October 2003.

The South Sandwich Islands, situated approximately between the southern tip of South America and mainland Antarctica, comprise one of the most remote volcanic areas on Earth. Due to this inaccessibility, satellite monitoring is the only viable means to keep track of this highly active volcanic arc.

[cogitator]

** ping **

I'm going on a two-week trip commencing next week, so the next Geology Picture of the Week will appear during the week of March 14.

[cogitator]

Additional note: the image of Cancun that's on the sidebar of the Earth Observatory page is also pretty cool.

[dirtboy]

Heat output from the volcano, which is an automated product of the MODVOLC system, is shown in the graph below.

Now THAT'S a misplaced modifier.

[cogitator]

I think somebody should have used the word "data".

[SunkenCiv]

Fire Meets Ice
by Susan Kruglinski
Discover
February 2006

Mount Belinda has begun erupting beneath its thick cover of polar ice, allowing scientists their first chance to examine an Antarctic lava flow in action. The volcano is part of the South Sandwich Islands chain, which stretches from the southern tip of South America to the Antarctic mainland. During four weeks last fall, Mount Belinda spewed more than 100,000,000 gallons of lava in a 300-foot-wide molten river that stretches from the summit to the sea. Ice heated by the eruption forms what may currently be the greatest flow of freshwater on Earth. NASA's Terra satellite snaps detailed images of the activity twice a month. In this false-color view, red denotes hot areas, blue is snow, pink is ash, and white is steam.

[SunkenCiv]

Geology Picture of the Week, February 22-28, 2004: Mount Belinda Eruption
NASA Earth Observatory | February 24, 2004
Posted on 02/24/2004 9:56:37 AM PST by cogitator
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1084523/posts

[SunkenCiv]

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