The drama and fury of Kilauea's volcano from space

Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano is causing all kinds of havoc. So far, it's wiped out at least 600 homes including a neighborhood called "Vacationland," completely filled in Kapoho Bay and rained olivine gems from the sky. Now, its destruction has been caught by the ESA Copernicus satellite Sen tinel-2B (in visible and infrared light) with some dramatic enhancements from photo and geography enthusiast Pierre Markuse.

The image shows lava flowing directly from the volcano nearly Kapoho and Vacationland and emptying directly into the sea near the Kapaho village and tidepools, creating an enormous plume of steam. What draws the eye most, of course, is the lava flow itself, which appears to glow a bright orange. That's not exactly what the satellite, or your naked eye really sees, however.

To create the above image, Pierre Markuse pulled images from ESA's Sentinel-2B satellite. Part of the Copernicus imaging program, it can deliver high-resolution images down to 10 meters (33 feet) in 13 spectral bands from 443 to 2190 nanometers, including visible, near-infrared and shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands.

Using a special script (available to anyone who wants to try it), Markuse combined visible light to show the steam and topography, with SWIR bands that highlight the eruption plume and lava flows. Afterwards, he did a touch of color correction so that everything looked more natural. The visible light image, shown above, doesn't reveal the lava streams at all, but you would certainly see them glowing orange from ground level.

So, while the image is certainly manipulated, it does reflect the reality of the situation. "This way, the SWIR emission caused by the heat of the lava show up brightly and create a nice visualization of the lava flow," Markuse told Engadget. You can also use the script to create a SWIR overlay that shows the precise track of the lava overlaid onto a regular map, as shown here.

Despite the many, many dramatic images of the lava flow and fissures that we've seen since Kilauwea started erupting on May 3, Markuse's false color satellite image really brings the scale of the disaster home. As it stands now, hundreds of residents (including the Big Island's mayor) have lost their primary or secondary residences. The floor of the volcano has collapsed by 300 feet, and thousands of earthquakes have shaken the island. And as it stands now, there's no end in sight to the destruction.

Source: Pierre Markuse (Twitter)



via Engadget RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2HMfbH2
RSS Feed

If New feed item from http://www.engadget.com/rss-full.xml, then send me

IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Evernote cuts staff as user growth stalls

Image
Note-taking app Evernote has fallen on hard times of late, culminating in its latest spate of job cuts impacting 15 percent of its workforce (54 employees). CEO Chris O' Neil -- an ex-Googler who took the reins in 2015 -- announced the firings at an all-hands meeting earlier today, reports TechCrunch . In a message on the Evernote blog , O' Neill admitted he'd set "incredibly aggressive goals" for the company in 2018. He continued: "Going forward, we are streamlining certain functions, like sales, so we can continue to speed up and scale others, like product development and engineering." The layoffs follow an exec exodus just weeks ago and the company's recent brand refresh (complete with a refined logo and wordmark). But critics are more concerned about its product, especially the free tier, which they claim lacks the perks to...
Read more

The best air conditioner

Image
By Liam McCabe This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter . When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here . After six summers of researching, testing, and recommending window air conditioners, we've learned that quiet and affordable ACs make most people the happiest—and we think the LG LW8016ER will fit the bill in most rooms. This 8,000 Btu unit cools as efficiently and effectively as any model with an equal Btu rating, and runs at a lower volume and deeper pitch than others at this price. Little extra features like a fresh-air vent, two-axis fan blades, and a removable drain plug help set it apart, too. The LG LW8016ER is a top choice for an office or den, and some people will find it quiet enough for a bedroom, too. If our main pic...
Read more

We won't see a 'universal' vape oil cartridge anytime soon

Image
Pre-loaded cartridges of cannabis concentrate are currently among the most popular means of consumption, and for good reason. They're discreet to use and easy to handle, a far cry from the dark days of 2016 when we had to dribble hash oil or load wax into narrow-mouthed vape pens by hand. But, frustratingly, an ever increasing number of oil cartridge manufacturers employ one-off design standards so that their products won't work with those of their competitors, thereby locking customers into proprietary ecosystems. We've already seen this with nicotine vaporizers -- which has a seen a massive rise in "pod systems" in the last few years, each outfitted with a unique canister and battery built to be incompatible with those of their competition. Is it too late for the burgeoning cannabis industry to set a universal standard for their product designs? ...
Read more