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These heat sources may be active lava flows, lava domes, or lava lakes. “The algorithm we’ve developed scans each 1-kilometer pixel within every MODIS image to see if it contains high-temperature heat sources, or hot spots. MODVOLC uses data acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors, which fly aboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites.
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The “system” Wright refers to is the MODIS Thermal Alert System, known as MODVOLC, which now enables scientists to detect volcanic activity anywhere in the world within hours of its occurrence. Inspection of high-resolution satellite imagery confirmed that the hot spots were indeed the result of volcanic activity.” “However, when our system detected hot spots on Montagu Island, we decided to take a closer look. “Normally, this remote volcano would have gone unmonitored,” said Rob Wright, research scientist at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP). Just 10 years ago, Mount Belinda’s eruption might not have been detected for weeks or even months. In addition, remote sensing data offer scientists the chance to prevent catastrophic damage to life and property by determining how and where volcanic debris spreads after an eruption. Satellite technology now makes it possible to monitor volcanic activity in even the most isolated corners of the globe, and to routinely observe changes in the Earth’s surface that may signal an impending eruption. Although scientists keep watch over many of the Earth’s volcanoes using traditional ground observation methods, satellite-based remote sensing is quickly becoming a crucial tool for understanding where, when, and why the Earth’s volcanoes periodically boil over. More than 1,500 potentially active volcanoes dot the Earth’s landscape, of which approximately 500 are active at any given time. The South Sandwich Islands are situated between the southern tip of South America and mainland Antarctica, one of the most isolated areas of volcanic activity on Earth. That the researchers were making calculations so soon after the start of Mount Belinda’s eruption is remarkable, considering the volcano’s remote location. Less than 24 hours after the eruption began, a research team based nearly 9,000 miles away at the University of Hawaii was already estimating how much energy was pouring out of the volcano. It was Mount Belinda’s first eruption in recorded history. In October 2001, a sleeping volcano in the remote South Sandwich Islands began spewing ash and lava from its summit.