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On the night of March 25, 2008, the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission
and Reflection Radiometer instrument on NASA's Terra satellite captured
these thermal infrared images of Kilauea volcano on Hawaii's Big Island.
Kilauea was active at two locations. At the summit, Halema'uma'u vent
inside the Kilauea crater, continued to erupt an ash plume, seen as the
magenta cloud on the left side of the top image. Some of the time this
eruption has been dominated by sulfur dioxide gas and steam. The National
Park Service has closed off the area due to extreme health hazards. On the
second image, temperatures are color-coded in shades of red, from dark red
(colder) to white (hotter). The Halema'uma'u vent appears as a white (hot)
area. At the coast, the Thanksgiving Eve Breakout flow continues to build
new land area as it enters the ocean (bright white area in lower right
corner of bottom image).
With its 14 spectral bands from the visible to the thermal infrared
wavelength region, and its high spatial resolution of 15 to 90 meters
(about 50 to 300 feet), ASTER images Earth to map and monitor the changing
surface of our planet.
Click on the link for a live USGS webcam of the summit, http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/cam3/.
ASTER is one of five Earth-observing instruments launched December 18,
1999, on NASA's Terra satellite. The instrument was built by Japan's
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. A joint U.S./Japan science team
is responsible for validation and calibration of the instrument and the
data products.
The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides
scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface
mapping, and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change. Example
applications are: monitoring glacial advances and retreats; monitoring
potentially active volcanoes; identifying crop stress; determining cloud
morphology and physical properties; wetlands evaluation; thermal pollution
monitoring; coral reef degradation; surface temperature mapping of soils
and geology; and measuring surface heat balance.
The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission
Directorate.
Size: 35.4 by 18.7 kilometers (21.9 by 11.5 miles)
Location: 19.3 degrees North latitude, 155 degrees West longitude
Orientation: North at top
Image Data: ASTER bands 13, 12, and 10
Original Data Resolution: 90 meters (295 feet)
Dates Acquired: March 25, 2008
