Eurasia’s tallest volcano has violently erupted, throwing a 1,000-mile-long (1,600 kilometers) cloud of dust and ash into the air, new NASA satellite images show. Klyuchevskoy, sometimes referred to as Klyuchevskaya Sopka, is an active stratovolcano in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, which is home to more than 300 other volcanos. Klyuchevskoy’s peak stands at 15,584 feet (4,750 meters) above sea level, making it taller than any other volcano in Asia or Europe, according to the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT). Klyuchevskoy has been continually erupting since mid-June. But on Nov. 1, a massive…
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NASA Mission Excels at Spotting Greenhouse Gas Emission Sources
5 min read NASA Mission Excels at Spotting Greenhouse Gas Emission Sources Flaring, in which excess natural gas is intentionally burned into the air, is one way methane is released from oil and gas facilities. NASA’s EMIT mission, in more than a year in operation, has shown a proficiency at spotting emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases from space. Adobe Stock/Ilya Glovatskiy Since launching 16 months ago, the EMIT imaging spectrometer aboard the International Space Station has shown an ability to detect more than just surface minerals. More than…
Read MoreRecord-breaking ‘BOAT’ gamma-ray burst continues to amaze scientists
Last year, on Oct. 9, scientists witnessed an anomaly in the sky. Sprouting from the darkness between stars, an abundance of deep space X-rays started to flood observatories. These signals appeared to be connected to an immensely bright event happening in our galaxy known as a gamma-ray burst (GRB) — an outpouring of highly energetic particles linked to things like star explosions and black hole births. But as one expert said, for instance, this GRB is to a standard one what a floodlight is to a lightbulb. The event was…
Read MoreTrailblazing New Earth Satellite Put to Test in Preparation for Launch
The NISAR satellite enters the thermal vacuum chamber at an ISRO facility in Bengaluru on Oct. 19. It emerged three weeks later having met all requirements of its performance under extreme temperatures and space-like vacuum. ISRO During three weeks in a thermal vacuum chamber in Bengaluru, India, the joint NASA-ISRO satellite demonstrated its hardiness in a harsh, space-like environment. NISAR, the trailblazing Earth-observing radar satellite being developed by the United States and Indian space agencies, passed a major milestone on Nov. 13, emerging from a 21-day test aimed at evaluating…
Read MoreIcebergs are melting fast. This AI can track them 10,000 times faster than humans
Scientists are turning to artificial intelligence to quickly spot giant icebergs in satellite images with the goal of monitoring their shrinkage over time. And unlike the conventional iceberg-tracking approach, which takes a human a few minutes to outline just one of these structures in an image, AI accomplished the same task in less than 0.01 seconds. That’s 10,000 times faster. “It is crucial to locate icebergs and monitor their extent, to quantify how much meltwater they release into the ocean,” Anne Braakmann-Folgmann, lead author of a study on the results…
Read MorePeter Griffith: Diving Into Carbon Cycle Science
5 min read Peter Griffith: Diving Into Carbon Cycle Science Dr. Peter Griffith is the director of NASA’s Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems Office. “As a scientist, I started off in the water and then gradually moved to on top of the water, and then ultimately went up into the air and into space, at least with the instrument eyes that we have on the world,” he said. “In some respects, I was a carbon cycle scientist since before it was cool.” NASA / Angeles Miron Name: Peter Griffith Title: Director,…
Read MoreNASA’s SWOT satellite maps nearly of all Earth’s water (video)
NASA shared striking views of nearly all of Earth’s water in new maps of the planet’s global sea levels. Data from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite was used to create an animation that shows the varying surface heights of the planet’s oceans and freshwater lakes and rivers. The data was collected during SWOT’s first full 21-day science orbit, which started on July 26 and ended on Aug. 16, according to a statement from NASA. Already, scientists are thrilled with the data the satellite is providing. “The detail…
Read MoreThe ‘safe’ threshold for global warming will be passed in just 6 years, scientists say
Global carbon emissions are on track to exceed safe limits by 2030 and unleash the worst effects of climate change, new research suggests. This means we have just six years to change course and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A new estimate of our remaining carbon budget — the amount of carbon dioxide we can produce while keeping global temperatures below a dangerous threshold — indicates that, as of January, if we emit more than 276 gigatons (250 metric gigatons) of CO2 we will hit temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7…
Read MoreNASA-ISRO Radar Mission to Provide Dynamic View of Forests, Wetlands
6 min read NASA-ISRO Radar Mission to Provide Dynamic View of Forests, Wetlands NISAR will use radar to study changes in ecosystems around the world, such as this forest in Tikal National Park in northern Guatemala, to understand how these areas are affected by climate change and human activity, and the role they play in the global carbon cycle. Credit: USAID NISAR will help researchers explore how changes in Earth’s forest and wetland ecosystems are affecting the global carbon cycle and influencing climate change. Once it launches in early 2024,…
Read MoreNASA, Pacific Disaster Center Increase Landslide Hazard Awareness
5 min read NASA, Pacific Disaster Center Increase Landslide Hazard Awareness Communities worldwide now have access to a powerful tool to increase their awareness of landslide hazards, thanks to NASA and the Pacific Disaster Center. A humanitarian worker from USAID observes the impacts of a landslide. USAID deployed an elite Disaster Assistance Response Team on Nov. 17, 2020, to lead the U.S. response to Hurricanes Eta and Iota. USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance After years of development and testing, NASA’s Landslide Hazard Assessment for Situational Awareness model (LHASA) has been…
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