Calbuco Thermal Infrared

I think this is one of the cooler images I've collected (even though it didn't get very many instagram likes). From April 27th Landsat 8 6-5-4 false color composite on the left and band 10 on the right. Band 10 is one of the Thermal Infrared bands, so the lighter areas show more heat and darker show less. Even smoke from a volcano gets relatively cool once in the atmosphere.

Pretty cool, right?

Calbuco Volcano Chile Imagery

Terra image morning of 4-24-15
Trail of ash is spread out over 100 miles

Aqua image afternoon of  4-24-15

Google Earth Image of Calbuco pre-eruption

The Calbuco volcano in southern Chile has erupted twice in the space of a few hours - having lain dormant for decades.

Footage from the area shows a huge column of lava and ash being sent several kilometres into the air.

The authorities have declared a red alert and evacuated more than 4,000 people within a 20km (12 mile) radius.

The Calbuco volcano is one of the most active in Chile, but its eruption took officials in the area by surprise.

Alejandro Verges, an emergency director for the region, said Calbuco had not been under any special form of observation.

Source:http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/media/images/82521000/jpg/_82521685_026883262-1.jpg

Lake Superior Ice Jam

I was listening to a report on NPR yesterday about ice jamming up a shipping route on Lake Superior. Every year when ice forms on the lake, icebreakers are needed to create shipping lanes for the passing container ships. The lanes around Whitefish Bay (in focus below with a 6-5-4 false color composite) have become completely covered due to drifting ice from earlier storms that compacted all the ice on the eastern part of Lake Superior. Some of the ice was reported to be eight feet thick as pieces piled on top of one another forming bigger chunks.  

The shipping lanes are being navigated through and cleared by a team of US and Canadian vessels. In this image you can faintly see the shipping lane which runs about 37 miles through Whitefish Bay alone.

Source: NPR, USGS, Google Earth Engine

XKCD Hurricane map

Quick and dirty project I did for fun

I georeferenced and drew in the areas created by Randall Munroe at http://xkcd.com/1407/

I colorcoded the areas by year to give an idea of how recent these hurricanes were

He draws a pretty decent Mercator projection

Sand Blasted Paradise

Sand Blasted Canary Islands 01/10/2015 MODIS

Sand from the Sahara is sometimes blown all across the Atlantic in wind storms.  Such storms and the rising warm and humid air can lift dust 5,000 meters or so above the Atlantic, blanketing hundreds of thousands of square miles of the eastern Atlantic Ocean with a dense cloud of Saharan sand, many times reaching as far as the Caribbean

This hot, oppressing dust and sand-laden wind is called the Calima by meteorologists and locals on the Canary Islands. It is particularly prevalent in winter. The Calima blows out of a high-pressure system over the Sahara and is drawn northwards ahead of a passing cold-front or depression north of the archipelago. It's fine yellowish-brown dust creeps through doors and windows. Outside visibility is often reduced to null.

This unnormal hot and humid Calima is a difficult part of life. The Canary people suffer from respiratory problems. On January 8, 2002, the international airport of Santa Cruz had to be closed because visibility dropped to less than 50 meters.

Gas Fire in Libya

Fighting over a storage and refinement facility in Northern Libya has caused a large fire and the destruction of over 1.8 million barrels of oil. While fighting for control over the major port Es Sider, an RPG hit one of the storage tanks. The already limping Libyan economy took a big blow as much of the oil stored in the Es Sider went up in smoke and drifted across the Mediterranean Sea. 

Firefighters work to put out the fire of a storage oil tank at the port of Es Sider in Ras Lanuf December 29, 2014
CREDIT: REUTERS/STRINGER

Modis Time Series 12/26/14-1/1/15

Terra True Color Image 12/29/14