Latest news with #Landsat8
NDTV
01-06-2025
- Science
- NDTV
Scientists Can Tell When A Volcano Is About To Erupt Using This 'Green' Cue
Scientists can predict when a volcano is about to erupt by looking at the vegetation nearby. A new study collaboration between NASA and the Smithsonian Institution claims that the greenness of the trees around a volcano can indicate a potential imminent blast. As volcanoes get charged up to explode, they push magma close to the surface, releasing higher levels of carbon dioxide. In turn, the health of the surrounding trees is boosted with the leaves becoming greener by consuming the excess CO2. "The remote detection of carbon dioxide greening of vegetation potentially gives scientists another tool - along with seismic waves and changes in ground height-to get a clear idea of what's going on underneath the volcano," read a NASA statement. Up until recently, scientists had to trek to volcanoes if they wanted to measure the CO2 levels, as a volcano emitting modest amounts of carbon dioxide does not show up in satellite imagery. However, with a number of volcanoes located in remote areas, assessing the greenery could help scientists avoid the trouble of trekking through the dangerous terrains. "There are plenty of satellites we can use to do this kind of analysis," study lead author Nicole Guinn, a doctoral student in volcanology at the University of Houston in Texas, said in the statement. Researchers analysed images collected by Landsat 8, NASA's Terra satellite, ESA's (European Space Agency) Sentinel-2, and other Earth-observing satellites to monitor trees around the Mount Etna volcano on the coast of Sicily. Results showed 16 clear spikes in both the amount of CO2 and vegetation's greenness, which coincided with upward migrations of magma from the volcano. The findings could have important real-life implications as 10 per cent of the world's population lives in areas susceptible to volcanic hazards. Predicting a volcanic eruption in advance could help move out people who live or work within a few miles of the volcano and face dangers that include ejected rock, dust, and surges of hot, toxic gases.
Time of India
22-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
NASA scientists reveal how trees can predict volcanic eruptions from space
Recent breakthroughs in satellite and environmental sensing technology have introduced a promising method for detecting volcanic unrest by monitoring changes in vegetation health from space. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now This innovative approach, supported by in-field data from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's AVUELO (Airborne Validation Unified Experiment: Land to Ocean) mission, enhances early warning systems for volcanic eruptions . By analysing how trees respond to volcanic CO₂ emissions, scientists can detect subtle signs of increased volcanic activity, potentially providing earlier alerts and improving the accuracy of volcanic forecasts, especially in remote or hard-to-reach areas. NASA satellite images can spot volcanic activity through plant growth As magma rises beneath the Earth's surface, it releases gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂). Although existing volcanic monitoring systems generally depend on seismic activity, ground deformation, and on-site gas measurements, detecting low-level CO₂ release from space is still a huge challenge due to atmospheric dilution and sensor limitations. Source: NASA Nonetheless, scientists have found a key biological proxy: trees. Plant life, especially trees that grow near active volcanoes, may take up volcanic CO₂ through roots. This absorption can lead to visibly greener and healthier leaves as a result of the fertilization effect of more CO₂. These physiological effects can be measured using satellite imagery, providing an indirect but quantifiable measure of subsurface volcanic activity. NASA tracks volcanic activity through vegetation changes The AVUELO project, coupled with NASA's Landsat 8 satellite and airborne sensors, has shown the potential for spectral analysis to track these plant changes across vast and sometimes inaccessible volcanic areas. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now By mapping changes in vegetation indices—like the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)—researchers can detect regions where tree health has anomalously increased, which could be related to concurrent volcanic gas emissions. Source: NASA A dramatic demonstration of the phenomenon occurred alongside Costa Rica's Rincón de la Vieja volcano. Volcanic CO₂ there warmed and bubbled through water pools while altering vegetation on the ground at the same time. Those observations on the ground as well as in orbit validate the idea that the health of trees could be an early warning sign of magmatic activity. NASA aims to enhance volcano early warning systems As Dr. Florian Schwandner, the Director of the Earth Science Division at NASA's Ames Research Center, explains, the intention is not to supplant current volcanic monitoring methods but to improve and add to their effectiveness. "Volcano early warning systems exist," Schwandner said, "The aim here is to make them better and make them earlier." Conventional approaches are hampered by such volcanoes in remote or heavily forested areas with poor access for placing ground sensors. By utilizing tree response as a proxy for volcanic CO₂, this barrier can be overcome. As McGill University's Dr. Robert Bogue describes, "Volcanoes release a lot of carbon dioxide, but the modest quantities emitted before an eruption go undetectable from space. The concept is to look for something measurable instead—trees provide us with that signal. How ground observations enhance satellite volcano monitoring To verify satellite data, scientists integrate space data with ground observations. Field staff take leaf samples and obtain measurements of CO₂ near volcanoes to verify the accuracy of the vegetation changes determined by satellites. This synthesis approach guarantees the biological proxy's reliability and improves predictability. According to NASA reports, Dr. Nicole Guinn, a volcanologist at the University of Houston, highlighted the value of synthesizing a wide variety of satellite assets, ranging from NASA's Terra to ESA's Sentinel-2, in creating a complete image of the evolution of vegetation on volcanic terrain like Mount Etna in Italy. But she noted that "satellite data alone is not enough," highlighting the need for field verification to establish coherence between vegetation signals and volcanic gas emissions. This new approach marks a major breakthrough in remote sensing and environmental monitoring. Through the natural biological reactions of trees in response to volcanic gas release, researchers are creating an additional tool that might give earlier indications of volcanic eruptions—perhaps days or weeks ahead of conventional indicators. Since climate-resilient monitoring grows more and more vital in the wake of increased global population areas around the vicinity of volcanic regions, this tree-based signal detection presents a scalable and non-invasive approach for the improvement of global volcanic early warning systems. Also Read |
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Trump's proposed satellite cuts raise questions about the fate of EROS in South Dakota
The exterior of the Earth Resources Observation and Science Center near Sioux Falls. (Courtesy of USGS EROS Center) A preliminary budget request from President Donald Trump takes aim at a satellite program with a 50-year history whose data is housed just northeast of Sioux Falls, at a facility employing hundreds of people. Trump's discretionary budget request for NASA would cut $1.1 billion in funding for Earth observation programs, including what the request describes as cuts to the 'gold-plated, two billion dollar Landsat Next' mission. The cut amounts to roughly half of the space agency's budget for Earth observation, which includes money for Landsat design. Landsat Next is planned as the next generation of Landsat, whose nine iterations have created the longest continuously collected Earth observation record in history. The first satellite launched in 1972. NASA builds and launches Landsat satellites. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operates them and curates the data collected by them. The USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center near Sioux Falls has housed Landsat data since 1973, in addition to millions of images from other satellites and modern and historical aerial imagery, all of which is accessible at no cost to users. Landsat's free data is used to calibrate data from commercial satellites, contributing to what the USGS calculated last fall as a $25.6 billion return on public investment since the agency began freely sharing data in 2008. The most recent satellite in the series, Landsat 9, entered low-earth orbit in 2021. Between that satellite and its near-identical predecessor, Landsat 8, the system gathers new imagery data of the entire Earth's surface — as well as imagery from spectral bands like infrared that are invisible to the naked eye and measurements of Earth surface temperatures — every eight days. Landsat Next was set to launch around 2030, with improvements in resolution and speedier repeat image collection. Trump's budget request would 'restructure' the Landsat Next mission 'while NASA studies more affordable ways to maintain the continuity of Landsat imagery, which is used by natural resource managers, States, and industry.' The request also calls for the elimination of $562 million in USGS funding. The change 'eliminates programs that provide grants to universities, duplicate other Federal research programs and focus on social agendas (e.g., climate change) to instead focus on achieving dominance in energy and critical minerals,' Trump's budget request says. The cut to USGS amounts to about a third of its $1.6 billion budget. The budget request is separate from the federal government's efforts under Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to pare down the federal workforce. Probationary employees across multiple federal agencies were first dismissed in February, but many returned to the federal payroll and placed on paid administrative leave after legal challenges. It's unclear how those moves to reduce the federal workforce have impacted the EROS Center. Around 600 government employees and contractors work at the center, according to the latest figures posted on the USGS website, but the site including that figure hasn't changed since March 2023. Emails from South Dakota Searchlight to USGS press contacts at EROS and in regional and national offices on the number of employees who've departed since Jan. 25 went unanswered. The biggest thing you've never heard of: How EROS changed the world from a cornfield Searchlight also asked about the potential impact of the USGS budget cut proposal to EROS science programs, and about how changes to the Landsat program could affect EROS. A NASA spokesperson told South Dakota Searchlight that the agency would be in a better position to respond 'once we receive the President's full budget request in the coming weeks.' U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, pointed out that presidential budget requests are 'aspirational' and 'rarely implemented as written.' 'Dusty will continue to be supportive of Landsat's efforts in Congress,' said a Johnson spokesperson. The NASA budget has not emerged as a discussion point in budget reconciliation talks underway in Washington, D.C., on Trump's so-called 'big, beautiful bill.' U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, sounded similar notes in his response to questions about Landsat. 'The president's discretionary budget is just that — discretionary. It outlines the president's priorities and wish lists, but it will ultimately be our job in Congress to set the budget and appropriate federal dollars,' Rounds said in an emailed statement. Representatives for Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota did not return emails requesting comment on Landsat and EROS. Republican South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden told Searchlight during a visit to Sioux Falls recently that he hadn't heard about requested cuts to the satellite program or to the USGS. Even so, Rhoden said he trusts that an open relationship with the Trump administration on South Dakota's priorities will help preserve them through budget negotiations. 'They give you some wiggle room as far as what your priorities are, and so I'm kind of optimistic that they are tempering some of those decisions with common sense,' Rhoden said. Trump's actions have had at least one public impact on EROS, though not an operational one. EROS is home to a supercomputer whose processing power is shared across multiple arms of the Department of Interior. The system came to EROS with the name Denali, named after the tallest peak in the U.S. Like the Alaska mountain after which the computer was named, the Denali system at EROS was renamed 'McKinley' after the issuance of a Trump executive order. Denali has long been the mountain's name among Alaska's Indigenous Athabascans, but the federal government embraced the name given to it by a prospector for about 100 years. The prospector called it 'Mount McKinley,' after then-presidential candidate William McKinley. President Barack Obama renamed it Denali in 2015, matching the name the surrounding national park had taken nearly 40 years earlier. The order does not mention the USGS or supercomputers, but rather instructs the Department of Interior to 'update the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) to reflect the renaming and reinstatement of Mount McKinley.' The EROS supercomputer's name was changed based on the order, however. 'Pursuant to President Trump's Executive Order No. 14172, 'Restoring Names that Honor American Greatness,' this supercomputer has been renamed to McKinley,' a poster in the EROS visitor area now reads. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Newsweek
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Satellite Image Shows U.S. Bombers Massing As Iran Tensions Rise
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A new satellite image showed the U.S. has sent two additional U.S. B-52 bombers to its Diego Garcia airbase in the Indian Ocean, underscoring Washington's growing long-range strike capability near Iran as tensions persist despite another round of nuclear talks. Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and Iran's Foreign Ministry for comment. Why It Matters The images show the significant U.S. expansion of its military presence at the strategic airbase in the Indian Ocean, amid rising tensions with Tehran over its nuclear ambitions. That increases suspicions that the United States could be preparing for an attack on Iran if diplomacy fails. While President Donald Trump has expressed a preference for a peaceful resolution to the nuclear standoff with Iran, he has also warned that military action remains on the table. Iran has meanwhile threatened U.S. targets in the region in the event of any attack. This photograph captured on May 8, 2025, by the U.S.'s Landsat 8 satellite shows U.S. Air Force bombers and other support aircraft parked at Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, a joint British-American air base in... This photograph captured on May 8, 2025, by the U.S.'s Landsat 8 satellite shows U.S. Air Force bombers and other support aircraft parked at Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, a joint British-American air base in the British Indian Ocean Territory, or Chagos Islands. More U.S. Geological Survey What To Know Two more B-52 bombers are now stationed at Diego Garcia, based on a satellite image shared by open-source intelligence researcher MT Anderson on X, one day after he spotted the first two aircraft of the same type. This brings the number of bomber aircraft at the base to 10, including four B-52 bombers, based on satellite imagery and six B-2 stealth bombers, according to Reuters. The B-52H Stratofortress is a long-range bomber capable of carrying nuclear and precision-guided weapons, as well as wide-area maritime surveillance. It was known for its key role in the 1991 Desert Storm Operation against Iraq, according to the U.S. Air Force's website. B-2 stealth bombers and C-17 transport planes were also sent to the remote Indian Ocean base in March, after the U.S. launched an air campaign against Yemen's Houthi forces, which ended on Tuesday after a truce. Trump has said Iran cannot be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Tehran has said its nuclear efforts are civilian, not military, but has warned it "will have no choice" but to pursue nuclear weapons if it comes under attack. Iran has threatened to "open the gates of hell" if attacked by the United States or Israel. A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 23rd Bomb Squadron takes off during exercise Prairie Vigilance 25-1 at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, April 17, 2025. A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress assigned to the 23rd Bomb Squadron takes off during exercise Prairie Vigilance 25-1 at Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, April 17, 2025. Kyle Wilson/ Force/DVIDS What People Are Saying U.S. President Donald Trump said in April: "I think if the talks are not successful with Iran, Iran is going to be in great danger. Iranian Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said: "If war is initiated by the U.S. or Israel, Iran will strike their interests, bases and forces wherever they are and whenever necessary." U.S. Air Force: "In a conventional conflict, the B-52 can perform strategic attack, close-air support, air interdiction, offensive counter-air and maritime operations." What Happens Next A new round of nuclear talks is expected in Oman at the weekend and these could help determine whether there is still an opportunity for a diplomatic solution.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Heavy dusting of 'pineapple powder' paints Hawaii's volcanoes white
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. QUICK FACTS Where is it? Big Island, Hawaii [19.6103680, -155.4898339] What's in the photo? Snow covering the summit of Mauna Loa Which satellite took the photo? Landsat 8 When was it taken? Feb. 6, 2021 Striking satellite photos snapped in 2021 show the volcanic peaks of Hawaii's Big Island covered with a thick dusting of snow, also known by locals as "pineapple powder," following one of the island's most extreme snowfalls in recent history. The first image (see above) shows the most extensive snow coverage on Mauna Loa, a 13,681-foot-tall (4,170 meters) volcano near the center of the Big Island. The second image (below) shows a slightly smaller white patch on Mauna Kea, a 13,796-foot-tall (4,205 m) peak located around 25 miles (40 kilometers) further north. Both images were taken on the same day. Mauna Loa is still active and most recently erupted between November and December 2022, according to the Global Volcanism Program. Mauna Kea, meanwhile, is dormant and has not erupted for at least 4,600 years. Hawaiian snow is more common than most people realize, and both Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea often receive at least a light dusting every year. However, 2021 was an extreme case. When the photo was taken, the combined snow covering both peaks reached the second-highest amount for this time of the year since records began in 2001, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. At the peak of the preceding snowstorm, up to 2 feet (0.6 m) fell at the summit of both volcanoes in a single day. Related: See all the best images of Earth from space Local reports revealed that several islanders traded in their surfboards for snowboards and skis, and braved the trip up Mauna Kea to partake in some rare snow sports as soon as the roads were cleared. Hawaiian snow is often linked to a weather phenomenon referred to as Kona low, according to the Earth Observatory. This is where winds shift from the typical northeast direction and start blowing from the southwest, or "Kona" side, drawing moisture from the tropical Pacific, which turns into rain and snow as it rises up the mountains' slopes. Snow is most likely to occur between October and April, and both Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea experience an average of 20 days of snow cover every year, according to the Lyman Museum, based in the Big Island town of Hilo. On rare occasions, snow has also fallen on the volcanoes as late as June, according to The Weather Channel. However, the pineapple powder may not be as common in the future. Recent research revealed that human-caused climate change will likely make snow much less likely in Hawaii as rising sea surface temperatures make Kona low less likely to occur, according to the University of Hawai'i at Manoa (UHM). MORE EARTH FROM SPACE —Pair of 'glowing' lava lakes spotted on Africa's most active volcanoes as they erupt simultaneously —Erupting 'sharkcano' spits out a giant underwater plume in Oceania —'Shining anus' volcano in Tonga coughs up cloud of smoke during recent eruption "Unfortunately, the projections suggest that future average winter snowfall will be 10 times less than present day amounts, virtually erasing all snow cover," Chunxi Zhang, an atmospheric modeling specialist at the International Pacific Research Center in Hawaii, said in a UHM statement. In Hawaiian mythology, Mauna Kea is home to the snow goddess Poli'ahu, who had a fierce rivalry with Pele — the goddess of fire and volcanoes, for which the rare glass-like structures that form at Hawaii's Kilauea volcano are named. In one story, Poli'ahu defeated Pele in a sledding race, which caused the latter to unleash a series of major volcanic eruptions in anger, according to the University of Hawai'i at Hilo.
