NASA's Earth Observing-1 Keeps Watchful Eye on South American Volcano Copahue

The Hyperion imaging spectrometer on the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) spacecraft observed Copahue volcano on Jun. 4, 2013. Copahue is a 2,965 meter (9,728 feet) high volcano on the Chile-Argentina border. Having recently displayed signs of unrest, the volcano is under close scrutiny by local volcanologists. A small cluster of hot pixels near to the summit of the volcano was detected in the Hyperion data. Total heat loss is estimated to be about 3 megawatts from an area of about 120 m². Derived temperatures range from about 377° C (650 Kelvin, 711° F) to about 627° C (900 Kelvin, 1,161° F). This feature is probably a vent from which hot gases are emerging. Data were obtained and processed through the EO-1 Volcano Sensor Web (VSW), developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory-California Institute of Technology. The VSW detects notifications of volcanic activity and automatically re-tasks EO-1 to obtain data. Data processing and detection of thermal anomalies are also automatic. This image is created from Hyperion bands at 2.282 microns (red channel), 1.649 microns (green channel) and 1.245 microns (blue channel). The observation was obtained at a spatial resolution of 30 meters (32.8 yards) per pixel. The scene is 7.7 kilometers (4.8 miles) wide.

The EO-1 spacecraft is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. EO-1 is the satellite remote-sensing asset used by the Volcano Sensor Web developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., which is being used to monitor this, and other, volcanic eruptions around the world.