Last update: May 10, 2021
We found using data from MODIS, an instrument from NASA's Aqua and Terra satellites, that volcanoes can release heat over large areas, and for up to several years before the onset of eruptions. Results of this research were published in Nature Geoscience (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-021-00705-4). A video story on this work has been edited by Michelle Inez Simon for The Wall Street Journal (see below). You can also find stories published by Ashleigh Papp for EOS (https://eos.org/articles/volcanic-lands-warm-before-eruptions?fbclid=IwAR2KY-olpHWsRu80GlL11_Qa6ndE0jE-mqo0KMuSXR_Zaha_SucYf9eRN4A) and by Elisabeth Nadin for Temblor (https://temblor.net/earthquake-insights/getting-warmer-a-long-stride-in-volcano-monitoring-12635/?fbclid=IwAR2TeXZJ9_kpSvWXx3GCfGlZI7qdZaT9jp3Pd2oj4vdiVZ3wnEZTjSAGlv8), among others.
HOT NEWS! Are you interested in extending this thermal analysis to other volcanoes or hydrothermal systems? We are working on that! Feel free to contact me if you are interested in collaborating with my group at the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.