ASTERs ability to sense fine-scale heated surfaces is providing never-before seen views of active volcanic eruptions. These observations provide a detailed look into the eruptive history. Lava flows, hot mud-flows, and other details of eruption activity that cannot be seen using other techniques are revealed. Michael Ramsey of the University of Pittsburgh will present initial observations of the recent phases of two ongoing eruptions in the Caribbean (Montserrat) and Russia (Bezymianny).

ASTERs ability to sense fine-scale heated surfaces is providing never-before seen views of active volcanic eruptions. These observations provide a detailed look into the eruptive history. Lava flows, hot mud-flows, and other details of eruption activity that cannot be seen using other techniques are revealed. Michael Ramsey of the University of Pittsburgh will present initial observations of the recent phases of two ongoing eruptions in the Caribbean (Montserrat) and Russia (Bezymianny).

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the above normal hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an indication of hurricane potential. Scientists say above normal Atlantic Ocean temperatures is one reason for the above normal hurricane forecast. Hurricanes convert heat from the tropical atmosphere and oceans to wind and waves, just as a car engine converts gasoline into motion. These animations show a year in the life of global ocean temperatures, June 2, 2002 to May 11, 2003. Green indicates the coolest water, yellow the warmest. The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on the Aqua satellite saw through the clouds to provide sea surface temperatures.

Researchers and forecasters often study sea surface temperatures for an activity predictions for 2003 in part to changing conditions in the Pacific Ocean, such as the demise of El Nino. This sequence traces the evolution of the warmer-than-normal waters associated with the weak El Nino that developed in the late fall of 2002. By January, the warm conditions began to dissipate. Fewer than normal hurricanes generally form when El Nino is present. Researchers say the Pacific may transition to the colder-than-normal La Nina phase. Areas in red represent warmer than normal and areas in blue represent cooler than normal.

AVHRR 10-day fire averages from the Space Applications Institute, Joint Research Center of the European Commission

AVHRR 10-day fire averages from the Space Applications Institute, Joint Research Center of the European Commission

AVHRR 10-day fire averages from the Space Applications Institute, Joint Research Center of the European Commission

AVHRR 10-day fire averages from the Space Applications Institute, Joint Research Center of the European Commission

AVHRR 10-day fire averages from the Space Applications Institute, Joint Research Center of the European Commission

AVHRR 10-day fire averages from the Space Applications Institute, Joint Research Center of the European Commission

AVHRR 10-day fire averages from the Space Applications Institute, Joint Research Center of the European Commission

AVHRR 10-day fire averages from the Space Applications Institute, Joint Research Center of the European Commission

During the hurricane season of 2004, an unprecedented four hurricanes hit Florida. This animation shows the accumulated rainfall produced by three of those hurricanes during the month of September. The animation also shows the rainfall from the typhoons in the Pacific Ocean during the same period.

This flyover occurred on August 20, 2000. The aircrafts altitude was an at 64250 ft while acquiring the image. The flight direction on the image if from top to bottom. The aircraft heading was approximately 6.5 degrees.

A 48 hour dust storm on March 1 and 2, 2003 is responsible for a very large dust transport over the Atlantic on March 2 through March 6, 2003. This animation starts with a global view of the world and zooms into the storm area.

This animation shows fire activity in Africa from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2002. The fires are shown as tiny particles with each particle depicting the geographic region in which fire was detected. The color of a particle represents the number of days since a sizable amount of fire was detected in that region, with red representing less than 20 days, orange representing 20 to 40 days, yellow representing 40 to 60 days, and gray to black representing more than 60 days. This data was measured by the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite. MODIS detects fires by measuring the brightness temperature of a region in several frequency bands and looking for hot spots where this temperature is greater than the surrounding region.

Flying up the east coast of the United States from Florida to North Carolina using a SeaWiFS image taken September 16, 1999

Zooming into the east coast of the United States using a SeaWiFS image taken September 16, 1999