The recent Kilauea eruption has opened about 14 fissures which include a residential subdivision which is known as Leilani Estates. The eruption of a volcano which has occurred on the island of Hawaii has triggered some gases. This gas contains high levels of Sulphur dioxide which is extremely bad for health.
The images of this volcanic eruption were taken from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer which is present in the NASA’s Terra satellite. The first image which was taken by ASTER shows the red areas are the vegetations and black and grey areas as old lava flows. The yellow areas which are depicted in the images are the hot spots which are taken by ASTER’s thermal infrared bands.
Kilauea is the youngest and southeastern-most volcano on the island. The volcano has erupted actively since 1983. On April 30th, the floor of the Kilauea’s crater began to collapse, and it is followed by earthquakes measuring 6.9 on the richer scale. After that lava was pushed into the new underground areas which broke the ground areas in the Leilani Estates.
This type of natural phenomena was monitored round the clock by on the ground by the US Geological Survey, and the federal government is also keeping an eye on the eruption with the help of satellites which are orbiting the Earth.
ASTER’s satellite is orbiting the Earth since 1999, and the main objective of this satellite is to observe the changes that were occurring on the Earth’s surface. The changes include volcanic activity, change in temperature, vegetation, and soil types. Scientists have mark different areas in different colour zones to distinguish them from each other. The yellow patch areas are marked as hot areas, and the middle patch is the Pu’u’ ‘o’ crater, which is a place in which Kilauea had been erupting for more than three decades. The Yellow patch which is present on the right side of the image is shown as the new fissures which have formed in Leilani Estates over the past week after the eruption shifts.
Aster is also monitoring the emission of the sulfur dioxide gas which is produced by the volcano through the volcanic eruptions and cracks that have occurred on the ground. This Sulphur dioxide gas mixes with carbon dioxide and water to produce volcanic smog or vog. This gas is dangerous and is life threating.