GOES-3 started service on 16 June 1978 and was the operational GOES-West satellite until the late 1980s. Having lost imaging capabilities, it started a second long life as a communications satellite; GOES-3 is currently the oldest operating satellite. Decommissioning will begin on 8 June and run for 15 days. If... Read More
A major eruption of the Mount Pavlof volcano on the Alaska Peninsula began shortly before 0000 UTC on 28 March, or 4:00 pm on 27 March Alaska time (AVO report), as detected by a thermal anomaly (or “hot spot”, yellow to red color enhancement) on Himawari-8 AHI Shortwave Infrared (3.9 µm) images... Read More
The Popocatépetl Volcano in Mexico began erupting at 1546 UTC on 20 January 2016 (Washington VAAC message). The volcanic plume was evident on Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images on 23, 24, and 25 January, as viewed using the SSEC RealEarth web map server (above).Nighttime images of Suomi NPP VIIRS Shortwave... Read More
The Mount Rinjani volcano in Indonesia began a period of eruptions on 25 October 2015; the ash plume became very apparent on Suomi NPP VIIRS true-color Red/Green/Blue (RGB) images from RealEarth on 03 and 04 October (above). The volcanic ash disrupted flights at Denpasar Airport in Bali (the red dot at... Read More
