GOES-13 Satellite Video Shows Grimsvotn Volcanic Ash Shooting into the Atmosphere
05.25.11
A new video released from the NASA/NOAA GOES Project provides a satellite view of spewing ash from Grimsvotn Volcano in Iceland. The volcano had stopped some European air travel earlier this week.
The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite called GOES-13 covers weather events over the eastern U.S. and the Atlantic Ocean, and can also see what's happening in Iceland. As a result, the GOES-13 satellite observed the ash plume from the eruption of the volcano over the days of May 21 through May 24. The animation of satellite imagery was compiled by Dr. Dennis Chesters of the NASA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The GOES series of satellites is operated by NOAA, and the NASA GOES Project creates images and animations from the GOES series of satellites.
According to the Daily Mail in the U.K., the eruption was responsible for grounding about 500 European flights on Tuesday, May 24.
As of Wednesday, May 25 at 0300 GMT, there was no plume detected from the volcano. According to the Icelandic Meteorological Service, the last plume was detected at 0210 GMT (10:10 p.m. EDT, May 24) and only steam is seeping from the volcano. At 12 p.m. EDT on May 25, the U.K. Met Office Volcanic Ash Advisory from Toulouse described Grimsvotn as "eruption paused."
For more NASA images of the volcano, visit NASA's Earth Observatory at:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/
Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center