Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

A deep-space camera that can spot a volcano’s puffs

Ash clouds from eruptions large and small are detected by a climate satellite’s imaging instrument.
Satellie image of Tinakula volcano erupting on 14th February 2012

Volcanic eruptions such as this plume from the Tinakula volcano in the South Pacific can be monitored by a camera aboard the distant DSCOVR satellite. Credit: Jesse Allan and Robert Simmon/NASA Earth Observatory

A satellite peering at Earth from a vantage point almost 1.5 million kilometres away can track volcanic eruptions more accurately than spacecraft orbiting much closer to the planet’s surface. This could allow scientists to pinpoint remote eruptions faster than ever.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 563, 8 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-07127-0

References

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links