Hotspots, such as volcanic eruptions or fires, pose serious hazards to sensitive ecosystems, transportation and communication networks, and to populated regions.
      Orbiting Earth-observing satellites gather and relay valuable data on these hotspot hazards as they develop around the globe.
      Timely dissemination of this data to scientists and to local civil defense officials is crucial in efforts to understand and to minimize losses from hazardous hotspot activity.

      HOTSPOTSties together various sources of near-real-time data acquired by different Earth-observing satellites and processed by scientists at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii. 
 

 

Current Hotspot Monitoring Sites
GOES 8/10 Hotspot Images
http://goes.higp.hawaii.edu/
Selected western-hemisphere sites updated every 10 to 30 minutes. Data is collected by geostationary GOES 8 and GOES 10 satellites in 15 minute intervals.
MODIS Thermal Alerts
http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/
Globalwide maps of thermally significant events captured daily by MODIS
Pu'u O'o Vent Monitoring
http://hotspot.higp.hawaii.edu/puuoo
1 Hour, 4 Hour, Daily and Weekly plots of thermal activity from selected locations in Pu'u O'O Crater
AVHRR hot spot maps of Mount Etna Volcano
http://hotspot.higp.hawaii.edu/etna
AVHRR data for Mount Etna fitted to a topographic base map and digital elevation model. Data are updated daily.

      Earth-observing satellites are operated by various commercial, national, and international programs, and the data are distributed to the scientific community, including the University of Hawaii. Earth-observing satellites collect data over different areas of the globe on various time scales and in various ways. Therefore, we post hotspot data acquired by separate satellite projects to individual websites. The data are posted on the web an average of 10 to 30 minutes after being acquired by an Earth-observing satellite. This lag time is required for data transmission and processing and varies for each satellite project.

Site Administrator:
Eric Pilger pilger@higp.hawaii.edu
 

Hawai'i Institute of 
Geophysics and Planetology,
School of Ocean and 
Earth Science and Technology,
University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Last Update:
19:51:26 Thursday 23 July 1998 GMT

    With Support From:
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