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Thursday 1 September 2016

Clear image at last of Bristol Island and also Saunders Island

Clear images of the South Sandwich Islands from the 21st August 2016 have been released on the EOSDA website, and because it shows a clear view of the islands I was able to truly observe the changes on Bristol Island and I also discovered a thermal anomaly inside the crater of Mount Michael on Saunders Island.

First of all, in the image of Bristol Island a lava field is visible extending towards the west and north-northwest of Mount Sourabaya. The western part looks like it was starting to get frozen over while the north-northwest part of the lava field looks more darker. A steam emission originating from the crater of Mount Sourabaya is also visible. Although the lava appears to retain heat, it is not easy to truly tell whether the eruption has ended all together or if it's still in the last effusive stages.

Clear image view showing the new lava field on Bristol Island. SOURCE: Landsat Viewer/EOS Data Analytics.

Close up view of the new lava field on Bristol Island. SOURCE: Landsat Viewer/EOS Data Analytics.



Meanwhile in the infrared image of Saunders Island, a thermal hotspot is visible inside the summit crater of Mount Michael. This could either mean some low level eruptive activity is taking place, or there's simply high temperatures present inside the crater.

Infrared image of Saunders Island showing thermal anomaly inside the crater of Michael Volcano. SOURCE: Landsat Viewer/EOS Data Analytics.