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Tuesday 5 January 2016

Dark patch on Saunders Island likely not activity?

Satellite image from 1st January 2016 shows a clear view of Saunders Island except for the summit area which was shrouded in clouds. It appears that the dark patch on the eastern side of the island is not linked to volcanic activity at all but rather that the snow and ice melted. When I checked out the Landsat 8 images of the other islands in the South Sandwich archipelago it turned out that they also have places which are devoid of snow and ice, the explanation for this is because it's summer down in the southern hemisphere while up in the northern hemisphere it is the opposite, winter. Because the summit area of Michael Volcano was shrouded in clouds in the image, it's not possible to determine what happened at the "Old Crater".

New Year's Day on Saunders Island. SOURCE: Landsat 8/USGS/NASA.