Thermal monitoring of Nyiragongo SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS OF THERMAL EMISSION BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER, THE JANUARY 2002 ERUPTION OF NYIRAGONGO

This paper presents a two-year archive of thermal observations made before, during, and after the January 2002 eruption of Nyiragongo volcano, Democratic Republic of Congo. Infrared satellite data acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (modis), a multi-spectral scanner carried onboard the National Aeronautical and Space Administration’s (nasa) Terra and Aqua satellites, indicate an absence of significant thermal activity prior to the start of the eruption on January 17, 2002. Thermal radiance data acquired during the eruption record both the approximate size and spatial distribution of the two main flow units that encroached on the city of Goma, and the subsequent cooling of these flows. In June 2002, four months after the end of the initial effusive episode, magmatic activity resumed in the summit crater of the volcano. modis has recorded thermal emission from the summit crater lava lake on a further 114 days, as of February 29, 2004. Trends in the amount of radiance detected from the active lava-lake indicate a gradual increase in the level of activity, and constitute a variable for monitoring the level of magmatic activity in the crater remotely. The data we present were, and continue to be, made available to the Goma Volcano Observatory via the Internet, within 24 hours of modis overpass (http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu).