Image of the week - A rising valley
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A section of the Kilauea volcanic crater on Hawaii Island, U.S., rose about 10 centimeters in just three months last summer. The change was due to an expanding magma reservoir, observed by the PALSAR Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar, onboard the spacecraft "Daichi". The image on the right uses colors to show the degree of the diastrophism, or land change, observed. Warm colors show a reduction in the distance between the satellite and the land, indicating that the land has risen; cold colors show an increase in this distance, indicating subsided land. PALSAR is one of three remote-sensing instruments on Japan's Advanced Land Observing Satellite. Images such as these are produced using data grid and computing grid technology as part of the Global Earth Observation Grid framework. Such images, combined with existing maps and land-based observations, can help solve global social problems involving natural disasters, the environment, and natural resources. - Danielle Venton, iSGTW |