Heat From Mount Michael's Lava Lake Shows Up in a Rare Clear Satellite View of the South Sandwich Islands

A volcano that is almost always hidden by clouds showed up clearly from orbit near the end of the austral winter. NASA released imagery through its Earth Observatory on September 7 showing heat from the lava lake in Mount Michael's summit crater, captured on August 24 during an uncommonly clear break in the weather over Saunders Island in the South Atlantic.The image stands out for two reasons. Lava lakes that stay active for long periods are rare, and NASA counts only a handful of other volcanoes on Earth with similarly frequently active features. Mount Michael also sits on a remote island where the clouds so seldom part that satellites supply much of what scientists know about its behavior.For readers in the United States, the relevance lies in the method.