Alaska May Events from Space
Following an April which was the coldest on record in many locations (including Fairbanks), May was a month with more record events. Anchorage saw it’s second latest measurable snowfall on May 18th which made the 2012-2013 snow season on record. The record cold also delayed the river breakup, which set the stage for the severe ice jam flooding in Circle and Galena.
The MODIS instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite captured the aerial extent of the flooding in Galena from space. Below is the extent of the Yukon River last year on May 27, and the second picture is the widespread flooding behind the ice Jam on May 28th of this year.
Photo Credit: NASA images courtesy LANCE MODIS Rapid Response. Caption by Adam Voiland.
Photo Credit: NASA images courtesy LANCE MODIS Rapid Response. Caption by Adam Voiland.
Above is the Yukon River flooding Galena May 28, 2013.
More information and images can be found HERE.
While erupting volcanoes along the Aleutian Range are not uncommon, there were some views of Pavlof Volcano taken from the International Space Station (ISS) that are worth a look.
Photo Credit: ISSA Crew, NASA
Above is the erupting Pavlof Volcano on May 18, 2013 taken from the ISS. It is located between Sand Point and Cold Bay on the Alaska Peninsula. The Volcano just to the right of Pavlof is Pavlof’s Sister, and is also a volcano.
A summary of the recent Pavlof eruption with a few more ISS photos can be found HERE.
This most recent eruption of Pavlof Volcano was downgraded by the Alaska Volcano Observatory on May 28th as activity subsided.
