Video of volcanic eruption from space is edit of NASA photo

“This is what a volcano eruption looks like from space,” wrote marketer Vala Afshar in a tweet liked 370,000 times. His Aug. 16 tweet was referring to a six-second video seen a minimum of 13 million occasions on Twitter alone.

The video exhibits a volcano on a peninsula with the curvature of the Earth seen within the background. It’s emitting a shifting smoke plume. There is a shadow seen beneath half of the smoke plume, and the clouds seen within the video don’t transfer.

Many of the replies to the tweet questioned if the video was pretend. Some stated the video should have been made with computer-generated graphics, whereas others posted what they claimed to be actual movies of volcanic eruptions seen from space.

Is this an actual video of a volcanic eruption as seen from space?

No, this is not an actual video of a volcanic eruption as seen from space. It’s an animation somebody created utilizing a NASA {photograph}.

The viral video is an animation positioned over an actual photo of an erupting volcano that was taken by an astronaut. The video’s creator animated the volcano’s smoke plume, however left all the pieces else within the photo as is. There is no proof the video was created by NASA or another space company.

“The original photo is so spectacular that it seems ridiculous to make a weird video animation,” stated Ed Venzke, a volcano information researcher on the Global Volcanism Program.

“I checked with our volcano observatory and they confirmed. That is not a live video,” stated Steven Sobieszczyk, a spokesperson for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and a hydrologist who has additionally labored for NASA. “I’ve done my share of illustration work and that is a visualization using an ‘animate your photograph’ app or software.”

According to NASA, the unique photo is of the Kliuchevskoi volcano in Russia’s Far East and was taken in 1994 by an astronaut aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The {photograph} was taken about 132 miles above Earth’s floor.

Venzke stated that large volcano plumes can appear like they do within the animation when there is a tough wind that blows the smoke horizontally, as an alternative of straight up. But the best way the animation depicts the smoke plume has just a few inaccuracies.

“Even if that was a real video, I would have said it looks accelerated,” Venzke stated, referring to the pace at which the smoke plume within the video strikes. Not solely is the plume shifting too quick, it’s additionally far too constant. 

Venzke defined that there would must be large, pulsating explosions — what he known as “pulses” — to maintain feeding the plume so it continues to stand up from the volcano. He stated that proof of older “pulses” are seen alongside the far finish of the plume, however stated they aren’t common sufficient, nor are they actively repeating throughout the animation.  

It’s simpler to see what Venzke means with a visible. In April 2021, National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites captured imagery of a Caribbean volcano’s eruption. The smoke plume in that eruption is blown in a single course by the wind, similar to the eruption within the animation, however the plume is fed by a number of “pulses” from the volcano simply as Venzke described. This is best to see within the infrared view that begins 36 seconds into the video.

Sobieszczyk echoed Venzke’s perception that the smoke plume strikes far too quick than any actual smoke plume might.

“For the eruption cloud to move that fast in an actual video, it would have to travel faster than the spacecraft,” Sobieszczyk stated. He famous that the Space Shuttle Endeavour traveled at over 17,000 mph, whereas when ash reaches the ambiance, it should journey on atmospheric currents that attain most speeds of 275 mph.

There are just a few different methods to inform the video is an edit of a photo that don’t require a lot data of volcanoes to determine. The clouds and shadows are completely stationary within the video, as is the digital camera. But in actual video footage recorded from space, a shuttle would both proceed to fly increased above the Earth, or it might be orbiting round Earth, so it might be unimaginable for these elements of the video to seem completely nonetheless.

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Venzke famous that almost all “video” of eruptions recorded from space are literally simply animated GIFs composed of photo picture sequences. Satellite cameras usually take pictures, and astronauts hardly ever get such excellent alternatives to document volcanic eruptions with their private cameras.

One instance of a satellite tv for pc “video” of a volcano eruption is of the January 2022 eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which specialists say is one of the largest eruptions ever captured from space. The satellite video of the eruption is truly a timelapse of images, and satellite radar exhibits how the plume rapidly dissipated with out additional eruptions to gas the plume.

“Honestly, my main problem with this is that it doesn’t have the volcano name or date shown on the video, which means that it will get re-used by others purporting to show some other eruption,” Venzke stated. “Accurately showing real activity is important for hazard awareness and mitigation, so seeing things like this attributed to some other volcano can be harmful misinformation.”

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