Worldview Image of the Week

Snow and Lava on the Island of Hawaii

Image captured on Dec. 11, 2021, by the MODIS instrument aboard the Terra satellite.

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This is a Terra image of snow in Hawaii.

False-color (Bands 7-2-1) corrected reflectance image of the Island of Hawaii on December 11, 2021. This image was acquired by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradometer (MODIS), aboard the Terra satellite. This band combination can be used to distinguish snow and ice from clouds. Snow and ice are very reflective in the visible part of the spectrum (Band 1), and absorbent in Bands 2 (near infrared) and 7 (short-wave infrared, or SWIR). Thick ice and snow appear vivid sky blue. Snow (in blue) is visible on the mountains tops of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Also visible is the active lava lake (shown in red) in the Halema'uma'u crater of the Kilauea volcano on the southeastern portion of the island.

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