Sentinel-2 captured a jökulhlaup in Afghanistan

In the Landslide blog Dave Petley has analyzed Planet images of the Pashgor debris flow in Afghanistan (here and here). Here I used two Sentinel-2 images (before and after the event) to show the path of the debris flow from the high mountain area to the Panjshir Valley. Sentinel-2 images have a lower spatial resolution than Planet images but they have a larger swath and the near-infrared channel is useful to highlight the water-rich surfaces (dark blue) and the vegetation (red). Also, Sentinel-2 images are free to use for everyone.

According to experts this event can be called a jökulhlaup since it was due to the abrupt collapse of a supraglacial lake, i.e. a lake formed on the surface of a glacier, in this case a debris-covered glacier. The debris flow (a mix of water and debris) has traveled 13 km from the source to the deposit area where it has dammed the Panjshir river.

Plus d'actualités

Dates de fauche en France

En 2024, des collègues du Cesbio ont publié un article* sur la cartographie de la date de fauche en France en 2022 à partir des données satellitaires Sentinel-2.   Leur magnifique figure 10 a attiré mon attention. La version à haute résolution fournie avec l’article (2861 × 2911 pixels) correspond à une image dont les pixels font […]

Évolution du jour de déneigement dans les Alpes françaises et les Pyrénées

Les socio-écosystèmes des Alpes et des Pyrénées dépendent étroitement des fluctuations annuelles du manteau neigeux. En particulier, le moment de l’année où la neige disparait détermine le début de la saison de croissance de la végétation de montagne et donc la période des estives. Le changement climatique est en train de bouleverser ce rythme saisonnier. […]

BIOMASS, the third launched satellite mission designed at CESBIO !

After SMOS in 2009, and VENµS in 2017, the CESBIO laboratory is very proud to see its third proposed mission, Biomass, reach orbit. As always, it has been a long journey from the idea, at the beginning of the century, to the selection in 2013 as the seventh Earth Explorer Mission by ESA, to the […]

Rechercher