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First Name
Rahul

Last Name
Ramachandran

Profession
Research Scientist

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Dr

Institution/Organization Name
University of Alabama Huntsville

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Smoke from an Oil Refinery Fire in Puerto Rico

November 10, 2009 by rramachandran

Authors:
Rahul Ramachandran

Figures:

Legend:
Figure 1: Smoke as a result of the explosion at a fuel storage facility can be seen north of Puerto Rico in the MODIS True color image. It is difficult to separate the smoke against the dark ocean background using the visible channels. The smoke plume outline is marked by the yellow triangle. The arrow points to the source of the smoke. Figure 2: Smoke can be seen clearly using just the MODIS band 8 at 0.412 micrometer. The image has be enhanced using histogram equalization. The smoke plume outline is marked by the yellow triangle. The arrow points to the source of the smoke.

Temporal Information:
Fri, 10/23/2009 - 14:55

Data Description:
Data can be downloaded from [2]. The data file is L1B calibrated radiances product at 1km resolution from Terra. The details for the file are as follows: Time - 2009-296 14:55 UTC Filename - MOD021KM.A2009296.1455.005.2009296223612.hdf

Background:
An explosion at a fuel storage facility in San Juan, Puerto Rico set more than a dozen tanks on fire. The explosion that occurred at 12:30 am, October 23 2009, was registered as an equivalent of a 2.8 magnitude Earthquake [1]. The fire produced smoke that is visible in Satellite Imagery. Concerns over smoke contamination from the explosion caused evacuation of 1500 people from one neighborhood. The smoke also forced airliners to alter flight paths. Experts from the Environmental Protection Agency were sent to Puerto Rico to help monitor the capital’s air quality. The explosion caused environmental authorities to caution people living near the plant to keep their windows shut.

Relevance:
The smoke is barely noticeable in the true color image (Fig. 1) from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite from this explosion at 2:55 PM in the afternoon. The smoke has a distinct dark appearance unlike smoke from burning vegetation, which is typically gray. The smoke plume can be seen spreading north of Puerto Rico and mostly over the ocean. It is difficult to visually separate smoke against the dark ocean background. The smoke plume outline is marked by the yellow triangle and the arrow points to the source of the smoke. However, the smoke from the explosion can be clearly seen by just the MODIS band 8 at 0.412 micrometer (Fig. 2) that has been enhanced using histogram equalization. The images are displayed using GLIDER visualization and analysis tool.

Reference:
http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/world/2009/10/23/11509256.html
http://ladsweb.nascom.nasa.gov/

Citation:
Smoke from an Oil Refinery Fire in Puerto Rico, Rahul Ramachandran, Journal of Earth Science Phenomena, 2009, 15.
Video


Creative Commons License
This electronic article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Permalink
Thu, 11/12/2009 - 11:06
#1
kuoks
kuoks's picture
User offline. Last seen 12 weeks 2 days ago. Offline
Joined: 09/04/2009
Review

Pluses

  1. Interesting and unique event.
  2. Clear indication of data source.

Minuses

  1. The true color image is still not better. Also I noticed that the images are even smaller in sizes now.
  2. Descriptions below the pop-up images are not very informative. This hasn't really been improved, has it? Since the images pops up and blocks the page it's hard to figure out sometimes what you are looking at without proper description. Is it difficult to modify the code so what's entered here will become figure captions in the main body?
  3. Coast lines are needed to better delineate land and ocean. I can let this one slide if it takes too much effort.
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Fri, 11/13/2009 - 16:51
#2
rramachandran
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User offline. Last seen 12 weeks 2 days ago. Offline
Joined: 08/18/2009
Modifications made as per recommendations

1. Image quality has been improved.
2. Modified the descriptions for the popup to match the figure legend
3. Arrow and box has been added to identify source and the smoke plume

However, as this time I cannot add coast lines.

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Fri, 11/13/2009 - 17:17
#3
kuoks
kuoks's picture
User offline. Last seen 12 weeks 2 days ago. Offline
Joined: 09/04/2009
Review - Revision 1

(I actually modified my original review first instead of replying your comment!)

  1. True color image is not better. Also I noticed that the images are smaller now.
  2. Are you sure? I see only "Figure 1" and "Figure 2" and nothing else.
  3. This is nicer.
  4. I can live without the coast lines.
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Mon, 11/16/2009 - 10:19
#4
rramachandran
rramachandran's picture
User offline. Last seen 12 weeks 2 days ago. Offline
Joined: 08/18/2009
Changes clarification

1. Applying histogram equalization on the true color image does not improve the image visually. However, applying the equalization on the Band 8 does.
2. Images are labelled correctly (Fig 1, Fig 2) so that they match the legend. In the original submission, this was not the case.
3 & 4 have been resolved.

Please publish if you are satisfied with the current submission.

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