Which volcanoes are erupting right now?

The list above is what satellites measured in the last twenty-four hours. It is not the list of erupting volcanoes: an eruption under cloud, or one too cool to detect, will be missing, and a lava field cooling after an eruption can still appear.

How many active volcanoes are there in the world?

The Smithsonian Institution catalogues about 1,300 volcanoes with an eruption during the Holocene, roughly the last 10,000 years. Far fewer are erupting at any given moment — typically a few dozen.

How can a satellite tell a volcano is active?

It measures infrared radiation. Lava, hot gas and fresh deposits emit far more than the surrounding ground, so a thermal sensor detects them from orbit — day or night, but not through thick cloud.

Does an absent volcano mean it has stopped?

No. It means no satellite measured heat there during the window. Cloud, the timing of the overpass, or an eruption confined below the surface all produce the same silence.

Volcanoes in Portugal

Volcanoes of Portugal

Portugal holds 12 catalogued volcanoes. Below, the ones whose heat was measured from space in the last twenty-four hours, then the full list.

Simple mapLive fires Advanced mapPropagation scenario

Radiating right now

No collection cycle has completed yet on this server. This is not a statement that nothing is radiating — it means nothing has been looked at yet.

Every catalogued volcano

Questions readers ask

Which volcanoes are erupting right now?: The list above is what satellites measured in the last twenty-four hours. It is not the list of erupting volcanoes: an eruption under cloud, or one too cool to detect, will be missing, and a lava field cooling after an eruption can still appear.
How many active volcanoes are there in the world?: The Smithsonian Institution catalogues about 1,300 volcanoes with an eruption during the Holocene, roughly the last 10,000 years. Far fewer are erupting at any given moment — typically a few dozen.
How can a satellite tell a volcano is active?: It measures infrared radiation. Lava, hot gas and fresh deposits emit far more than the surrounding ground, so a thermal sensor detects them from orbit — day or night, but not through thick cloud.
Does an absent volcano mean it has stopped?: No. It means no satellite measured heat there during the window. Cloud, the timing of the overpass, or an eruption confined below the surface all produce the same silence.

What this measurement is, and is not

Radiative power is the infrared a sensor received at the instant it passed overhead. It is not a measure of emissions, of pollution, or of any contribution to climate change — a solar farm can top the list on reflected sunlight alone.
A source absent from this page is not a source at rest: a polar satellite passes twice a day, clouds hide the ground, and a site that was hot between two overpasses was never seen.
The site catalog is a snapshot, rebuilt by hand. A plant that opened after the last build is missing from it, and a plant that closed is still in it.

Where the data comes from

The detections are NASA FIRMS (LANCE / EOSDIS). The sites are not NASA's data and are not ours: they come from the Smithsonian Institution for volcanoes, the World Bank with NOAA and the Colorado School of Mines for flares, the World Resources Institute for power plants, the Spatial Finance Initiative for cement, steel and petrochemicals, Global Energy Monitor for steel, and the U.S. Geological Survey for mineral sites.

Volcanoes in Portugal

Volcanoes of Portugal

Portugal holds 12 catalogued volcanoes. Below, the ones whose heat was measured from space in the last twenty-four hours, then the full list.

Simple mapLive fires Advanced mapPropagation scenario

Radiating right now

No collection cycle has completed yet on this server. This is not a statement that nothing is radiating — it means nothing has been looked at yet.

Every catalogued volcano

Questions readers ask

Which volcanoes are erupting right now?: The list above is what satellites measured in the last twenty-four hours. It is not the list of erupting volcanoes: an eruption under cloud, or one too cool to detect, will be missing, and a lava field cooling after an eruption can still appear.
How many active volcanoes are there in the world?: The Smithsonian Institution catalogues about 1,300 volcanoes with an eruption during the Holocene, roughly the last 10,000 years. Far fewer are erupting at any given moment — typically a few dozen.
How can a satellite tell a volcano is active?: It measures infrared radiation. Lava, hot gas and fresh deposits emit far more than the surrounding ground, so a thermal sensor detects them from orbit — day or night, but not through thick cloud.
Does an absent volcano mean it has stopped?: No. It means no satellite measured heat there during the window. Cloud, the timing of the overpass, or an eruption confined below the surface all produce the same silence.

What this measurement is, and is not

Radiative power is the infrared a sensor received at the instant it passed overhead. It is not a measure of emissions, of pollution, or of any contribution to climate change — a solar farm can top the list on reflected sunlight alone.
A source absent from this page is not a source at rest: a polar satellite passes twice a day, clouds hide the ground, and a site that was hot between two overpasses was never seen.
The site catalog is a snapshot, rebuilt by hand. A plant that opened after the last build is missing from it, and a plant that closed is still in it.

Volcanoes of Portugal.

Radiating right now

Every catalogued volcano

Questions readers ask

What this measurement is, and is not

Where the data comes from

Volcanoes of Portugal.

Radiating right now

Every catalogued volcano

Questions readers ask

What this measurement is, and is not

Where the data comes from

Volcanoes of Portugal

Volcanoes of Portugal