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    NASA AI auto-captured the changes in famous Ethiopian volcano

    by 
    Mariella Moon
    Mariella Moon
    03.23.2017

    Artificial intelligence can help satellites and other spacecraft observe interesting phenomena before humans even spot them. Case in point: NASA's Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) spacecraft started capturing images of Ethiopia's Erta Ale volcano as soon as it developed a new fissure in late January. Volcanologists are keeping a close eye on Erta Ale, since it's one of the handful of volcanoes with lava lakes at the summit. They sent in requests asking NASA to use its Earth Observing-1 satellite to snap photos of the eruption, but by that time, the images were already available.