Eruption of Mount Belinda from space, South Sandwich Islands, c 2003.

The first recorded eruption of the Mount Belinda volcano, on Montagu Island in the remote South Sandwich Islands, began in October 2001. The eruption was first detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Thermal Alert System, an automated volcano alert system based on thermal anomalies, or "hot spots," detected in satellite data. The first visual confirmation of the eruption came from ships that passed the islands in February and March 2003, at which time the volcano was still erupting.