Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull Volcano began to ease out of the ash-producing phase of its eruption and started to emit lava on April 19, 2010, said the Icelandic Met Office. The cloud of ash coming from the volcano was lower than it had been in previous days, rising just 4 to 6 kilometers (2 to 3 miles) into the atmosphere.
In this photo-like image, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite, the ash extends south in a broad brown plume. Smaller plumes extend from the coast east of the primary plume. These are likely re-suspended ash, fine volcanic ash that had settled on the land, but was picked up again by the wind. The plume blows south and then curves east over the ocean, blending with the outer cloud bands of a low-pressure system.
The large image provided above is the highest-resolution version of the image. The image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response System.
References & Resources
- Icelandic Met Office. (2010, April 19). Magma splatters ejected. Accessed April 19, 2010.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
