Seismic and volcanic activity has been increasing this month at Ubinas volcano in southern Peru. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this image of ash streaming from the summit on July 22, 2019.
Winds carried the ash toward populated areas, blanketing villages, schools, and health centers and affecting 30,000 people. The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency, and evacuations were ordered for some regions.
Ubinas is Peru’s most active volcano. Intermittent ash explosions last occurred between September 2016 and February 2017.
References & Resources
- Instituto Geológico Minero y Metalúrgico (INGEMMET) (2019, July 22) Volcán Ubinas: INGEMMET Realizará Evualuación Geológica de Albergue Temporal. Accessed July 24, 2019.
- Instituto Geofisico del Perú (2019, July 24) Situación Actual. Accessed July 24, 2019.
- International Charter Space & Major Disasters (2019, July 20) Charter activations: Ubinas volcano in Peru. Accessed July 24, 2019.
- NASA Earth Observatory (2011, February 6) Ubinas Volcano, Peru.
- Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program (2019, July) Ubinas. Accessed July 24, 2019.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS/LANCE and GIBS/Worldview. Story by Kathryn Hansen.












