Eyjafjallaj̦kull Volcano, ALI Image, 2010
When Iceland's Eyjafjallaj̦kull Volcano began erupting on March 20, 2010, the first lava to erupt came from vents on the lower slopes of the volcano, which were snow-covered, but not under the mountain's year-round ice cap. Lava flows filled gullies and built mounds of frothy rock, and they melted and vaporized the winter snow, creating relatively small steam plumes. In mid-April, however, the character of the eruption changed dramatically, and this natural-color satellite image from April 17 provides a look at the new eruptive phase. A cloud of charcoal-brown ash covers half the image. A fresh plume of ash rises over the summit, its southern face illuminated by sunlight and its northern face deeply shadowed. The ash column casts a tall shadow onto the snow-covered ground to the north. West of the plume, the ground is nearly covered by ash. This high-resolution view of the plume was captured by the ALI on NASA's EO-1 satellite. NASA image by Robert Simmon, using ALI data from the EO-1 team.
Size: 2700px × 4122px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 2010, 21st, advanced, ali, ash, century, column, data, earth, erupting, eruption, europe, eyjafjallajokull, eyjafjallaj̦kull, geochemical, geologic, geological, geology, geophysical, hazard, iceland, image, imagery, land, natural-color, northern, phenomena, phenomenon, plinian, plume, satellite, scandinavia, science, space, volcanic, volcano, volcanology, vulcanology
