File:Nyamuragira Volcano Erupts - NASA Earth Observatory.jpg

Original file(720 × 720 pixels, file size: 185 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Summary edit

Description

To download the full resolution and other files go to: earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76405&src=...

On November 6, 2011, after more than a year of relative peace, the Nyamuragira volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo surged to life. Lava has erupted spectacularly from a fissure low on one of the volcano's flanks and spilled northward, away from populated areas. Nyamuragira is a shield volcano and one of Africa's most active.

For more than a week, cloud cover mostly obscured the view from space until the Advanced Land Imager on NASA’s EO-1 satellite captured images on November 12, 2011. This false-color view combines shortwave infrared, near infrared, and green light. Fresh lava is bright red, an indication that it was active at the time the satellite flew overhead. Billowing, blue-tinged steam clouds rise above the superheated fissure and lava-bathed landscape. In the full-size, wider view (available by link just below the image), the lava lake at nearby Nyiragongo volcano (to the south) glows red through the cloud cover.

A blogger and ranger from Virgunga National Park wrote:

   ...We hiked a bit further until we came to a section where the vegetation ended and the ground was covered in small pebbles of weightless lava gravel. The thundering roar of the volcano was incredible and the heat of the 100-meter column of lava clearly tangible...The eruption site is truly amazing. It’s located on a flat area, but the sides have been building up around the crack over the last week...The lava has a low silica content resulting in lava with a low viscosity (very fluid), which in turn results in the amazing lava fountain.

NASA Earth Observatory image created by Jesse Allen, using EO-1 ALI data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team. Caption by Mike Carlowicz.

View more from this event at earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/event.php?id=100...

The Earth Observatory’s mission is to share with the public the images, stories, and discoveries about climate and the environment that emerge from NASA research, including its satellite missions, in-the-field research, and climate models.

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Add us to your circles on Google+
Date
Source Nyamuragira Volcano Erupts
Author NASA's Earth Observatory
Camera location1° 24′ 15.81″ S, 29° 13′ 47.32″ E Kartographer map based on OpenStreetMap.View this and other nearby images on: OpenStreetMapinfo

Licensing edit

w:en:Creative Commons
attribution
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
You are free:
  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
  • attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
This image was originally posted to Flickr by NASA Earth Observatory at https://www.flickr.com/photos/68824346@N02/6353542357. It was reviewed on 2 July 2012 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

2 July 2012

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current17:19, 2 July 2012Thumbnail for version as of 17:19, 2 July 2012720 × 720 (185 KB)Dzlinker (talk | contribs)== {{int:filedesc}} == {{Information |Description=To download the full resolution and other files go to: [http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76405&src=flickr earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76405&src=...] On November 6, 2011,...

There are no pages that use this file.

Metadata