Mandatory Credit: Photo by NASA Earth Observatory / Rex Features ( 1357889a )
Satellite view of Eritrea's erupting Nabro Volcano. The bright red portions of the false-colour image indicate hot surfaces.
Satellite view of Eritrea's erupting Nabro Volcano, Eritrea, Africa - 24 Jun 2011
In a newly released image, the eruption of Eritrea's Nabro Volcano can be seen in detail. Since it began erupting on June 12, 2011, emissions from Eritrea's Nabro Volcano have drifted over much of East Africa and the Middle East. Ash has displaced residents living near the volcano and disrupted flights in the region.This satellite image are among the first detailed pictures of the erupting vent and lava flows. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite acquired them on June 24. The bright red portions of the false-colour image (top) indicate hot surfaces. Hot volcanic ash glows above the vent, located in the centre of Nabro's caldera. To the west of the vent, portions of an active lava flow (particularly the front of the flow) are also hot. The speckled pattern on upstream portions of the flow are likely due to the cool, hardened crust splitting and exposing fluid lava as the flow advances.