The eruption of Puyehue Cordón-Caulle Volcano persists after more than four months of activity. On October 9, 2011, a conspicuous plume of gases and fine ash rose above the volcano and blew southeast over Argentina. In the natural-color satellite image (top), the landscape is covered with gray ash and largely snow-free for the first time in several months. To the northwest and southwest of the active vent lies a lava flow, its textured appearance suggestive of thick lava. Immediately west of the vent, the flow appears fresh; its dark surface is not yet covered by lighter ash.
In a false-color image made from shortwave infrared, near infrared, and visible light (second image), the vent and lava flow are bright orange. This is a sign of intense heat, and likely indicates ongoing emissions of lava. These images were acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite.
NASA image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using ALI data from the EO-1 Team. Caption by Robert Simmon.
