Thick ash drifted over Flores Island and the Savu Sea after a strong explosion at Paluweh (also known as Rokatenda) Volcano. Light-colored ash coated the southern third of Paluweh Island, while the sea to the west was colored turquoise by ash floating near the water’s surface. High-altitude winds carried airborne ash more than 440 kilometers (270 miles) to the southwest.

This natural-color satellite image was collected on March 24, 2013, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Robert Simmon.

Instrument: 

Terra - MODIS