Volcanic Plumes Escape Ambrym Volcano

Volcanic Plumes Escape Ambrym Volcano

This rare, clear view of Ambrym shows the two active craters that top the volcanic island. Deep within Benbow (left) and Marum (right) craters, vents continuously release steam, sulfur dioxide, and other volcanic gases into the atmosphere, which frequently stream over the other islands in Vanuatu, along the western edge of the South Pacific. Marum also features a persistent lava lake, visible as an orange spot in the deeply-shadowed crater.

This natural-color image was acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on August 9, 2013.

NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using EO-1 ALI data from the NASA EO-1 team. Caption by Robert Simmon.