Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull Volcano, Iceland

Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull Volcano, Iceland

Reaching a height of 4 to 5 kilometers (13,000-17,000 feet), the plume of ash from Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull Volcano rises above a sea of clouds in this image. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the image on May 12, 2010.

According to the Iceland Meteorological Office and the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland, the eruption had changed little from previous days and showed no signs of stopping. As this image shows, the ash plume blew east and southeast on May 12, the plume of previous days had blown south and southeast, closing airports in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, reported BBC News.

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.

References & Resources