On October 22, 2005, the Sierra Negra Volcano on Isla Isabela in the Galapagos Islands began erupting. The volcano produced an ash cloud several kilometers high and produced a lava flow down its northeast flank. On October 26, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard the Aqua satellite captured this image as the volcano erupted for its fourth straight day. In this image, a plume blows away from the volcano’s summit toward the southwest. A “hotspot,” visible as a red outline, also appears at the volcano’s summit.
Eruptions are common in this volcanically active archipelago. As of October 26, 2005, however, this eruption had not endangered any of Isla Isabela’s human inhabitants, or any of the wildlife for which the Galapagos is famous.
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team.
