La Cumbre Volcano on Isla Fernandina remained active in late April 2009. On April 27, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of a faint plume from the volcano. The plume blows to the west-northwest over the Pacific Ocean, skirting a bank of clouds just northwest of Isla Fernandina. The red outline on Isla Fernandina shows a hotspot where MODIS detected unusually warm surface temperatures.
Isla Fernandina is a shield volcano with a low, broad shape that resembles an ancient warrior shield. The volcano sports an elongated caldera produced by earlier periods of collapse under the summit. Producing both plumes and lava flows, the 2009 eruption marked Isla Fernandina’s first burst of volcanic activity since 2005.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.
