Dukono Volcano, on Indonesia’s island of Halmahera, released a faint plume in early August 2009. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image of the plume on August 4, 2009. The volcano continued low-level ash emissions two days later, according to a bulletin from the U.S. Air Force Weather Agency.
The red outline near Dukono’s summit shows where MODIS has detected unusually warm surface temperatures consistent with volcanic activity. The thin blue-gray plume blows almost straight north from the summit, tending only slightly toward the east. Few clouds clutter the sky, allowing MODIS a clear view of lushly vegetated islands and iridescent coral reefs.
Dukono’s early August plume continued a pattern of intermittent activity from the volcano that had occurred for months, according to reports from the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program. Dukono ranks among Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, and regular observations from the early 1930s through the mid-1990s recorded recurring explosive eruptions and occasional lava flows. The volcano is a complex volcano with multiple summit peaks and overlapping craters.
NASA image courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.
