In early September 2007, Tanzania&#rsquo;s Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano erupted, sending a cloud of ash into the atmosphere. The volcanic plume appears pale blue-gray, distinct near the summit, and growing more diffuse to the south. The charcoal-colored stains on the volcano’s flanks appear to be lava, but they are actually burn scars left behind by fires that were spawned by fast-flowing, narrow rivers of lava ejected by the volcano.
Piton de la Fournaise erupts almost every year, primarily from the lava shield named Dolomieu. A January 2009 image of this volcano shows signs of previous volcanic activity.
This pair of high-resolution images from the commercial Ikonos satellite shows the craters of Nyamuragira and Nyiragongo, both of which are located at the far eastern edge of Democratic Republic of Congo, north of Lake Kivu.