Gallery: Volcanoes Seen From Space for September 29, 2011
01canary-islands
If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know that I try to remind people to look at the Smithsonian Institute/USGS Global Volcanism Program *[Weekly Volcanic Activity Report](http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm?wvarweek=20110921)*. It captures much of the volcanic activity around the world on a weekly basis, so you can catch up on anything you missed (all thanks to the hard work by Sally Kuhn Sennert). Now that the blog has moved, I’m going to try something a little different and combine the highlights from the Weekly Volcanic Activity report with images old-and-new from the *[NASA Earth Observatory](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/)*. It is like peanut butter and jelly in the same jar (what could go wrong?). Hope you enjoy! __Above:__ Canary Islands -------------- Yesterday’s post gets into the gory details of the [rumblings in the Canary Islands](http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm?wvarweek=20110921#hierro), but I did [like this picture of the Canary Islands](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=42610) taken in February 2010. You can see the relationship of the Canaries to Africa and the fact that El Hierro is the furthest west of the island chain. It is also the youngest (along with La Palma) of the volcanic chain and shows how potentially wide the Canary hotspot plume might be. *Image: Dust plume from Africa over the Canary Islands in February 2010. NASA Earth Observatory*
02indonesia
Indonesia --------- Not a week goes by with an abundance of volcanic activity in Indonesia. The “new activity” in the island archipelago is from [Lewotobi](http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm?wvarweek=20110921#lewotobi) — which interestingly doesn’t have an image in the *NASA EO* archive — however, there are [images of the plumes from Dukono](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=38402) on Halmahera, which is [almost always putting out a weak plume](http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm?wvarweek=20110921#dukono) that can be spotted by satellite or from passing aircraft. *Image: A wispy gas plume from Dukono in Indonesia, seen in 2009. NASA Earth Observatory*
03chile
Chile ----- The eruption at Puyehue-Cordon Caulle [continues to produce ash falls](http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm?wvarweek=20110921#puyehue) in the border region of Chile and Argentina. The activity has subsided considerably since [the June start of the eruption](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=50862), with plumes only reaching 3-5 km / 10,000-16,000 feet — but the [September 17, 2011 image](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=52221) of the volcano shows how widespread the plume can be even at these decreased levels of activity. Right now the plume is drifting to the northwest, but the [ash from a more easterly](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=51991) wind can clearly be seen in the image. *Image: The ash plume from Puyehue in late September 2011. NASA Earth Observatory*
04russia
Russia ------ Much like Indonesia, where would we be without updates of volcanic activity in Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula? [Kizimen](http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm?wvarweek=20110921#kizimen) has been the most activity over the past few weeks and [an active lava flow](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=52119) has seen on the eastern flank of the volcano. Similarly, [Karymsky](http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm?wvarweek=20110921#karymsky) and [Shiveluch](http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm?wvarweek=20110921#shiveluc) has also been noisy as fall begins on Kamchatka. *Image: A false-color image of the late September 2011 view of the lava flow on Kizimen. NASA Earth Observatory*
05hawaii
Hawai'i ------- [Kilauea has had a busy year](http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm?wvarweek=20110921#kilauea) as well, with new lava flows from both the [Kamoamoa Fissure](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=49783) in March of 2011 but also from the Pu'u O'o crater. [The freshest basalt lava flows](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=52086) show up as dark black in the satellite images of the volcano and show how much territory these flows can cover in a matter of days to weeks. *Image: New lava flows from Pu'u O'o seen in mid-September 2011. NASA Earth Observatory*
06eritrea
And now a couple that didn’t make the report this week … Eritrea ------- Just today, the *NASA Earth Observatory* posted new images of the area around Nabro. The volcano started unexpectedly erupting in the summer and since the main pulse of explosive activity ceased, the volcano has slipped from the news. However, the [latest images](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=52323) indicate that there is still some limited activity at the remote caldera — a wispy gas plume is still visible and in IR, “hot spots” appear near the vents of the long lava flows that head off to the west. It is clearly not [the same level of activity as earlier](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=51031), but the volcano is still erupting at much lower rates. *Image: A false-color image of the much-waned activity at Nabro in Eritrea seen in late September 2011. NASA Earth Observatory*
07italy
Italy ----- Etna continues its busy year, and when the weather cooperates satellites can snap shots of the many paroxysms we’ve been able to watch on the webcams. Some of the paroxysms of September have produced lava flows from the southeast crater — and this Sept. 8 image isn’t even from the latest events as Etna had [another brief-but-powerful paroxysm](http://www.ct.ingv.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=456&Itemid=370) last night (Sept. 28). If you need even more images of volcanoes from space, check out the [“Odds & Ends: Volcanoes”](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/elegantfigures/2011/09/28/odds-ends-volcanoes/) post on the NASA Earth Observatory blog. *Image: The Sept. 8 paroxysm from Etna. NASA Earth Observatory.*
