Gallery: Vulcan's View 14: Eruptions and Volcanoes Eyed from Space
01sakurajima-japan
Time for another salvo of volcanoes as seen from space. This bunch is varied -- some very active and well-known and some that are unknown to almost everyone. Enjoy! Sakurajima, Japan ================= If you regularly read *Eruptions* and aren't aware of Sakurajima, well, maybe you need to work on your reading comprehension. This Japanese volcano has already produced over 500 eruptions since the beginning of 2013, including [one of its largest explosion eruptions in decades](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/08/large-explosion-at-sakurajima-dusts-kagoshima-with-ash/). The deposits of the pyroclastic density currents (flows) can be seen on southeast slopes below the Showa crater in [this NASA Earth Observatory / Landsat 8 image](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=81891&src=ve) taken August 19, 2013. If you want to check out the full history of Sakurajima and some thoughts on what the future might hold for eruptions at Sakurajima, [check out this presentation by Masato Iguchi](http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cabot/documents/iguchi.pdf) (*large PDF link*) of the Sakurajima Volcano Research Center. *Image: [NASA Earth Observatory/USGS](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=81891&src=ve).*
02rabaul-papua-new-guinea-2
Rabaul, Papua New Guinea ======================== Much like Sakurajima, a city lies within kilometers of a very active volcano at [Rabaul](http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=252140) in Papua New Guinea. The Tavurvur cone of Rabaul is persistently producing steam-and-ash plumes with occasional larger explosions. However, the volcano will occasionally produce major eruptions like it did in 1937 and 1994. However, effective volcanic hazard mitigation and education in the region meant that the [1994 eruption](http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/volcanowatch/archive/1994/94_09_23.html), which produced a ~18 km (60,000 foot) ash plume and dropped multiple meters of ash on cities near Rabaul, did not have the high number of fatalities that were experienced during the eruptions from 1937-43. [This EO-1 image taken August 6, 2013](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=81804) shows the strong steam plume from Rabaul - a sign of the magma below the surface. *Image: [NASA Earth Observatory](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=81804).*
03ambrym-vanuatu-2
Ambrym, Vanuatu =============== Ambrym, located in Vanuatu, has two active craters as [this EO-1 image taken August 6, 2013](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=81858) shows. Benbow and Marum both produce copious amounts of volcanic gases (mainly water vapor with carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide) and Marum has the added bonus of one of the few active lava lakes on the planet. In this image, you can also see a lot of the prior history of the volcano, including the outline of the summit caldera formed during a large explosive eruption ~1900 years ago. There are also older crater formed during previous eruptions, some of which have been filled with younger lavas and others that have eroded in the tropical climate. *Image: [NASA Earth Observatory](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=81858).*
04purace-colombia
Puracé, Colombia ================ I added this Colombian volcano because I haven't mentioned it much, but unlike the many restless Colombian volcanoes (Galeras, Ruiz, Machín, Sotará), [Puracé](http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=351060) has been quiet over the past few decades. Now, this doesn't mean that it is not active. Its youthful look, seen in this October 14, 2002 Landsat 7 image, shows that it has had some recent activity, including 12 VEI 2 eruptions between 1900-1977. However, since then the volcano hasn't done much. With a history like it had during the first 3/4 of the 20th century, one can imagine that [Puracé](http://www.sgc.gov.co/Popayan/Volcanes/Volcan-Purace/Generalidades.aspx) won't stay quiet forever. *Image: [USGS/NASA](http://landsatlook.usgs.gov)*
05nemrut-dagi-turkey
Nemrut Dagi, Turkey =================== When I stumbled across this image, I was a little surprised. Such a youthful-looking caldera in Turkey! Indeed, [Nemrut Dagi](http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=213020) last erupted only ~360 years ago and lake sediments from the region record multiple eruptions from the volcano over the past thousands of years. Nemrut Dagi is also a compositionally diverse volcano, erupting basalt and rhyolite, on opposite ends of the silica spectrum for magma. This [bimodal volcanism](http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009EGUGA..1111927A) is common at many caldera systems like Nemrut Dagi or the less exotic Newberry Caldera in Oregon and is likely related to eruptions where the basaltic input from the mantle is either stopped by rhyolite melt and crystals (producing a rhyolite eruption) or can blast its way to the surface through areas of weakness like faults or fractures in the crust. *Image: From ISS taken December 3, 2003. [NASA](http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS018&roll=E&frame=10206).*
06tarso-voon-chad
Tarso Voon, Chad ================ Sometimes the names of volcanoes can seem downright alien -- case in point, Chad's [Tarso Voon](http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=225020). To me, it sounds like a destination of the Doctor, but it is really a caldera system in northern Chad. The caldera is large, measuring 14 by 18 kilometers with ignimbrite (ash flow) deposits stretching tens of kilometers in all directions. Currently, the only activity from Tarso Voon is solfatara that have been utilized by the local Tibesti people, but there have been no known historical eruptions from the [Tarso Voon caldera region](http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/tarso-voon). *Image: From ISS taken December 24, 2004. [NASA.](http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS006&roll=E&frame=10738)*
07wrangell-alaska
Wrangell, Alaska ================ Speaking of off locations for volcanism, [Wrangell](http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=315020) in Alaska isn't where you think you should find active volcanism in the northern state. Located ~320 kilometers almost due east of Anchorage, Wrangell is part of an enigmatic group of volcanoes within the Wrangell Range. This includes [Churchill](http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=315030) which may (or may not) be the source of the [White River Ash](http://www.gi.alaska.edu/node/1411) lobes that spread across Canada and Alaska in two VEI 6 eruptions in ~60 and ~800 A.D. As for Wrangell, it last erupted in 2002 and has occasional small eruptions. However, it did produce a VEI 4 eruption in ~190 A.D. *Image: From ISS taken August 14, 2005. [NASA](http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS011&roll=E&frame=11812).*
08olca-paruma-chile
Olca-Paruma, Chile ================== As always, I am fond of the volcanoes in the deserts of northern Chile. I could see [Olca-Paruma](http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=355050) and its small fumarole on Paruma (just off this image to the east and south is up) from my field site to the south at [Aucanquilcha](http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vnum=150505=A) when I was doing my dissertation field work. Olca has a gorgeous lava flow that slinks down its slopes, but like many volcanoes in the Andes, its youthful look doesn't always mean it is young. Just to the south of Olca-Paruma is the third largest copper mine in the world, the [massive Collahuasi mine](http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS005&roll=E&frame=19388). The last known eruption of Olca-Paruma was in 1865-67. *Image: From ISS taken November 2, 2002. [NASA](http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS005&roll=E&frame=19388).*
09maug-islands-mariana-islands
Maug Islands, Mariana Islands ============================= Now we just to the middle of the ocean. [Maug Islands](http://www.volcano.si.edu/volcano.cfm?vn=284143) are the pieces of a collapsed caldera that is ~2.5 kilometers across. There isn't a lot of, well, anything on Maug Islands, volcanically or culturally. Since 1695, the islands have been [unpopulated](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maug_Islands) (although there is evidence of [minor Japanese occupation](http://www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/marianas_maug.html) during World War II) and are currently a [wildlife reservation](http://www.guam.net/pub/sshs/depart/science/mancuso/marianas/maug/maug.htm) within the Mariana Islands. There has also been no evidence for recent volcanism at the Maug Islands although there may be some geothermal activity at the sea floor within the caldera. *Image: From ISS taken March 28, 2008. [NASA](http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS014&roll=E&frame=18439).*
10white-island-new-zealand
White Island, New Zealand ========================= Finally, we have White Island off the northern coast of New Zealand in the Bay of Plenty. The volcano has a moderate explosive eruption last week and the [eruption was captured via webcam and helicopter video](http://www.wishtv.com/entertainment/must-see-video/time-lapse-new-zealand-volcano-erupts-nd13) - but this activity was fairly ephemeral and [GNS Science has lowered](http://info.geonet.org.nz/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=6062342) the aviation alert status at White Island back to Yellow from Red and the volcanic alert status to Level 1. However, as last week's eruption proves, these explosions can occur without much warning. You can keep tabs on White Island using [GeoNet's webcams and webicorder](http://www.geonet.org.nz/volcano/info/whiteisland) for the island volcano. *Image: From ISS taken December 31, 2009. [NASA](http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/scripts/sseop/photo.pl?mission=ISS022&roll=E&frame=17505).*
