Nabro Volcano Eruption: NASA Satellite Over Eritrea Snaps Photos Of The Violent Explosion

On June 12, a series of earthquakes struck the region in East Africa where Eritrea's Nabro Volcano is located. Since then, the volcano has been erupting, spewing massive plumes of ash into the sky over East Africa and the Middle East.

Flights have been grounded or rerouted around the gaseous cloud, and local residents have been evacuated from the surrounding region as lava pours from the volcano.

NASA's Advanced Land Imager aboard the Earth Observing-1 satellite passed over Eritrea on June 24 and captured stunning, high-res images of the volcanic activity below.

"Despite the volcano's widespread effects, little is known about the eruption," according to NASA. "Nabro is located in an isolated region along the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and few English-language reports have been published. Satellite remote sensing is currently the only reliable way to monitor the ongoing eruption."

View the images (below) to observe the Nabro eruption. The top image displays intense heat from the lava flow in false-color red; condensed water vapors escaping from the volcano appear blue-white and very thick, while gasses rising from the lava appear wispier and green-blue in color. The bottom image shows the eruption as it appears to the naked eye.

FALSE-COLOR IMAGE:

NATURAL COLOR IMAGE:

Comments

[DeanWormer]

10:07 PM on 06/29/2011

Al Gore has flown his private jet over to protest this release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

[Chauncey Earlington]

06:45 PM on 06/29/2011

Donald Trump lit one of his farts on fire is all it was.

[aprilglaspie]

10:22 AM on 07/01/2011

But the fire spread to the hedgehog on his head.

[Allen Engebretsen]

05:00 PM on 06/29/2011

I lived in Asmara, Eritrea for two years (1970-72), climbed Mt. Nabro while there but didn't realize it was a volcano. I find it interesting that Mother Earth is violently rocking worldwide right now.

[Pema]

07:13 PM on 06/29/2011

she is...i felt a rumble a few days ago and we had the alaska eq. it seems a major shift is going on, the plates are moving. i hadnt heard a word on this until now. so surprised as it is on such a huge scale...

[cqdeed]

04:17 PM on 06/29/2011

Headline wrong again....I see a couple pictures of a volcanic eruption but none of a violent explosion.

[Pema]

04:09 PM on 06/29/2011

and the news has sarah palin on every bleeping hour...the shiny ball tour also incs bachman