In the early hours of February 7, ASTER captured this nighttime thermal
infrared image of an eruption of Anatahan Volcano in the central Mariana
Islands. The summit of the volcano is bright indicating there is a very
hot area there. Streaming to the west is an ash plume, visible by the red
color indicating the presence of silicate-rich particles. Dark grey areas
are clouds that appear colder than the ocean. Anatahan is a stratovolcano
that started erupting in May 2003, forming a new crater.
The image covers an area of 56.3 x 41.8 km, and is located 16 degrees
north latitude and 145.6 degrees east longitude.
The U.S. science team is located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. The Terra mission is part of NASA's Science Mission
Directorate.
