Ash Plume from Soufriere Hills, Montserrat

  • Credit

    Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

The Soufriere Hills Volcano on the island of Montserrat produced a plume of volcanic ash on February 9, 2006, and ongoing emissions of ash and steam continued for the next several days. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard the Aqua satellite captured this image on February 16.

In this image, the volcano’s ash plume blows westward over the Caribbean Sea. According to news reports, the volcanic ash moved over the U.S. Virgin Islands and parts of Puerto Rico, while authorities on Montserrat prohibited access to parts of the island and some of the surrounding waters. A red box outlines the volcano’s summit indicating that MODIS detected a region that was significantly hotter than its surroundings.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Aqua/MODIS

  • Visualization Date

    2006-02-17