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Fernandina roars back – UPDATED

Either the eruption at Fernandina has kicked back up again, or, based on the accompanying photo, we’ve landed on Gliese 581 D.
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UPDATED 3:30PM Pacific: The Associated Press has put up some silent video of the lava flows reaching the ocean at night

The Geophysical Institute in Ecuador is reporting that the eruption at Fernandina in the Galapagos has intensified over the last 24 hours. Heck, the image accompanying the report looks downright apocalyptic:

Now, I’m actually not entirely sure what is being shown in this image. There is no caption, either. My guess is that this is an ocean entry for one of the lava flows, considering the steam and what looks to be water in the foreground. Of course, I have no idea if the picture is from this eruption going on today or from last week, either. If only these reports had more, you know, details and facts to go on …

Anyway, the report mentions that the volcano has had “43 thermal alerts and said that satellite images revealed a column of gas that extended more than 60 miles (100 kilometres) west of the islands” in the last day, so it sounds like the eruption is intensifying again after calming down a bit on Monday.

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