Icelandic eruption from space
Alright, I’m actually in Wisconsin right now for a wedding, but this was too cool to pass up … the folks from the NASA Earth Observatory sent me this image (Natural-color, 10m/pixel) from the Advanced Land Imager aboard EO-1 of the Eyjafjallajokull-Fimmvörduháls eruption, both taken on March 24, 2010.
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nThe Fimmvörduháls eruption in Iceland, taken March 24, 2010. Image courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory. Click on the image for a larger version.
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You can clearly see the flow heading down the drainage to the east, slowly snaking down the snow covered area. I think the steam plume on far east (right) represents the nose of the flow as it encounters snow/water. The lava fountains are also seen on the image as well – the image does a great job of giving you a better sense of scale for this relatively small (so far) fissure eruption.
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UPDATE 3/26/2010 3:21 EDT: For more details, here is the full NASA EO page on the eruption image.
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This isn’t stopping from people in the media getting uppity about the climate effect of the eruption – or, in particular, it Katla erupts – but at this point, it is still anyone’s guess. There is also some great, close-up video footage of the eruption as well – but be sure to check out the comments on Eruptions for other great links left by readers on the eruption.
