March 22, 2021
Lava from the volcanic eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula illuminate clouds from below.
After the start of an eruption near Fagradalsfjall—a guard volcano on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula—report kept in mind that a river of lava showed up from as far as the country’s capital (30 kilometers/20 miles). It might likewise be seen from a satellite orbiting numerous kilometers in the air.
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 obtained this false-color image at 10: 25 p.m. regional time (22: 25 Universal Time) on March 22, 2021, 3 days after the start of the eruption. The image was made from a mix of shortwave and near-infrared information (bands 7, 6, 5) to expose how the lava illuminated the clouds from below. Extremely hot functions, such as lava, can “glow” in the shortwave-infrared part of the spectrum.
While nighttime images like this one may appear threatening, the Icelandic Met Office keeps in mind that risks from this eruption are presently restricted to the area of the eruption website and close-by valleys. Unhealthy air from the volcanic gasses was not anticipated to substantially impact individuals living somewhere else on the Reykjanes peninsula or in the capital location.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, utilizing Landsat information from the U.S. Geological Survey.
