According to a new image collected by the American space agency's Earth Observation-1 (EO-1) satellite, the Nyamuragira volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sprung into action yet again. A new eruption began unfolding on November 6.
Fortunately, the lava masses currently making their way through a crack on the mountain's side are heading away from populated areas, due north. It is not an uncommon occurrence for this particular shield volcano to start releasing lava, since it's one of the most active on the entire African continent.
As seen in this EO-1 Advanced Land Imager (ALI) photo, massive plumes of ash and other chemicals are visible in the skies above Nyamuragira. The path carved by molten lava in the countryside is also visible as a straight, bright line in the middle of the image.
The lava is so hot that it even glows through the cloud cover, experts say. There are very small amounts of silica in the lava, which makes it very fluid. A full-resolution version of this image can be seen at the
NASA Earth Observatory.
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