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Iceland Volcano Seen From Space
Image courtesy Robert Simmons, NASA, using ALI data
Lava fountains glow red against the snowy expanse around Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced AY-uh-full-ay-ho-kul) volcano in a satellite picture taken March 24, 2010.
Four days earlier, the volcano had roared to life after a 190-year hiatus, sending up 30-story-tall pillars of lava, along with plumes of ash and volcanic gases. (See more pictures of the Iceland volcano eruption.)
In the picture above—snapped by the Advanced Land Imager aboard NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellite—a steam plume also rises where the lava flow meets snow, adding to the billowing white clouds streaming from the volcano.
As of March 31, the Iceland volcano is still erupting, and it may continue for several months, according to NASA.Published March 31, 2010
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Iceland Volcano's Smoky Trail
Photograph courtesy NASA
Satellites weren't the only spacefarers to see the effects of Iceland's erupting volcano: On March 27 astronaut Soichi Noguchi tweeted this picture of a dark trail of ash among white clouds from aboard the International Space Station.
"Iceland is too far north from the ISS orbit, but I could see it smoking:-)," Soichi wrote to his Twitter followers.Published March 31, 2010
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Lava Burst at Iceland Volcano
Photograph from European Pressphoto Agency via Corbis
Seen at slightly closer range, lava plumes make a stark contrast against the icy landscape in an aerial view of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano taken March 22.
The eruption created a 2,000-foot-long (500-meter-long) fissure in Fimmvörduháls pass, to the west of the ice-covered summit of Eyjafjallajökull. Lava fountains soon began spouting from the vent, prompting fears of flooding due to melting ice.
But the current eruption is in an area covered by winter snow, not permanent ice, making the flood risk minimal, according to NASA.Published March 31, 2010
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Iceland Volcano Light Show
Photograph from European Pressphoto Agency via Corbis
People watch lava erupt from Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano on March 24.
In a show of local ingenuity, Icelandic chefs from a luxury hotel in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, recently offered high-paying clients a gourmet meal cooked using the volcano's smoldering heat. On the menu: lobster soup and fish flambé with shallots, washed down with champagne.Published March 31, 2010
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