Image: Guatemala’s Volcan de Fuego Eruption As Seen From Space

Guatemala’s Volcan de Fuego (Volcano of Fire) erupted on the morning of September 13, 2012. According to the Coordinadora Nacional para la Reduccion de Desastres (CONRED), the eruption included ash emissions to the west and a 500-meter (2,000-foot) long lava flow. CONRED also warned of pyroclastic flows that could descend the mountain in any direction.

This natural-color image captured the eruption as it occurred. The image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite. NASA publishes imagery of Guatemala two times per day on the MODIS Rapid Response web site.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Robert Simmon. Instrument: Terra – MODIS. Larger image