Current Event for Monday October 26th

Katie Powell
10/22/09
Current Event, second Quarter

Volcanic Eruption at Soufriere Hills Volcano

The Soufriere hills volcano is located on Montserrat island in the Antilles island chain in the Caribbean. It is an active volcano. Recently, the volcano erupted again. It started with a series of volcano-tectonic earthquakes, which are caused by the movement of magma underneath the volcano. These started on October the 4th, and then the volcano vented and spewed ash plumes and some lava until the 13th. The photo that was released was taken from the International space station and is of a steam plume coming out of the volcano. The gray lines that extend form the volcano are volcanic mudflows that extend from the top of the volcano all the way out to the sea. The silver-gray look of the water is due to the reflection of the sunlight. To take this photo the space station used what is called an oblique view. Oblique view photos are taken at an angle instead of straight downward, which gives the photo a 3-dimmensional look. I googled other photos of this volcanic eruption and I think that by far this one was the coolest. I really like how much detail you can see just from this one shot and it gives a different perspective then the typical thought of an erupting volcano only spewing dark red lava and rocks.

http://geology.com/nasa/montserrat-volcano/
Eruption at Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat
Geology.com