April 19, 2010
Somewhere above you, light is arriving from places so distant their names feel like poetry.
Ash and Lightning Above an Icelandic Volcano
Birthday · April 19, 2010
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APOD published April 19, 2010. Credit: Marco Fulle. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Why did the recent volcanic eruption in Iceland create so much ash? Although the large ash plume was not unparalleled in its abundance, its location was particularly noticeable because it drifted across such well populated areas. The Eyjafjallaj�kull volcano in southern Iceland began erupting on March 20, with a second eruption starting under the center of a small glacier on April 14. Neither eruption was unusually powerful. The second eruption, however, melted a large amount of glacial ice which then cooled and fragmented lava into gritty glass particles that were carried up with the rising volcanic plume. Pictured above two days ago, lightning bolts illuminate ash pouring out of the Eyjafjallaj�kull volcano.
Image credit: Marco Fulle