Two kinds of plumes are obvious in this image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on September 3, 2006. A greenish-tan plume of sediment is running off into the Pacific Ocean from a river on the east coast of mainland Papua New Guinea and curving northwest. An ash and/or steam plume from Manam Volcano casts a bright grayish pall over the center of the scene, though the plume is not as bright as the sprinkling of clouds. Manam has billowed out clouds of ash and steam several times throughout 2006. The volcano has been in an active state since 1974, and particularly strong eruptions in 2004 caused many of the island’s residents to evacuate to the mainland.
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC.
