As Seen From Space: Volcanic Eruption Creates New Island in the Red Sea

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Looking for some new lake-front property? Here’s the newest available on the planet. Volcanic activity in the Red Sea that started in mid-December has created what looks like a new island. The Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured a high-resolution, natural-color image on December 23, 2011 showing an apparent island where previously there was none. Here, a thick plume of volcanic ash still rises from the new island.

See below for an image from 2007 of the same region.

Satellite image of the same region from October 24, 2007. Credit: NASA

According to the NASA Earth Observatory website, the volcanic activity occurred along the Zubair Group, a collection of small islands off the west coast of Yemen. The islands poke above the sea surface, rising from a shield volcano. This region is part of the Red Sea Rift where the African and Arabian tectonic plates pull apart and new ocean crust regularly forms.

According to news reports, fishermen witnessed lava fountains reaching up to 30 meters (90 feet) tall on December 19.

Source: NASA Earth Observatory

6 Replies to “As Seen From Space: Volcanic Eruption Creates New Island in the Red Sea”

  1. Nancy Atkinson, it is the first time that i am reading your blog. After read your blog i realize that it is a treasure of knowledge regarding space and its world. It is very impressive that NASA have very strong eye on these kinds of natural creations on the glob.

  2. Exciting and looking incredible from my view!! I really like the information you provide here about volcanic eruption. I’ll look forward to read more about New Island in the red sea. Thanks

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