October 6, 2022 - Smoke and Ash from Nishino-shima Volcanic Island

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A long ash-laden plume and a large red hot spot marked the explosive
eruption of Japan’s Nishino-shima volcano in early October 2022. The
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s
Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the scene on October 4.
The red hot spot marks an area where the thermal bands on the
instrument detected high temperatures. In this case, this is likely due
to a large flow of lava from the volcano.

This eruption of Nishino-shima began on October 1 and has continued
through October 5. According to the Smithsonian Institution Global
Volcanism Program, an eruption produced an ash plume which rose 1.8-2.6
km (6,000-8,500 feet) above sea level and drifted both to the east and
to the west. Dense ash eruptions have caused aviation warnings near the
area, but the island is uninhabited so other risks to people remain
small.

Nishino-shima volcano appears to occupy a tiny island, but it really is
the tip of a large submerged volcano. Measuring only about one-half
mile (700 meters) wide, on maps the island appears as a tiny dot about
1,000 km (620 miles) south and slightly east of Tokyo in the Ogasawara
Islands. The volcano’s eruptions typically produce large amounts of ash
as well as large flows of lava. In fact, the repeated, underwater
eruptions with free-flowing lava have created the island—and are
expanding its size. Scientists have estimated that in the last large
eruptive episode, which occurred in 2020, Nishino-shima produced lava
flows of 1,000,000 cubic meters (35,314,667 cubic feet) a day.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 10/4/2022
Resolutions: 1km (797.3 KB), 500m (2.6 MB),
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-10-06

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