Terra/MODIS Color Image of Copahue Eruption Plume Across South America

Terra/MODIS image of the Copahue eruption, taken at 14:45 UT on December 22, 2012. Image: NASA. For the first time since 2000, Copahue is erupting, sending an ash plume across southern South America. So far, the eruption is following the same patterns as the activity that ran from July to October 2000. That activity started with phreatic (water-driven) explosions, so it will be interesting to see if this eruption has new juvenile magma involved. Earlier this year, a study of the summit crater lake suggested new magma was intruding under Copahue and the SERNAGEOMIN report mentioned. that seismicity was rising before today's eruption. I grabbed the brand new Terra/MODIS imagery for South America and the plume from the Copahue was glorious - stretching over 350 km across Argentina to the east of the volcano. For a sense of scale on the image, the distance between Copahue and the Embalse los ...