Volcano in Papua New Guinea Fires Off a 12-Mile-High Plume

The Himawari-8 satellite loop showing the start of the new eruption at Manam in Papua New Guinea. Japan Meteorological Agency/Himawari-8 (processed by Dan Lindsey) The Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Center has confirmed a new eruption from Manam in Papua New Guinea. Now, initial reports of big eruptions can be dicey, but from reports on the ground and from passing aircraft, the plume from Manam may be as tall as ~20 km (65,000 feet), with the ash drifting to the southwest. There aren't a lot of details, but this does look similar to an explosive eruption at Manam that occurred back in 2004-05. Over the past few weeks, the volcano has been producing smaller ash plumes that reached 8-10 km, but as the Himawari-8 satellite loop (above) shows, this plume is much bigger. You can also see an IR satellite loop from Himawari-8 that shows the growing plume. No word on ...