A massive plume of volcanic ash

The images shows a huge plume of volcanic ash blowing about 800 kilometers east and then northeast over Argentina. The plume from the eruption of a volcano in Chile’s Puyehue-Cordon Caulle chain, has disrupted air traffic as far away as New Zealand.

The wind shifted and was now blowing from the west and southwest, pushing the plume east and northeast.

Note the snow on the Andes Mountain range.

The plume reached between 4 and 8 kilometers in altitude on June 13, its height varying with the intensity of the eruption throughout the day.

Images by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite. Credit: NASA and courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC.