Steam Plume at Gaua Volcano in South Pacific Ocean!
Originally shared by Friends of NASA Steam Plume at Gaua Volcano in South Pacific Ocean! Just 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter, Gaua Island is actually the exposed upper cone and summit of a stratovolcano that is 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) high and 40 kilometers (25 miles) in diameter. Most of the volcano is submerged beneath the Pacific Ocean. Also known as Santa Maria Island, Gaua is part of the Vanuatu Archipelago, a group of volcanic islands in the South Pacific Ocean governed by the Republic of Vanuatu. According to the Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program, the most recent report of eruption activity at Gaua was a steam plume observed on April 29, 2013. This photograph records subsequent steam emissions observed on May 31, 2013, by an astronaut on the International Space Station. The steam plume extends east-southeast from its likely source at Mount Gharat (also spelled Garat or Garet), a historically active cinder cone located along the southwest flank of a 6 by 9...