Isabela Island is house to the critically endangered pink land iguana. The isolation of the islands and their area at the confluence of significant ocean currents generated unique types, including the land iguana, the huge tortoise, and lots of varieties of finch. The Galápagos archipelago is a UNESCO World Heritage website.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, utilizing VIIRS day-night band data from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership and MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview.
The glow of a volcanic eruption in the Galápagos Islands was caught by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite. The image, obtained by the VIIRS “day-night band” at 1:20 a.m. local time (7:20 UTC) on January 7, 2022, reveals lava gushing from Wolf Volcano, on the northern end of Isabela Island. One of the volcanos earlier eruptions, in 1797, was the first historic eruption documented in the Galápagos Islands.
By Sara E. Pratt, NASA Earth Observatory
January 8, 2022
January 7, 2022
The radiance of a volcanic eruption in the Galápagos Islands was caught by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite. The image, gotten by the VIIRS “day-night band” at 1:20 a.m. local time (7:20 UTC) on January 7, 2022, reveals lava gushing from Wolf Volcano, on the northern end of Isabela Island. The biggest island in the Galápagos archipelago lies roughly 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) off the west coast of Ecuador.
According to the Geophysical Institute in Quito, the volcano started appearing late on January 6, sending incandescent lava flows down the volcanos flanks and ejecting ash clouds up to about 3,800 meters (12,500 feet). Later on January 7, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Terra satellite obtained an image (below) of the plume blowing west over the Pacific Ocean.
January 7, 2022
Wolf is the biggest and tallest volcano in the Galápagos Islands. It last erupted in May and June 2015, with an eruption rated 4 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) (range from 0 to 8). One of the volcanos earlier eruptions, in 1797, was the first historic eruption recorded in the Galápagos Islands.