Mount Merapi, on the Indonesian island of Java, continued emitting a plume of ash and steam on June 6, 2006. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying onboard NASA’s Terra satellite took this picture the same day. A red square marks the volcano’s summit; this “hotspot” is where the satellite sensor detected unusually warm surface temperatures. A gray plume emerges from the summit and blows westward away from the volcano, gradually dissipating as it goes. Clouds also appear in the region, distinguishable from the plume by their opaque white appearance.
Mount Merapi was gearing up for an eruption in late April 2006. It erupted in early May, sending searing gas down its slopes. The volcano followed this eruption with more emissions of steam and ash in the summer of 2006.