NASA

The thick brown plume of ash, steam and volcanic gas rising from Anak Krakatau in this true-color image is a common sight at the volcano.

Responsible for one of the largest and most destructive eruptions in Indonesia's history, Krakatau still erupts frequently. For this reason, the volcano is one of 100 that NASA automatically monitors with the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite, as detailed in the Earth Observatory's new feature article, Earth Observing-1: Ten years of Innovation.

Throughout the summer and fall of 2010, Krakatau erupted hundreds of times a day, but by November 17, when the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite took this image, activity at the volcano had started to slow. The image was taken as part of Volcano SensorWeb, a program that automatically schedules the ALI and Hyperion sensors on EO-1 to image volcanoes when other satellites detect signs of activity. ALI provides a detailed, photo-like view, useful for tracking ash, while Hyperion records the temperature and position of lava flows.