Mount Merapi

This is an image of Mount Merapi, acquired by the MODIS on the Terra satellite on June 6, 2006. 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. Smoke can often be seen emerging from the mountaintop, and several eruptions have caused fatalities. Pyroclastic flow from a large explosion killed 27 people on 22 November 1994, mostly in the town of Muntilan, west of the volcano. Another large eruption occurred in 2006, shortly before the Yogyakarta earthquake. In light of the hazards that Merapi poses to populated areas, it has been designated as one of the Decade Volcanoes.