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Iceland's erupting volcano looks like cloud of fire in satellite photo

The volcano on Iceland's Reykjanes Peninsula roared back to life this month after centuries of silence.

NASA has released a photo showing the eruption of a long-dormant volcano under a cover of clouds as seen from space.

The Landsat 8 satellite took the false-color image of the volcano on the Reykjanes Peninsula, near Iceland's capital Reykjavik, at 10:25 p.m. local time on March 22. That was three days after the volcano, which hadn't erupted in some 6,000 years, roared back to life in a spectacular display of lava.

"The image was made from a combination of shortwave and near-infrared data (bands 7, 6, 5) to reveal how the lava lit up the clouds from below. Extremely hot features, such as lava, can 'glow' in the shortwave-infrared part of the spectrum," NASA said of the image.

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey
An image of a volcano eruption in Iceland, taken from the Landsat 8 satellite in orbit, March 22, 2021.

Although it may appear the eruption is harrowing, Icelandic officials said they did not anticipate evacuations because the volcano is in a remote area, about 1.5 miles from the nearest road and 20 miles from Reykjavik.

Tourists have been getting very close to the slow-flowing lava. Officials said one man even tried to cook bacon and eggs on the lava, but his pan melted.

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