NASA's Terra satellite flew directly over Iceland on April 19, 2010, allowing the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument to capture this stereo anaglyph generated from the nadir and 46-degree forward-viewing cameras of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano and its erupting ash plume. In addition to the main plume, there are some smaller streamers visible. They are at lower altitude than the main plume. While the large plume appears elevated above the land surface, the anaglyph gives the erroneous impression that heights of the minor plumes are below the surface. This is an artifact of the presence of wind, which causes motion of the plume features between camera views. A quantitative computer analysis is necessary to separate out wind and height (see PIA13052).

MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The MISR data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.