NASA’s Terra satellite gives a bright look at recent rumblings from the Mount St. Helens volcano.

This image, taken just a week after Mount St. Helens belched ash and steam earlier this month, shows a visible and infrared view of the volcano and surrounding area. Vegetation is depicted in green, while snow is shown in light blue and bare rocks appear in tan.

Terra used its ASTER (short for Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) imager to observe Mount St. Helens. ASTER’s infrared channels detected hot spots from incandescent lava as the volcano’s lava dome gradually grows. The dome has risen 500 feet from its earlier position since September 2004, when Mount St.Helens reawakened from its slumber.

-- SPACE.com Staff

Credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

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