Batu Tara volcano emits plume
Active since 2006, Batu Tara continues to puff away. A thin volcanic plume streams northwest from the cloud-shrouded volcano. Based on analyses of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that on 19 June ash plumes from Batu Tara rose to an altitude of 2.4 km (8,000 ft). During 24-26 June ash plumes rose to an altitude of 1.8 km (6,000 ft) and drifted 15-95 km NNW and NW.
The small isolated island of Batu Tara in the Flores Sea about 50 km north of Lembata (formerly Lomblen) Island contains a scarp on the eastern side similar to the Sciara del Fuoco of Italy’s Stromboli volcano. Vegetation covers the flanks of Batu Tara to within 50 m of the 748-m-high summit.
Batu Tara lies north of the main volcanic arc and is noted for its potassic leucite-bearing basanitic and tephritic rocks. Batu Tara lies on young and thin oceanic crust north of the main volcanic Sunda-Banda Arc at the boundary of the collision of the north moving Australian with the Sunda tectonic plate. The first historical eruption from Batu Tara, during 1847-52, produced explosions and a lava flow.
Sunda Islands, Indonesia, -7.79°S / 123.58°E
Current status: erupting (4 out of 5)
Batu Tara webcams / live data
Source: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), Global Volcanism Program, Earth Observatory
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