Mount Bagana in Papua New Guinea • Earth.com

Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea, which is home to three large volcanoes: Mount Balbi, Mount Bagana, and the Mount Takuan volcanic complex. Mount Bagana is currently active, and recent lava flows are visible in the photograph.

“Since Bagana was first viewed by scientists in the 1840s, it has been erupting nearly nonstop. The remote volcano extrudes thick, blocky, slow-moving andesitic lavas. These have built the stratovolcano to a height of 1,850 meters (6,000 feet) above sea level,” says NASA..

“The large, symmetrical cone formed in 300 to 500 years, making it one of the youngest and most active volcanoes in the South Pacific. Lava descends the flanks on all sides of the volcano, forming lobes up to 50 meters (165 feet) thick. A small lava dome is sometimes observed near the summit.”

According to the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program, Bagana has been in an eruptive period since February of 2000. The image was captured on May 28, 2022 by the Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) on Landsat 9.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/ Joshua Stevens

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

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