A striking, false-colour satellite image has shown the intense heat coming from a pair of lava lakes that emerged on simultaneously erupting volcanoes in Congo.
It is important to note that the neighbouring peaks are among Africa’s most active and deadly volcanoes, reported Live Science.
Mount Nyamuragira and Mount Nyiragongo are roughly 6 miles (10 kilometres) apart and are located just north of the city of Goma, which is home to more than 1 million people.
Additionally, Nyamuragira is a dome-shaped shield volcano that stands up to 10,033 feet (3,058 metres) tall, while Nyiragongo is a stratovolcano, with a steep cone that towers up to 11,385 feet (3,470m) above ground level.
A few weeks after Nyamuragira began erupting for the first time since March 2012, the satellite photo was taken.
This eruption ceased in May 2016, but the volcano has since had two more eruptions: from November 2016 to May 2017, and again in April 2018, which is still ongoing.
Meanwhile, Nyiragongo has been continuously erupting since May 2002.
During the simultaneous eruptions, sizeable lava lakes were spotted at the summits of both volcanoes.
The lava lake at Nyiragongo is particularly interesting because stratovolcanoes do not normally support these features.
According to a 2021 study, at various points over the last two decades, this fiery pool has been the biggest lava lake on Earth.
As per the Nasa’s Earth Observatory, the image was captured in infrared, which makes the lava lakes appear to glow red and gives the surrounding vegetation a bright green colouration.
The volcanoes are highly active and have jointly erupted around 60 times since 1900.
