Image
Nabro continued to erupt Wednesday as this MODIS image shows
The first video footage emerged Wednesday of the eruption of the Nabro Volcano, located close to Eritrea's border with Ethiopia in northeast Africa.

Eritrean TV (Eri.TV) today broadcast images of the volcano which erupted for the first time in its history on Sunday 12 June last. The volcano continued to erupt Wednesday sending ash northwestards toward Sudan.

Meanwhile, the eruption of the stratovolcano has created a new landmass, according to the director general of Mines at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Mr. Alem Kibreab.

Mr. Alem said that the ash and lava emitted from the Southern Red Sea region volcano has created a new land mass measuring hundreds of square metres. The director general also disclosed that a team composed of geological and volcanic experts is conducting studies in the area.

Meanwhile, according to reports, 7 people have died while 3 people have sustained injuries due to the eruption. The Ministry confirmed that inhabitants of the area have been moved to safer locations while at the same time they are being given basic provisions.


ERUPTION HISTORY

Nabro began erupting on Sunday 12 June, 2011, the first ever recorded eruption of the stratovolcano. The resultant ash plume, extending up to 15km into the air, led to some flight cancellations in neighbouring Sudan, Djibouti and Ethiopia. The ash cloud was carried as far away as Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkmenistan, Somalia, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Egypt. A second eruption Thursday sent a massive ash plume westnorthwest over Sudan threatening to bring further disruption to air traffic in the east Africa region. The volcano continued to emit smaller amounts of ash during the weekend, and during Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Image
Image from Sat24 on Wednesday afternoon. Volcano is circled while the path of the ash plume is highlighted
Image
The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) aboard the Terra satellite observed Nabro on the evening of June 19, 2011. Hot areas are bright, and cold areas are dark. The thermal infrared data were combined with a shaded relief image to show the terrain. The white feature exending to the northwest from Nabro is an active lava flow. A high-altitude plume, likely rich in water vapor, is nearly black, and obscures the erupting vents. A diffuse, ash-rich plume to the southwest of Nabro appears purple.
Image
Airmass RGB animation of the Nabro eruption, from 00 UTC 13th June to 1900 UTC 14th June, 2011.
Part of the Afar Triangle, Nabro is one of many volcanic caldera complexes in the north easternmost part of the East African Rift valley region. The stratovolcano is located in the Danakil Depression, close to Eritrea's border with Ethiopia and north of Djibouti, and has not erupted in at least 150 years. According to data, a similar volcanic eruption in Eritrea occurred in 1861, in Dubbi, Southern Denkel.

Nabro is the most prominent of 3 large volcanoes (Nabro, Dubbi, Mallahle) in the region, each containing a large summit caldera. Nabro comprises lava domes, lava flows, and two calderas, 8 and 5 km in diameter.

The volcano is located along the Great Rift Valley, also known as the East African Rift. the divergent plate boundary extends from the Afar Triple Junction southward across eastern Africa, and is in the process of splitting the African Plate into two new separate plates, the Nubian Plate and the Somali Plate. Seismic activity is frequent in Ethiopia In 1961 alone three thousand tremors were recorded from the centre of the Wollo province resulting in a 20km fissure being opened on the slopes of the Borkena graben.