3. Nabro, Eritrea (134)
The eruption of Nabro in Eritrea was the opposite of many of the eruptions that could be watched live via webcams from the comfort of your home. The little-known caldera erupted in June and was first spotted via satellite and most, if not all, of the monitoring done after Nabro was identified as the culprit was down from eyes in the sky (see above). The eruption itself threw a plume over northern Africa and parts of the Middle East but more spectacularly erupted a long lava flow that stretch out of the caldera down into the flatlands surrounding Nabro. Even into late November, the lava flow and vent area showed signs of magmatic heat and a layer of dark volcanic ash marked the landscape south of the volcano.
The lava flow and ash fall from the Nabro eruption as seen on September 28, 2011. Image courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory.
