NASA spots lava leaking from Guatemala's Volcán de Fuego

GUATEMALA CITY, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Volcán de Fuego, Guatemala's "Volcano of Fire," sprung a leak this week. As new imagery from NASA reveals, the volcano's caldera is aglow in escaped lava.

NASA's Operational Land Imager, a camera on the Landsat 8 satellite, captured images of the volcano as it passed over Central America on Wednesday.

Though dramatic from an altitude of 560 miles, the appearance of fresh ash plume and a lava flow from Volcán de Fuego aren't all that surprising. The volcano, which is positioned 40 miles east of Guatemala City, is one of the most active in Central America.

Scientists with the National Institute for Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology of Guatemala, INSIVUMEH, say the volcanic activity began on Sunday.

At the peak of activity, the plume rose to 2,800 feet. The lava flow stretched to nearly 4,000 feet. On Tuesday, an average of six explosions per hour were recorded. Ash fall was reported at the nearby town of Sangre de Cristo.

"Eruptions at Fuego have become more mafic with time, and most historical activity has produced basaltic rocks," according to INSIVUMEH scientists. "Frequent vigorous historical eruptions have been recorded since the onset of the Spanish era in 1524, and have produced major ashfalls, along with occasional pyroclastic flows and lava flows."