File:Plume from Bagana, Bougainville Island (MODIS 2016-07-17).jpg

English: The island of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, sits as a large green gem in the South Pacific Ocean - a gem with a smokin' hotspot located almost dead center. The red hotspot and the rising ash plume mark the location of Mount Bagana, a massively symmetrical volcano that rises about 1750 m (1.08 mi) high, towering above the tropical vegetation.

Bagana is one of the most active volcanoes in Melanesia, with frequent eruptions since its modern-era discovery in 1842. The volcano has been in near-continuous activity since the earliest records, with major eruptions reported in 1950, 1952 and 1996. The typical eruptive style of Bagana includes slow-moving lava flows and occasional more explosive eruptions, including ash explosions.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured this true-color image on July 8, 2016. A gray ash plume rises from Bagana and blows to the northeast. The red hotspot marks where the thermal sensors on the instrument detected temperatures markedly higher than background. In this case, the hotspot likely marks an active lava flow.