Anak Krakatau Volcanic Eruption in Indonesia | Europe's Sentinel-3 Earth Satellite
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This image, captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission on Saturday, September 3, 2026, shows a plume from the eruption of Anak Krakatau. The small volcanic island, in the Indonesian archipelago situated between Sumatra and Java, began spewing ash and lava on September 4. This caused disruption and flight cancellations at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport over the weekend, although the airport has now reopened.
In this image, the white plume is a mix of volcanic gases that have reached a high altitude—gases emitted during eruptions usually consist mainly of water vapor, carbon dioxide, and sulphur dioxide. The brown clouds also seen in the image are made up of ash and debris drifting at a lower altitude.
The image was captured by Sentinel-3’s Ocean and Land Color Instrument (OLCI), an imaging spectrometer. This optical instrument has 21 distinct spectral bands that measure data on ocean color and vegetation with a spatial resolution of 300 meters. This provides data for monitoring ocean ecosystems, supporting crop management and agriculture and providing estimates of atmospheric aerosol and clouds.
The Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission consists of two satellites, with a third satellite due to launch on board a Vega-C launcher from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana no earlier than September 14, 2026.
EUMETSAT operates the Sentinel-3 satellites, in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), and delivers the marine and atmospheric data on behalf of the European Union.
The European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) is an intergovernmental organization created through an international convention agreed by a current total of 30 European Member States. EUMETSAT's primary objective is to establish, maintain and exploit European systems of operational meteorological satellites. EUMETSAT is responsible for the launch and operation of the satellites and for delivering satellite data to end-users as well as contributing to the operational monitoring of climate and the detection of global climate changes.
The activities of EUMETSAT contribute to a global meteorological satellite observing system coordinated with other space-faring states.
The European Space Agency's Copernicus Earth Observation Program:
https://sentinel.esa.int/web/sentinel/copernicus/
Credits: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2026), processed by ESA; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Release Date: Sept. 8, 2026
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