An image of a pyroclastic flow, one of the quickest and
deadliest phenomena related to volcanic eruptions, has finally been caught by a
satellite. These ground-hugging avalanches of hot ash and rocks can sweep down
a volcano’s slopes at more than 100 kilometers per hour. They last no more than
a few minutes, says Avijit Gupta, a geomorphologist at the University of Leeds
in England.
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