Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 16 hours ago
Mexico’s Popocatépetl Volcano, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, began belching out towering clouds of ash this week. Located about 45 miles southeast of Mexico City in central Mexico, the volcano is considered one of the most dangerous in the world, since roughly 25 million people live within 60 miles of it. Thus, it is also one of the world’s most closely-monitored volcanoes.
After lying dormant for more than 70 years, the roughly 17,800-foot volcano, known affectionately as “El Popo,” awoke in 1994, and has been spewing toxic fumes, ash, and lumps of incandescent rock persistently ever since.
Credits:
NOAA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
CIRA
Additional imagery courtesy of CIMSS.
Footage of Popocatépetl from Pond5/BlackBoxGuild
Music: “Requiem for Earth” by Carolin Petit [SACEM]; Koka Media; Universal Production Music
Mexico’s Popocatépetl Volcano, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, began belching out towering clouds of ash this week. Located about 45 miles southeast of Mexico City in central Mexico, the volcano is considered one of the most dangerous in the world, since roughly 25 million people live within 60 miles of it. Thus, it is also one of the world’s most closely-monitored volcanoes.
After lying dormant for more than 70 years, the roughly 17,800-foot volcano, known affectionately as “El Popo,” awoke in 1994, and has been spewing toxic fumes, ash, and lumps of incandescent rock persistently ever since.
Credits:
NOAA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
CIRA
Additional imagery courtesy of CIMSS.
Footage of Popocatépetl from Pond5/BlackBoxGuild
Music: “Requiem for Earth” by Carolin Petit [SACEM]; Koka Media; Universal Production Music
