Indonesia’s Ruang volcano erupted early on Tuesday morning, sending a towering column of ash and lightning high into the night sky.

After a period of inactivity following a separate eruption earlier this month, the Ruang volcano experienced a powerful eruption on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The satellite animation below shows a large mass of clouds and ash rapidly developing above the volcano following the eruption.

Video: Visible satellite images from the Himawari-9 satellite, showing the eruption occurring at night before the rising sun illuminates the cloud created by the volcano. Source: RAMMB/CIRA

Weatherzone’s Total Lightning Network detected around 14,000 lightning pulses within a 200 km radius of the volcano during the six-hour period following the eruption. Most of this lightning occurred directly above the volcano within the first three hours after the eruption.

According to the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre at the Bureau of Meteorology, volcanic ash was reaching around 63,000 feet (19.2 km) into the sky on Tuesday, with the volcanic ash cloud moving towards the west northwest of the summit.

Enhanced Himawari-9 satellite imagery shows this west to northwest movement of the volcanic ash cloud following Tuesday’s eruption.

Video: Enhanced ‘ash’ satellite imagery and lightning observations showing the movement of the lightning-active Ruang Volcano plume on Tuesday, April 30, 2024.

According to Reuters, most residents from the island of Ruang had already been evacuated following a separate eruption earlier in April.