A volcano that slept for thousands of years just jolted the world awake. Hayli Gubbi in Ethiopia erupted with a plume so tall it touched airline routes and sent planners scrambling. If you thought remote volcanoes stay local,

The eruption sent ash clouds up to 14 km into the sky, affecting Yemen, Oman, India, and northern Pakistan, according to the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) in France. Rising approximately 500 metres, Hayli Gubbi sits within the geologically active Rift Valley, where tectonic plates converge.

The ash cloud drifted over northern India, causing some flight delays and cancellations, and continued toward China.

The explosive power and content of a volcanic eruption are determined by two key factors: the viscosity of the magma and its dissolved gas content

The Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia erupted after nearly 12,000 years, sending ash plumes across the Red Sea to India, affecting visibility and air quality in northwest regions before drifting toward China and the Pacific.