Sulfur Dioxide Plume Erupts from Vanuatu Volcano

www.nnvl.noaa.gov...

On the tiny island of Tanna, Vanuatu in the South Pacific is one of the world's most active volcanoes: Mt Yasur. As the NASA Aura satellite orbited overhead today (March 18, 2011), the Ozone Mapping Instrument detected a large sulfur dioxide plume being emitted from the volcano.

That plume looks really big when compared to the chain of islands there. This particular Volcano is in New Zealand, as if they needed anything else on top of the recent quakes. Can anyone compare this plume to anything for us less knowledgeable people on the subject? I get more or less what I'm looking at on the map, I don't however understand how potent it really is.

Will this cause animal die offs? Fish? Is it headed towards or away from Japan? Is it possible this could mix w/ the radiation?