Edit: I have no clue.... That is a SERIOUSLY awesome picture though. Nature, even in her terror, is still so beautiful.
Thats static electricity caused by the thick particles rubbing against each other.The whole area around the volcano is covered in several meters of ash and the plume eminating from the volcano can be seen by satellite for a thousand miles. This is a fairly common event in Chile as it has 10 pct of the worlds active volcanos ....approx 190 of them. I know the area.It was a beautiful wilderness area home to some of the best trout fishing in the country.All gone now.Its estimated it will take 10 yrs for the area to recover.John Mc Enroe and Prince William and other celebrities have stayed at a lodge there. Fortunately it was sparsely populated so there was only one victim an elderly lady. Everyone else was evacuated by ship.There are no major roads .