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Earthtopomaps – Landslide Buries Valley of the Geysers

Earthtopomaps – Landslide Buries Valley of the Geysers

Geysers are a rare natural phenomena found only in a few places:. Such as New Zealand, Iceland, The United States ( Yellowstone National Park ):. And on Russia’s far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. On June 3, 2007, one of these rare geyser fields was severely damaged when a landslide rolled through:. Russia’s Valley of the Geysers. The landslide a mix of mud, melting snow, trees:. And boulders tore a scar on the land and buried a number of geysers:. Thermal pools, and waterfalls in the valley. It also blocked the Geyser River, causing a new thermal lake to pool upstream.

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer ( ASTER ) on:. NASA’s Terra satellite captured this infrared-enhanced image on June 11, 2007, a week after the slide.

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The image shows the valley, the landslide, and the new thermal lake. Even in mid-June, just days from the start of summer, the landscape is generally covered in snow:. Though the geologically heated valley is relatively snow free. The tree-covered hills are red (the color of vegetation in this false-color treatment):. Providing a strong contrast to the aquamarine water and the gray-brown slide. According to the Russian News and Information Agency ( RIA ) [English language], the slide left a path roughly a kilometer and a half ( one mile ) long and 200 meters ( 600 feet ) wide.

Within hours of the landslide, the water in the new lake inundated a number of additional geysers.

The geysers directly buried under the landslide now lie under as much as 60 meters:. (180 feet) of material, according to RIA reports. It is unlikely that the geysers will be able to force a new opening through this thick layer, adds RIA. Among those directly buried is Pervenets (Firstborn), the first geyser found in the valley, in 1941. Other geysers, such as the Bolshoi ( Greater ):. And Maly ( Lesser ) Geysers, were silenced when buried by water building up behind the new natural dam.

Earthtopomaps – Landslide Buries Valley of the Geysers

According to Vladimir and Andrei Leonov of the Russian Federation Institute of Volcanology and Seismology:. The new lake appears to be stable and draining gradually through the earthen dam, alleviating fears of a catastrophic flood.

Should the new lake drain enough, many of the inundated geysers may restart. Initial reports from the Volcanology and Seismology Institute state this has already happened for some geysers. Geysers outside of the slide region, including the Velikan:. (Giant) Geyser and a major section of the geyser field known as Vitrazh (Stained Glass) appear to have escaped damage.

In addition to destroying a number of geysers, the landslide may have damaged habitats in the Valley of the Geysers. The thermal waters and heated steam jets made this valley warmer than the surrounding landscape:. And the warmth supported a unique ecosystem. The loss of a large part of its heat source may alter the ecosystem:. But it is not clear what additional longer-term changes might occur. For example, salmon that spawn in the:. Geyser River will be confined to the lower reaches of the river:. And bears, which depended on salmon, will need to shift feeding grounds correspondingly.

You can download a 15-meter-resolution KMZ file of Valley of the Geysers for use with Google Earth.

Thanks to Sergey Chernomorets and Boris Yurchak for information and translation.

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Such as New Zealand, Iceland, The United States ( Yellowstone National Park ):. It also blocked the Geyser River, causing a new thermal lake to pool upstream. Though the geologically heated valley is relatively snow free.

The geysers directly buried under the landslide now lie under as much as 60 meters:.

Other geysers, such as the Bolshoi (Greater):. In addition to destroying a number of geysers, the landslide may have damaged habitats in the Valley of the Geysers. The thermal waters and heated steam jets made this valley warmer than the surrounding landscape:. But it is not clear what additional longer-term changes might occur. For example, salmon that spawn in the:.

F) Earthtopomaps – Landslide Buries Valley of the Geysers

G) Earthtopomaps – Landslide Buries Valley of the Geysers

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Revised September 19, 2023

Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Kuril Islands, Download KML – Earth

Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Kuril Islands, Download KML

Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Kuril Islands

The event left behind a changed island. Acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA’s Terra satellite, these images of Ostrov Matua show the island shortly after the eruption on June 30, 2009 (top), and two years before on May 26, 2007.

In these false-color images, vegetation appears red, water appears dark blue, and clouds, water vapor and ice all appear white.

Volcanic rock, including old lava flows and debris from the recent eruption, ranges from gray to dark brown.

The most striking difference between these two images is the gray coating on the northwestern half of the island in June 2009. While vegetation on the rest of the island appears lush, volcanic debris probably a mixture of pyroclastic flows and settled ash covered virtually all the vegetation on the northwestern end.

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A close look at the top image also reveals that the recent volcanic activity appears to have expanded the island’s coastline on the northwestern end.

Another difference between the images relates to snow cover. In the image from May 2007, snow spreads over much of the island, although the snow alternates with snow-free ground. The vegetation is pinkish-gray, suggesting the spring thaw is still underway. The complete lack of snow in 2009 may result from a combination of a difference in season and volcanic activity having melted:. Or covered any lingering snow.

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A fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station allowed the astronauts this striking view of:. Sarychev Volcano (Kuril Islands, northeast of Japan) in an early stage of eruption on June 12, 2009. Sarychev Peak is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Island chain:. And it is located on the northwestern end of Matua Island. Prior to June 12, the last explosive eruption occurred in 1989, with eruptions in 1986, 1976, 1954, and 1946 also producing lava flows. Ash from the multi-day eruption has been detected 2,407 kilometers east-southeast and 926 kilometers west-northwest of the volcano: and commercial airline flights are being diverted away from the region to minimize the danger of engine failures from ash intake.

This detailed astronaut photograph is exciting to volcanologists because it captures several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption.

The main column is one of a series of plumes that rose above Matua Island on June 12. The plume appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam. The vigorously rising plume gives the steam a bubble-like appearance.**

In contrast, the smooth white cloud on top may be water condensation that resulted from rapid rising:. And cooling of the air mass above the ash column. This cloud, which meteorologists call:. Is probably a transient feature: the eruption plume is starting to punch through. The structure also indicates that little to no shearing wind was present at the time to disrupt the plume. (Satellite images acquired 2-3 days after the start of activity illustrate the effect of shearing winds:. On the spread of the ash plumes across the Pacific Ocean.)

By contrast, a cloud of denser:. Gray ash probably pyroclastic flow appears to be hugging the ground, descending from the volcano summit. The rising eruption plume casts a shadow to the northwest of the island (image top). Brown ash at a lower altitude of the atmosphere spreads out above the ground at image lower left. Low-level stratus clouds approach Matua Island from the east, wrapping around the lower slopes of the volcano. Only about 1.5 kilometers of the coastline of Matua Island (image lower center) are visible beneath the clouds and ash.

Editor’s note: Following the publication of this photograph:. The atmospheric and volcanic features it captured generated debate among meteorologists, geoscientists, and volcanologists who viewed it.

Post-publication, scientists have proposed and disagreed about—three possible explanations for the hole in the cloud deck above the volcano.

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One explanation is that the hole in the clouds has nothing to do with the eruption at all.

In places where islands are surrounded by oceans with cool surface temperatures:. It is common for a sheet of clouds to form and drift with the low-level winds. When the cloud layer encounters an island, the moist air closer to the surface is forced upward. Because the air above the marine layer is dry, the clouds evaporate, leaving a hole in the cloud deck. These openings, or wakes:. In the clouds can extend far downwind of the island, sometimes wrapping into swirling eddies called von Karman vortices.

The other two possibilities that scientists have offered appeared in the original caption.

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One is that the shockwave from the eruption shoved up the overlying atmosphere and disturbed the cloud deck:. Either making a hole or widening an existing opening. The final possibility is that as the plume rises:. Air flows down around the sides like water flowing off the back of a surfacing dolphin.

As air sinks, it tends to warm; clouds in the air evaporate.

Today we’ve started to roll out updated map layers in Google Earth Pro on desktop. With this change we are removing some outdated data in Earth Pro, as well as making improvements to keep maps layer data more consistent with other Google products like Maps and Earth web and mobile.

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Revised September 15, 2023

Earthtopomaps – Fires Burn Across Quebec, Canada

Earthtopomaps – Fires Burn Across Quebec, Canada

An unusually intense start to Canada’s wildfire season filled skies with smoke in May 2023.

Then, at the beginning of June, scores of new fires raged in the eastern:. Canadian province of Quebec, some of which were ignited by lightning.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this view of smoke billowing from the fires on June 3. Shortly after the fires started:. About 5,000 residents were ordered to evacuate near the city of Sept-Îles in the province’s east. As the fires grew:. Evacuations were extended to an additional 9,000 people in surrounding communities and in western Quebec’s Val-d’Or and Normétal municipalities. As of June 5, more than 150 wildfires were active in Quebec.

Smoke from the blazes prompted air quality warnings across Quebec and Ontario. On June 4, the air quality index for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5):. Was classified as unhealthy in southern Quebec and eastern Ontario:. According to NOAA’s Aerosol Watch. Fine particulate matter from the smoke blew down to the U.S. Midwest, where it made the air quality unhealthy for sensitive groups in parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan.

Fire season in Quebec usually starts in late May. In an average year, only 247 hectares (a square mile) of area would be burned by June 5,:. According to Quebec’s fire prevention agency (SOPFEU). But so far this year, 160,000 hectares (600 square miles) have burned.

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The fire prevention agency said the fierce start to the season has in part been due to:. High temperatures and dry conditions in the province.

A Smoky May for North America

For remote sensing scientists who track the movement of smoke plumes:. May 2023 has been a wild, memorable month due to extreme fire activity in northwestern Canada.

Early spring always brings elevated fire risk to Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the northeastern edge of:. British Columbia naturally dry areas that lie in the rain shadow of the Canadian Rockies. There is a period each year, after snow melts but before spring growth begins, that dry forest undergrowth is exposed.

But in May 2023:. This naturally fire-prone dry period coincided with unusually hot:. And windy weather, turning what normally would have been small:. Short-lived fires into huge wildland blazes that raged for several weeks. The fires, ignited by lightning or human activity, charred more than 1 million hectares:. (400 square miles) as of May 24, and lofted smoke high into the atmosphere and across North America.

The animation above highlights the volume of smoke and its dynamic, swirling movements between May 5-22, 2023. It shows black carbon particles commonly called soot—moving across North American skies during that period. The black carbon data come from NASA’s GEOS forward processing (GEOS-FP) model:. Which assimilates data from satellite, aircraft, and ground-based observing systems. In addition to making use of satellite observations of aerosols and fires:. GEOS-FP also incorporates meteorological data like air temperature, moisture, and winds to project the plume’s behavior.

Over the course of the fire outbreak:. Large rivers of smoke traced meanders in the jet stream, swirled into two separate extratropical cyclones:. And darkened skies across large swaths of North America for weeks.

Scientists even used satellites to track smoke injected high into the atmosphere by:. Canadian wildfires early in the month as it circled the entire globe.

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Earthtopomaps Fires Burn Across Quebec 2032 to 2027

“None of this is unprecedented,” said Michael Fromm, a meteorologist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory who has observed the dynamics of smoke plumes with colleagues from NOAA, NASA:. And several other science institutions for decades. “We have seen smoke from this region behave like this in the past,” he said. “But the amount of smoke is unusual for this time of year.”

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Image of the Week: Fires in Canada, May 2023

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Revised September 15, 2023