Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Kuril Islands, Download KML

Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Kuril Islands

On June 12, 2009, Sarychev Peak on the Kuril Islands’ Ostrov Matua experienced a spectacular eruption. 

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 (bottom).

Large Image: 8192 X 4709 ( click on the image to enlarge )

Eruption of Sarychev Peak
Eruption of Sarychev Peak

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.

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.

Large Image: 8192 X 4709 ( click on the image to enlarge )

Eruption of Sarychev Peak
Eruption of Sarychev Peak

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.

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 a pileus cloud:. 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 a 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.

Large Image: 3000 X 3000 ( click on the image to enlarge )

Eruption of Sarychev Peak
Eruption of Sarychev Peak

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.

Eruption of Sarychev Peak
Eruption of Sarychev Peak

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

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.

Astronaut photograph ISS020-E-9048 was acquired on June 12, 2009. With a Nikon D2XS digital camera fitted with a 400 mm lens. And is provided by the ISS Crew Earth Observations experiment:. and Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center. The image was taken by the Expedition 20 crew. The image in this article has been cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Lens artifacts have been removed. The International Space Station Program supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of:. Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public:. And to make those images freely available on the Internet.

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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 (bottom). 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.
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.

Prior to June 12, the last explosive eruption occurred in 1989, with eruptions in 1986, 1976, 1954, and 1946 also producing lava flows. This detailed astronaut photograph is exciting to volcanologists because it captures several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption.

In contrast, the smooth white cloud on top may be water condensation that resulted from rapid rising:.

The structure also indicates that little to no shearing wind was present at the time to disrupt the plume. **Editor’s note: Following the publication of this photograph:. 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. Either making a hole or widening an existing opening.

G) Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Kuril Islands, Download KML

H) Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Kuril Islands, Download KML

I) Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Kuril Islands, Download KML

Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary of the Eruption of Mt. St. Helens Download KML

Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary of the Eruption of Mt. St. Helens Download KML

(Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary). 12 1978

Large Image: 8192 X 4006 ( click on the image to enlarge )

Earthtopomaps - 30th Anniversary
Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary 12 1978

(Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary). 03 1980

Large Image: 8192 X 4006 ( click on the image to enlarge )

Earthtopomaps - 30th Anniversary
Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary 03 1980

In mid-March 1980, a series of small earthquakes began shaking the ground at Mt. St. Helens in southern Washington.

Over the next two months, the northern flank of the mountain was deformed by a large bulge—a sign that upwelling magma was pushing up on the rock from below. On the morning of May 18, an earthquake caused the entire north flank of the volcano to collapse in a massive avalanche. Relieved of the overlying pressure, the volcano ejected a blast of rocks, ash, gas, and steam that blew down and buried several hundred square miles of forest.

Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary of the Eruption of Mt. St. Helens Download KML

(Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary). August 29, 1979

Earthtopomaps 30th Anniversary
Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary August 29, 1979

This trio of false-color Landsat satellite images is part of a 30-year time series documenting the destruction and recovery at Mt. St. Helens.

Vegetation is red, bare rock and volcanic debris are gray, and clear water is dark blue. (In the complete time series, images from 1984 onward are in photo-like natural color.) The 1979 view (top) shows the snow-covered summit of the perfectly shaped stratovolcano, and the mixture of forest types surrounding the mountain. The darkest red areas are likely undisturbed forests (e.g., north of the volcano), while to the east is a patchwork of forest and logging clear cuts. Lighter red vegetation northwest and west of the volcano are probably tree plantations.

(Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary). September 24, 1980

Earthtopomaps - 30th Anniversary
Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary September 24, 1980

The image from September 24, 1980 (middle), shows the devastation of the May 18 eruption.

The northern flank of the mountain collapsed, producing the largest landslide in recorded history. The avalanche buried 14 miles (23 kilometers) of the North Fork Toutle River with an average of 150 feet (46 meters)—but in places up to 600 feet (180 meters)—of rocks, dirt, and trees. The blast spread rock and ash (gray in the images) over 230 square miles (600 square kilometers). A raft of dead trees floats across Spirit Lake. Volcanic mudflows (lahars) poured down rivers and gullies around the intact flanks.

(Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary). September 10, 2009

Earthtopomaps 30th Anniversary
Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary September 10, 2009

Three decades later, the image from September 10, 2009, shows the recovery in the blast zone. Most of the landscape within the blast zone has at least a tinge of red, meaning vegetation has recolonized the ground. The flanks of the volcano itself are still bare, as is a broad expanse north of the volcano called the Pumice Plain.

Directly in the path of the landslide and several pyroclastic flows, this area has been slowest to recover.

Ground surveys, however, have found even this seemingly barren area is coming back to life: the first plant to re-appear was a prairie lupine, which can take nitrogen—a critical plant nutrient—straight from the air rather than from the soil. These small wildflowers begin the crucial task of rebuilding the soil and attracting insects and herbivores. This process is underway on the Pumice Plain, even though it is not yet visible from space.

Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary of the Eruption of Mt. St. Helens Download KML

NASA images by Robert Simmon, based on Landsat 2,3, and 5 data. Animation by Jennifer Shoemaker. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.

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Earthtopomaps - 30th Anniversary
Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary

The darkest red areas are likely undisturbed forests (e.g., north of the volcano). While to the east is a patchwork of forest and logging clear cuts. Three decades later, the image from September 10, 2009. Most of the landscape within the blast zone has at least a tinge of red. The flanks of the volcano itself are still bare.

As is a broad expanse north of the volcano called the Pumice Plain.

Ground surveys, however, have found even this seemingly barren area is coming back to life:. Which can take nitrogen—a critical plant nutrient—straight from the air rather than from the soil. This process is underway on the Pumice Plain, even though it is not yet visible from space.

The darkest red areas are likely undisturbed forests (e.g., north of the volcano). While to the east is a patchwork of forest and logging clear cuts. Three decades later, the image from September 10, 2009. Most of the landscape within the blast zone has at least a tinge of red. The flanks of the volcano itself are still bare.

As is a broad expanse north of the volcano called the Pumice Plain.

Ground surveys, however, have found even this seemingly barren area is coming back to life:. Which can take nitrogen—a critical plant nutrient—straight from the air rather than from the soil. This process is underway on the Pumice Plain, even though it is not yet visible from space.

The darkest red areas are likely undisturbed forests (e.g., north of the volcano). While to the east is a patchwork of forest and logging clear cuts. Three decades later, the image from September 10, 2009. Most of the landscape within the blast zone has at least a tinge of red. The flanks of the volcano itself are still bare.

As is a broad expanse north of the volcano called the Pumice Plain.

Ground surveys, however, have found even this seemingly barren area is coming back to life:. Which can take nitrogen—a critical plant nutrient—straight from the air rather than from the soil. This process is underway on the Pumice Plain, even though it is not yet visible from space.

Earthtopomaps – 30th Anniversary of the Eruption of Mt. St. Helens Download KML

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