Tag Archives: kuril

Alaid Volcano, Kuril Islands, Russian Federation (NASA, International Space Station, 05/18/12)

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Alaid Volcano in the Kuril Islands of the Russian Federation is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 31 crew member on the International Space Station. The Kurils chain extends from the Kamchatka Peninsula to the islands of Japan, and contains numerous active volcanoes along its length. Alaid is the highest (2,339 meters above sea level) volcano in the Kuril chain, as well as being the northernmost. The textbook conic morphology of this stratovolcano is marred only by the summit crater, which is breached to the south (center) and highlighted by snow cover. The volcano rises 3,000 meters directly from the floor of the Sea of Okhotsk, with the uppermost part of the volcanic edifice exposed as an island. Much of the sea surface surrounding the volcano has a silver-gray appearance. This mirror-like appearance is due to sunglint, where light reflects off the sea surface and is scattered directly towards the observer onboard the space station. Sunglint is largely absent from a zone directly to the west of the volcano, most likely due to surface wind or water current patterns that change the roughness — and light scattering properties — of the water surface in this area. Volcanoes in the Kurils, and similar island arcs in the Pacific "ring of fire", are fed by magma generated along the boundary between two tectonic plates, where one plate is being driven beneath the other (a process known as subduction). Alaid Volcano has been historically active with the most recent confirmed explosive activity occurring in 1996.

Image credit: NASA/JSC

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By: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

Southern Paramushir Island, Kuril Islands, Russia (NASA, International Space Station Science, 05/12/10)

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Southern Paramushir Island in the Kuril island chain in Russia is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 23 crew member on the International Space Station. The Kuril island chain consists of a line of volcanoes, many of which have been historically active, that extends from the Kamchatka Peninsula to northern Japan. This line of island volcanoes is known to geologists as an island arc. Island arcs form along an active geologic boundary, typically marked by a deep undersea trench, between two tectonic plates with one being driven beneath the other (a process called subduction). Magma generated by this process feeds volcanoes — and eventually, volcanic islands — over the subduction boundary. Paramushir Island in the northern Kurils is an example of a large island built by several volcanoes over geologic time. This photograph shows the southern end of Paramushir Island after a snowfall. There are four major volcanic centers that form this part of the island. Fuss Peak (center left) is an isolated stratovolcano connected to the main island via an isthmus. The last recorded historical eruption of Fuss Peak was in 1854. The southern tip of the island is occupied by the Karpinsky Group of three volcanic centers. A minor eruption of ash following an earthquake occurred on this part of the island in 1952. The Lomonosov Group to the northeast (center) includes four cinder cones and a lava dome that produced several lava flows extending from the central ridge to the east, northeast, west, and southeast. There have been no recorded historical eruptions from the Lomonosov Group of volcanoes. The most recent volcanic activity (in 2008) occurred at the Chikurachki cone located along the northern coastline of the island at top center. The summit of this volcano (1816 meters above sea level) is the highest on Paramushir Island. Much of the Sea of Okhotsk visible in the image is covered with low clouds that typically form around the islands in the Kuril chain. The clouds are generated by moisture-laden air passing over the cool sea/ocean water and typically wrap around the volcanic islands.

Image/caption credit: NASA

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By: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

Sarychev Peak Volcano Eruption (NASA, International Space Station Science, 6/12/09)

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Sarychev Peak Volcano eruption, Kuril Islands, is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 20 crew member on the International Space Station. A fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station allowed the astronauts this striking view of Sarychev volcano (Russia’s 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 is located on the northwestern end of Matua Island.

Prior to June 12, the last explosive eruption had occurred in 1989 with eruptions in 1986, 1976, 1954, and 1946 also producing lava flows. Ash from the June 2009 eruption has been detected 2407 kilometers ESE and 926 kilometers WNW 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 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 (48.1 degrees north latitude and 153.2 degrees east longitude) 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; the surrounding atmosphere has been shoved up by the shock wave of the eruption. 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, and is probably a transient feature (the eruption plume is starting to punch through).

The structure also indicates that little to no shearing winds were present at the time to disrupt the plume. Another series of images, acquired 2-3 days after the start of eruptive activity, illustrate the effect of shearing winds on extent of the ash plumes across the Pacific Ocean. By contrast, a cloud of denser, gray ash — most 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 (bottom center).

Brown ash at a lower altitude of the atmosphere spreads out above the ground at upper right. 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 (upper center) can be seen beneath the clouds and ash.

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By: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

Simushir Island (NASA, International Space Station Science, 09/01/07)

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Simushir Island, Kuril Archipelago, Russian Far East, is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 15 crewmember on the International Space Station. Simushir is a deserted, 5-mile-wide volcanic island in the Kuril island chain, half way between northern Japan and the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia. Four volcanoes – Milne, Prevo, Urataman and Zavaritski – have built cones that are high enough to rise above the altitude of green forest. The remaining remnant of Zavaritski volcano is a caldera — a structure formed when a volcano collapses into its emptied magma chamber. A small lake fills the innermost of three nested calderas which make up Zavaritski Caldera. The larger caldera of Urataman Volcano is connected to the sea. A defunct Soviet naval base occupies the northern tip of the island next to this caldera. The islands and volcanoes of the Kuril chain are part of the Pacific Rim of Fire, marking the edge of the Pacific tectonic plate. Low stratus clouds approaching from the northwest (from the Sea of Okhotsk–top left) bank up against the northwest side of the island, making complex cloud patterns. A small finger of cloud can be seen entering the northernmost caldera (Urataman) at sea level. When this image was taken, the cloud layer had stopped at the northwest coast of the island, not flowing over even the low points of the island between the volcanoes. The cloud pattern suggests that the air mass flowed up and over the island, descending on the southeast side. This descending motion was enough–under stable atmospheric conditions–to warm up the atmosphere locally so that a cloud-free zone formed on the southeastern, lee side of the island.

Image credit: NASA

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By: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center