• Credit:

  NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon, using data from the NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team.

The low-in-the-sky winter sun casts extraordinarily long shadows in this satellite image of Russia’s Kizimen Volcano. A light-colored plume, likely steam-rich, rises above Kizimen’s summit, while a growing lava flow (mostly hidden by gases) descends the eastern flank. Emissions of ash, lava, and volcanic gases have been nearly continuous since the eruption started in November 2010.

This false-color image was acquired on January 11, 2012, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer aboard the Terra satellite. Snow covers the landscape at high altitudes, and the evergreen forests to the north of the volcano are dark red-brown. The light brown hills nearby are covered with leafless deciduous trees poking above the snow.

1. Reference

2. Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team. (2012, January 12). KVERT Information Releases. Accessed January 13, 2012.

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