Plume from Chikurachki Volcano - related image preview

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Plume from Chikurachki Volcano

Chikurachki Volcano, in the northern Kurile Islands, off the coast of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, released another plume of ash and/or steam on September 19, 2007, continuing a pattern of intermittent activity. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this picture the same day. In this image, a tan-colored plume blows away from the volcano’s summit toward the southeast, over the Pacific Ocean. To the east, bright white clouds form a line roughly parallel to the volcanic plume, likely blown by the same winds.

Chikurachki is a stratovolcano composed of hardened lava, solidified ash, and volcanic rocks. This volcano is actually a relatively small cone sitting atop an older structure that was built by volcanic activity in the Pleistocene. The underlying edifice makes Chikurachki, with a summit elevation of 1,816 meters (5,958 feet), the highest volcano on Paramushir Island.


NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center.

Published September 20, 2007
Data acquired September 19, 2007

Source:
Terra > MODIS