Photograph Identification: P-44707Kliuchevskoi Volcano, Russia
This is an image of the Kliuchevskoi volcano, Kamchatka,Russia, which began to erupt on September 30, 1994. Kliuchevskoi is the brightwhite peak surrounded by red slopes in the lower left portion of the image. The image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band SyntheticAperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on its 25th orbit on October1, 1994. The image shows an area approximately 30 kilometers by 60 kilometers(18.5 miles by 37 miles) that is centered at 56.18 degrees north latitude and160.78 degrees east longitude. North is toward the top of the image. TheKamchatka volcanoes are among the most active volcanoes in the world. Thevolcanic zone sits above a tectonic plate boundary, where the Pacific plate issinking beneath the northeast edge of the Eurasian plate. The Endeavour crewobtained dramatic video and photographic images of this region during theeruption, which assist scientists in analyzing the dynamics of the volcanicactivity. The colors in this image were obtained using the following radarchannels: red represents the L-band, HH (horizontally transmitted and received) channel;green represents the L-band, HV (horizontally transmitted and vertically received) channel;blue represents the C-band, HV (horizontally transmitted and vertically received) channel. The Kamchatka River runs from left to right across the image. An older, dormantvolcanic region appears in green on the north side of the river. The 1994eruption included massive ejections of gas, vapor and ash, which reachedaltitudes of 20,000 meters (65,000 feet). New lava flows are visible on theflanks of Kliuchevskoi, appearing yellow/green in the image, superimposed onthe red surfaces in the lower center. Melting snow triggered mudflows on thenorth flank of the volcano, which may threaten agricultural zones and other settlements in the valley to the north.
![[KLIUCHEVSKOI VOLCANO]](KLIUCHEV.GIF)