The left photograph of the eruption of Kliuchevskoi volcano, Kamchatka, Russia was taken by space shuttle Endeavour astronauts during the early hours of the eruption on September 30, 1994. The ash plume, which reached heights of more than 18 kilometers (50,000 feet), is emerging from a vent on the north flank of Kliuchevskoi, partially hidden by the plume and its shadow in this view. Near the center of the photo, a small whitish steam plume may be seen emanating from the growing lava dome of a companion volcano, Bezymianny.
The radar image at right is of the area of Kliuchevskoi volcano, Kamchatka, Russia, which began to erupt on September 30, 1994. Kliuchevskoi is the blue triangular peak in the center of the image, towards the left edge of the bright red area that delineates bare snow cover. The image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band ØSynthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) aboard the space shuttle Endeavour on its 88th orbit on October 5, 1994. The image shows an area approximately 75 kilometers by 100 kilometers (46 miles by 62 miles) that is centered at 56.07 degrees north latitude and 160.84 degrees east longitude.
The Kamchatka volcanoes are
among the most active volcanoes in the world. The volcanic
zone sits above a tectonic plate boundary, where the Pacific
plate is sinking beneath the northeast edge of the Eurasian
plate. In addition to Kliuchevskoi, two other active volcanoes are
visible in the image. Bezymianny, the circular crater above
and to the right of Kliuchevskoi, contains a slowly growing
lava dome. Tolbachik is the large volcano with a dark
summit crater near the upper right edge of the red snow
covered area. The Kamchatka River runs from right to left
across the bottom of the image. The current eruption of
Kliuchevskoi included massive ejections of gas, vapor and
ash, which reached altitudes of 15,000 meters (50,000 feet).
Melting snow mixed with volcanic ash triggered mudflows on
the flanks of the volcano.