PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
PHOTO CAPTION P-44823
October 24, 1994
Kliuchevskoi Volcano (2), Russia
L, C bands
Image - P44823 - GIF 524K
This is an image 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 Synthetic
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. North is
toward the bottom of the image. The radar illumination is
from the top of the image. 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. The Endeavour crew obtained dramatic video and
photographic images of this region during the eruption,
which will assist scientists in analyzing the dynamics of
the recent activity. The colors in this image were obtained
using the following radar channels: red represents the L-
band (horizontally transmitted and received); green
represents the L-band (horizontally transmitted and
vertically received); blue represents the C-band
(horizontally transmitted and vertically received). 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. Paths of these flows can be seen
as thin lines in various shades of blue and green on the
north flank in the center of the image.
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Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C and X-band Synthetic Aperture
Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) is part of NASA's Mission to Planet
Earth. The radars illuminate Earth with microwaves, allowing
detailed observations at any time, regardless of weather or
sunlight conditions. SIR-C/X-SAR uses three microwave
wavelengths: L-band (24 cm), C-band (6 cm) and X-band (3
cm). The multi-frequency data will be used by the
international scientific community to better understand the
global environment and how it is changing. The SIR-C/X-SAR
data, complemented by aircraft and ground studies, will give
scientists clearer insights into those environmental changes
which are caused by nature and those changes which are
induced by human activity. SIR-C was developed by NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory. X-SAR was developed by the
Dornier and Alenia Spazio companies for the German space
agency, Deutsche Agentur fuer Raumfahrtangelegenheiten
(DARA), and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale
Italiana (ASI), with the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt fuer
Luft und Raumfahrt e.v.(DLR), the major partner in science,
operations and data processing of X-SAR.
