A dark plume of ash streamed from the Sheveluch volcano on October 20, 2004, at 1:10 UTC when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image. Located on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, the volcano is one the region’s largest and most active. Sheveluch has been erupting on and off for much of 2004, and MODIS has observed several plumes in October. The Kamchatkan Volcano Eruption Response Team (KVERT) places the volcano at alert level orange, indicating that an eruption is imminent or occurring. A second, fainter plume can be seen coming from the Klyuchevskoy volcano complex southwest of Sheveluch. It’s not clear which volcano in the complex is erupting, but it is probably Bezymianny or Klyuchevskoy, both of which were at alert level yellow (volcano is restless, eruption may occur) and were emitting ash plumes during the first week of October. The high resolution image provided above has a resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response Team.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
