A bit of good fortune along the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) afforded the on-board astronauts this impressive view of Sarychev Volcano (off the coast of eastern Russia) during a large eruption on June 12, 2009.
Sarychev Peak is in the Kuril Island chain, northeast of Japan in the northern Pacific. Before this June event, the last explosive eruption from this volcano was twenty years ago.
Ash from the eruption, which has been going on since the second week of June, has been spotted more than 1500 miles east-southeast and 600 miles west-northwest of the volcano. This has been a problem for commercial airline flights, and they are being diverted away from the region to minimize the danger of engine failures from ash intake.
The plume appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam. The surging plume gives the steam a bubble-like appearance; the surrounding atmosphere has been forced violently upward by the shock wave of the eruption.
The smooth white cloud on top may be water condensation that resulted from rapid rising and cooling of the air mass above the ash column. This cloud is probably temporary: the eruption plume is starting to punch through.
The straight up and down structure indicates that little to no wind shear was present at the time to disrupt the plume.
It’s too early to say if this eruption will be on a large enough scale to have any global climate impact, but in any case it’s a fantastic thing to behold!
