The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: June 28, 2009

Official News page 8


PICTURE OF THE WEEK: VOLCANIC ERUPTION SEEN FROM SPACE

The Sarychev Peak volcano in Japan blew its top on 12 June, and the crew of the International Space Station were able to capture the eruption as it happened. It's a spectacular picture, but it's also of interest to vulcanologists because it shows them "several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption" such as the main plume, which "appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam" and a clear circle in the "cloud deck" - either caused by "the shockwave from the eruption or from sinking air around the eruption plume".

See the image here - and if you happen to have a pair of those red-blue 3D glasses handy, here's a 3D version of the image.


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