Russia’s Klyuchevskaya Volcano (also spelled Kliuchevskoi) propelled a plume of ash into clear Kamchatkan skies in the autumn of 2013. In addition to the ash plume, an active lava flow spilled from the summit down the volcano’s southwestern flank. In the afternoon image (lower), long shadows reveal the structure of the plume. The ash barely rises above Klyuchevskaya’s 4,750-meter (15,580-foot) summit before being carried southeast by the wind.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on the Terra (morning) and Aqua (afternoon) satellites captured these natural-color images on October 13, 2013. Photographs from the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) provide a ground-level look at the rising ash plume and fountaining lava. Volcanologist Erik Klemetti reported that Klyuchevskaya was still erupting (along with neighboring Shiveluch) on October 15.
NASA images courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC.
