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Klyuchevskaya is the highest and most active of the numerous volcanoes on northeastern Russia�s Kamchatka Peninsula. Throughout February 2005, the volcano has been erupting moderately off and on, emitting plumes of steam and ash that have darkened the snow-covered slopes. This pair of images shows Klyuchevskaya on February 15, 2005, emitting a long, pale ash plume to the north. The plume casts a dark, curving shadow on the terrain below. The image at left is in natural color, similar to a digital photo, while the image at right uses additional infrared observations to help distinguish snow (bright blue), vegetation (green), and the ash plume (white). On February 21, a lava flow melted a large part of the Ehrman glacier, on the summit of the volcano.

The images were made from data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA�s Terra satellite.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team.

Instrument: 

Terra - MODIS