Free of vegetation, the gray and white lava-covered peak of the Ubinas Volcano looks like it could be on the Moon or some other extraterrestrial body in this detailed true-color image from July 24, 2010.
Published Feb 6, 2011
This detailed astronaut photograph shows the summit crater of Mexico’s Popocatepetl Volcano on February 7, 2009.
Published Mar 23, 2009
Subduction of the Nazca tectonic plate along the western coast of South America forms the high Peruvian Andes. The subduction (movement of one plate beneath another) also produces magma, feeding a chain of historically active volcanoes along the western front of the mountains. The most active of these volcanoes in Peru is Ubinas. A typical, steep-sided stratovolcano comprised primarily of layers of silica-rich lava flows, it has a summit elevation of 5,672 meters (18,609 feet). At 1.4 kilometers (0.87 miles) across, the volcano’s caldera gives it a truncated profile. Hardened lava flows from past eruptions linger on the volcano’s flanks. This oblique image (looking at an angle) from the International Space Station (ISS) captures an ash cloud first observed on satellite imagery at 11:00 GMT on August 14, 2006. An ISS astronaut took this picture one hour and 45 minutes later.
Published Aug 21, 2006
The snowy peaks of the three Peruvian volcanoes provide a stark contrast to the surrounding desert of the Puna Plateau in this astronaut photo from July 15, 2010.
Published Jul 26, 2010
As part of the circum-Pacific “Ring of Fire,” Mexico hosts several of the world’s most continually active volcanoes, including the massive Popocatepetl (Aztec for “smoking mountain.”) This detailed, oblique astronaut photograph also depicts a neighboring volcano, Iztaccíhuatl (the “Woman in White.”)
Published Mar 28, 2005
