Earth Science
Karymsky Volcano, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia
Karymsky volcano.
This aerial view shows the Karymsky volcano with the Akademia Nauk caldera lake (also known as Karymsky Lake) in the background.
The 1,486-meter high Karymsky is the most active volcano of Kamchatka’s eastern volcanic zone and one of world’s volcanoes with persistent activity. It is a symmetrical stratovolcano constructed within a 5-km-wide caldera that formed during the early Holocene about 7,700 years ago. The caldera cuts the south side of the Pleistocene Dvor volcano and is located outside the north margin of the 15-km-wide mid-Pleistocene Polovinka caldera, which contains the smaller Akademia Nauk and Odnoboky calderas.
Image Credit: Yann Arthus-Bertrand/astroarts.org
Fullscreen:
1024×768 (JPG; 355 KB) • 1600×1200 (JPG; 595 KB)
Widescreen:
1440×900 (JPG; 492 KB)
Chaitén Volcano
Eruption of Chile's Chaitén volcano,
generating a spectacular lightning storm.
Lightning bolts appear above and around the Chaitén volcano in southern Chile as seen from Chana, some 30 kilometers north of the volcano. The mingling of lightning and ash is a so called dirty thunderstorm. These storms may be sparked when rock fragments, ash, and ice particles in the plume collide to produce static charges, just as ice particles collide to create charge in regular thunderstorms.
Image Credit: Carlos Gutierrez/UPI/astroarts.org
Fullscreen:
1024×768 (JPG; 294 KB) • 1600×1200 (JPG; 521 KB)
Widescreen:
1440×900 (JPG; 458 KB) • 1680×1050 (JPG; 524 KB) • 2560×1600 (JPG; 796 KB)
