June 25, 2009: Matua Volcano

This Sarychev Peak eruption, on Matua Island, in the Kuril Island chain, northeast of Japan, was captured from space.

The new photo was taken June 12 from the International Space Station. NASA says volcano researchers are excited about the picture "because it captures several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption."

The main plume appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam, according to a NASA statement. The vigorously rising plume gives the steam a bubble-like appearance.

The pictures of the A-bomb blasts from the '50s look like that too.

The photo also shows a ground-hugging plume of light gray ash, probably a mix of hot gas and ash in what volcanologists call a pyroclastic flow, descending from the volcano summit. Pyroclastic flows — deadly to anything or anyone in their paths — are known to be up to 600 degrees and rush across the land at 130 mph.

I guess they caught the very beginning of this eruption, which is the first since 1989, for Sarychev Peak.

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Gawd! There goes the neighborhood..

No really!
There.
It.
Goes!

Actually this is a space shot of Rosie O'Donnell having an orgasm.

capnhowdy;577346 wrote:

Actually this is a space shot of Rosie O'Donnell having an orgasm.

M U S T ... S U P R E S S ... V I S U A L ...

That is amazing! Look at how the high clouds are parting and creating a nice clear spot for the ash plume to reach skyward.

This is spectacular.

Chuck Norris is a pyroclastic flow. :reaper:

What makes the cloud cover open up to let the smoke go through?

All the air between the volcano and the clouds being pushed upwards by the plume.

I'm guessing that if the flow on the ground is 600 degrees and moving at 130 mph, that there's probably a whole lot of heat and speed in the plume as well. Maybe it's pushing the clouds out of its own way?

Very cool. Very very cool.

Very hot. Very very hot.

Nice find, Bruce. There's so much happening at once during an eruption, its a incredible seeing a nanosecond frozen in time.

capnhowdy;577346 wrote:

Actually this is a space shot of Rosie O'Donnell having an orgasm.

Beestie;577348 wrote:

M U S T ... S U P R E S S ... V I S U A L ...

My eyes...My God, my eyes...:redcard:

No, No, No, you're all wrong. That's what it felt like the day after my hemorrhoid surgery.

Astronomy picture of the day has it in 3D, but you need red/blue glasses to see the 3D part.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090625.html

If you can get your eyes just right, you can see the 3D-ness. It's like those Magic Eye things. I can only do it for a few seconds. Awesome looking though!

More pictures from Boston dot com

I always have a pair of 3D glasses at my computer. That is cool!

The hole in the white cloud cover is probably the evaporation of the moisture droplets into the heated air column, which can hold more moisture, rising with the visible ash column.

The cap on the ash column is not "white steam" as steam is not visible. It may actually be a condensate cloud forming over the ash as it cools in the higher cold air above the cloud cover. The air over the column may be near the temperature of the air at the cloud cover level below, condensing out moisture from the ash and the surrounding air.

Steam is not visible?

We can see the steam clouds from Limerick from here...

noreaster;578770 wrote:

The hole in the white cloud cover is probably the evaporation of the moisture droplets into the heated air column, which can hold more moisture, rising with the visible ash column.

The cap on the ash column is not "white steam" as steam is not visible. It may actually be a condensate cloud forming over the ash as it cools in the higher cold air above the cloud cover. The air over the column may be near the temperature of the air at the cloud cover level below, condensing out moisture from the ash and the surrounding air.

I knew there was a simple explanation to this image.

Hello Noreaster and :welcome: to the cellar.

And Noreaster is right. Technically steam is indeed invisible - what you can see there is tiny condensed particles.

Steam is not visible...when it cools below boiling, it leaves the vapor state and becomes visible as condensate in the air.

Really.

Yes, that's what's coming out of those cooling towers at Limerick, condensed water vapor, not steam.

At least, that's what they tell us it is! :tinfoil:

Hang on - Limerick, Eire?

No... Limerick, Pennsylvania, USA. :f207:

It's a clone, I tells ya, a mutant clone!!! Wake up, people!!!!!!!!!!