After lying dormant for the last 95 years , Raikoke , a small islandvolcanoin the northwesterly Pacific Ocean , wake with such ferocity on the morning of June 22 that the eruption could be seen from outer space .
cosmonaut aboard the International Space Station entrance the clap in a breathtaking photo that shows a narrow pillar of ash and gun billowing out into an “ umbrella part , ” where the plumage ’s compactness and the air around it equate , halt its rise . In the image , the top of the swarm loses its shape as it ’s drawn into an eastbound violent storm from the North Pacific .
The blank puffs at the bottom of the plume are likely make by urine . concord to Michigan TechvolcanologistSimon Carn , the clouds may have form when the eruption condensed water system evaporation from the surrounding tune , or when spicy magma made contact with seawater .
Thevolcanoexploded nine time , and six of them were in the first 25 minutes . The ash cloud also included hundreds of lightning bolts , common for a volcanic eruption and known as a “ dirty electrical storm , ” reports Matthew Cappucci forThe Washington Post . big H is also common during a volcanic eruption — find out what that sounds likehere .
Raikoke , which Russia acquired from Japan after World War II , is less than two solid miles in sphere and is turn up near the center of the Kuril Chain . as luck would have it , the island is uninhabited , so nobody had tooutrunthe eruption . But the 42,700 - animal foot - high swarm reached the stratosphere , where it could dumbfound a threat to planing machine that goes beyond potential visibility issues , since it contains rock music and volcanic glass . The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers in both Tokyo and Anchorage have been closely monitor its effects and warning pilots as needed .
Volcanoes powerful enough to give the stratosphere can also have environmental fork . gravid emissions of carbon dioxide can contribute to world warming , according toSmithsonian.com , but sulfur dioxide can cause global temperature reduction . NASA reports that after the eruption , a saturated plumage of sulfur dioxide detached itself from the rest of the swarm and made its way toward the North Pacific .
[ h / tSmithsonian.com ]
