Erupting Volcano: More 3-D Views From Space

The volcano, which erupted 180 kilometers (110 miles) south of Tokyo early this morning, was imaged in 3-D by an advanced radar during a recent Space Shuttle mission, and on July 17 by an orbiting Earth-observing imaging system. The data were combined to show the topography of Mount Oyama and the volcanic ash that was deposited on one side of the mountain during eruptions July 8-17. Hundreds of residents of the island have been evacuated. The island is home to 3,800 people.

Mt. Oyama began erupting at 6:59 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 10 in Japan (10:59 p.m. GMT Wed., Aug. 9), and shot ash as high as 3,000 meters (almost 2 miles), according to meteorological reports. Ash erupting higher than this poses a severe aviation hazard.

The 3-D perspective view was created by combining topographic data from the JPL-managed Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), launched on February 11, 2000, and color image data acquired July 17 by the joint U.S.-Japanese Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). The view of the island is from the northeast. The topography is vertically exaggerated in this depiction. Detailed topographic information provided by SRTM can be used to predict the directions that lava flows will take. A pre-eruption image of the volcano can be seen at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/pictures/srtm .

The SRTM mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense, and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C. The ASTER instrument is a cooperative project between NASA, JPL, and the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry. ASTER is operating on-board NASA's Terra platform.