QUICK FACTS
Where is it? Onekotan Island, northwest Pacific Ocean [49.35544352, 154.7164388]
What’s within the picture? Clouds reflecting off the mirror-like floor of a crater lake between two halves of a volcano
Who took the picture? An unnamed astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS)
When was it taken? Aug. 19, 2023
This placing astronaut picture reveals certainly one of Russia’s deepest lakes sandwiched between two halves of a volcano as its floor was remodeled right into a reflective sea of swirling clouds due to a uncommon mirror-like phenomenon, referred to as “sunglint.”
The volcanic “nesting dolls,” collectively referred to as the Krenitsyna Volcano, are positioned on the southern tip of Onekotan Island within the Kuril Islands — a Russian archipelago positioned within the Pacific Ocean between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Hokkaido, the second-largest and northernmost island in Japan.
The volcano has two fundamental elements: The giant lake-filled, crater-like despair, referred to as the Tsar-Rusyr caldera, which spans as much as 5 miles (8 kilometers) throughout; and the cone-shape mountain that rises out of the water, referred to as the Krenitsyna Peak, which reaches roughly 4,200 ft (1,300 meters) above sea stage. This uncommon configuration is the results of the volcano collapsing in on itself, earlier than a brand new peak grew up out of the lively remnant.
The crater lake that sits inside the Tsar-Rusyr caldera and surrounds Krenitsyna Peak is named Kol’tsevoye Lake. It is 1,200 ft (370 m) deep, making it one of many deepest lakes in Russia, in keeping with NASA’s Earth Observatory.
Related: See all the most effective photos of Earth from area
Sunglint impact
In the astronaut picture, Kol’tsevoye Lake seems to be as if it has been lined by low-lying clouds sitting on the backside of the caldera. However, there aren’t any clouds on this picture. Instead, what you may see is clouds passing excessive over the island which were mirrored off the water’s floor.
Normally, an ordinary reflection wouldn’t be robust sufficient to make the clouds look so actual. But on this case, the orientation of the solar relative to the ISS signifies that the solar’s full beam is being mirrored straight again on the astronaut taking the picture, creating an impact referred to as sunglint, which transforms a big physique of water into an enormous silver mirror. The caldera’s rim stands roughly 1,000 ft (300 m) above the lake’s floor, creating shadows that assist to intensify the cloudy phantasm.
However, the clouds are nonetheless solely seen as a result of the astronaut is positioned above the volcano at an angle that enables them to see the sunglint with out being proper on prime of the island, which might imply the clouds would block their view of the lake.
The Krenitsyna Volcano continues to be lively and final erupted in 1952 with a “reasonable” outburst that lasted for round every week, in keeping with the Smithsonian Institute’s Global Volcanism Program. But its final main eruption was possible round 7,600 years in the past.
Interestingly, one other set of volcanic nesting dolls with its personal crater lake, collectively referred to as the Nemo Volcano, is positioned on the northern finish of Onekotan Island. However, on this case, the lake doesn’t encompass the height that has grown out of this collapsed caldera.
