May 12, 1999

The Decade Volcanoes

Location of the 16 Decade Volcanoes. Each of these volcanoes is active and poses risk to human settlements. They were selected to help raise public awareness of the dangers posed by volcanic activity and for special studies during the 1990-2000 decade

Click on the images for larger views and more detailed captions.

Image and Text Credits: US Geological Survey (USGS) and Cascades Volcano Observatory (map). NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (volcano images). Much of the text describing the enlarged space-radar images comes from the volcano page of the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) project of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

This week we feature six of the so-called Decade Volcanoes, using radar images taken from space. Observations from space are helping scientists to better understand the behavior of dangerous volcanoes, monitor the changes they undergo, and attempt to predict future activities. Click on the above images for larger views, additional ground images, and descriptions.

The images shown above were taken in April and October 1994 from the space shuttle Endeavour, using radar instruments developed by NASA's Jet propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Yellow and white colors indicate rougher surface contours (e.g., those of some recent lava flows). Red colors indicate smoother surface contours.

There are 16 Decade Volcanoes worldwide. They all are active and some pose considerable risks to human settlements. They were selected by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) to raise public understanding of volcanoes and the hazards they pose, as well as to encourage increased scientific study during the current decade.

We have featured three other Decade Volcanoes in earlier Observations of the Week:

http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/ootw/1996/ootw_960117/ob960117.html  Mt. Etna
http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/ootw/1997/ootw_970924/ob970924.html  Mt. Rainier
http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/ootw/1998/ootw_980909/ob980909.html  Mt. Vesuvius

More Cool Stuff

We obtained the above space images of volcanoes from the volcano page of the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) project of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). SIR-C/X-SAR is a joint mission of the German, Italian, and United States space agencies. For more information on SIR-C/X-SAR and images, go to:

http://southport.jpl.nasa.gov/sir-c/

To learn more about the Decade Volcanoes project, go to the Decade Volcanoes Web pages of the US Geological Survey (USGS):

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/DecadeVolcanoes/framework.html

The Decade Volcanoes project represents the primary contribution of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) to the International Decade (1900-2000) for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). IDNDR was initiated by the United Nations to make people aware of what they can do to make themselves safer from natural disasters:

http://hoshi.cic.sfu.ca/~idndr/index.html

As part of its Learning Technologies Project (LTP), NASA supports a number of educational Web sites that have excellent material on the Earth sciences, natural disasters, emergency and crisis control, and related topics:

One of the NASA-supported LTP sites that is devoted entirely to volcanoes is VolcanoWorld. This site has an exceptionally rich menu of virtually everything you would ever want to know about volcanoes, including images, references to current volcanic activities around the world, a glossary of terms, volcanoes on other planetary bodies, and much more:

http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/site_index.html

Other LTP sites that are dedicated to the Earth sciences can be found at:

http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/education/edu/edudocs/topic_atmos.html

http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/education/edu/edudocs/topic_land.html

http://observe.ivv.nasa.gov/nasa/education/edu/edudocs/topic_water.html