A chunk of glacier was threatening to fall into an Andean lake and
cause major flooding in a Peruvian city of 60,000. A fissure has
appeared in the glacier that feeds the Lake Palcacocha near the city of
Huaraz, 270 km north of Lima. If the piece breaks off, ensuing floods
would take 15 minutes to reach the city. In 1941, the lake overflowed
and caused massive destruction, killing 7,000 people. The city can be
seen in the left-center part of the image. Lake Palcacocha is in the
upper right corner of the image at the head of a valley, below the snow
and glacier cap. The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection
Radiometer (ASTER) instrument, aboard NASA’s
Terra satellite, is being tasked to obtain current
images of the glacier to help monitor the situation.
Size of full-resolution image: 31.8 x 31.8 km (19.7 x 19.7 miles)
Location: 9.5 deg. South lat., 77.5 deg. West long.
Orientation: North at top
Image Data: ASTER bands 1 (green), 2 (red), and 3(near-infrared).
Original Data Resolution: 15 meter
Date Acquired: November 5, 2001
Image courtesy NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team