This 3D perspective view shows the Japanese island called Miyake-Jima
viewed from the northeast. This islandabout 180 kilometers (110
miles) south of Tokyois part of the Izu chain of volcanic islands
that runs south from the main Japanese island of Honshu. Dominated by
the 820-meter-high (2,700 feet) volcano Mount Oyama, Miyake-Jima is home
to 3,800 people. In late June 2000, a series of earthquakes alerted
scientists to possible volcanic activity and on June 27 authorities
evacuated 2,600 people. On July 7, the island was hit by a typhoon
passing overhead, and on July 8 the volcano began erupting. The volcano
erupted five times over the next week, spreading gray ash over
surrounding areas. Detailed topographic information can be used to
predict the directions that lava flows will take. The previous major
eruption of Mount Oyama occurred in 1983, when lava flows destroyed
hundreds of houses, and an earlier eruption in 1940 killed 11 people.
This three-dimensional perspective view was generated using topographic
data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. A computer-generated
artificial light source illuminates the elevation data to produce a
pattern of light and shadows, while colors show the elevation as
measured by SRTM. Slopes facing the light appear bright, while those
facing away are shaded. On flatter surfaces, the pattern of light and
shadows can reveal subtle features in the terrain. The elevation is
indicated by colors. Lowest elevation areas appear blue, medium
elevations appear green, while higher elevations appear brown and white.
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), launched on February 11,
2000, used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne
Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew
twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to
collect three-dimensional measurements of the Earth's surface. To
collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast,
installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking
and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National
Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense
(DoD), and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Earth Science
Enterprise, Washington, DC.
Site name: Miyake-Jima, Japan
Size: Scale varies in this perspective
image, island has an area of 55 square kilometers (21 square miles).
Vertical scale approximately equal to horizontal scale.
Center Location:
34.1 deg. North lat., 139.5 deg. East lon.
Orientation: perspective view
is looking from northeast towards the southwest Original Data
Resolution: 30 m
Date Acquired: February 20, 2000
Image by NASA/JPL/NIMA