Krasheninnikov Awakens After Five Centuries
While many of Kamchatka’s volcanoes are heavily monitored with ground instruments due to frequent activity, Krasheninnikov had remained quiet since about the year 1550.
Radar Snapshots Map the Flow of Lava
Orbiting 464 miles above the Earth, the NISAR satellite recorded changes in the landscape twice every 12 days—once while passing south to north and again while heading north to south, as detailed by NASA. Researchers sequenced 17 radar frames captured through mid-August to build a time-lapse animation. This sequence demonstrates lava filling a smaller inner caldera, overflowing into a wider crater, and eventually widening into a fan shape. The animation also shows a flow to the northwest, which may have formed before the satellite took its first images. Because of how microwaves bounce off it compared to other surfaces, the lava appears lighter in the images. Each pixel in the individual frames represents a 10-meter-by-10-meter square on the surface, roughly half the size of a tennis court.
Did you know? NISAR is the first free-flying space mission to carry two distinct radar instruments—an L-band system capable of passing through tree canopies to image the ground below, and an S-band system designed to observe the canopy leaves themselves.
Technology Transforms Remote Volcanic Monitoring
Synthetic Aperture Radar processing merges multiple images of the same area to sharpen views much like a camera lens brings a blurry object into focus. Matthew Pritchard, a geophysicist at Cornell University and member of the NISAR science team, explained in a statement that the consistency of acquiring data twice every 12 days in high-resolution mode across two observation directions highlights the satellite’s potential for monitoring natural hazards. Pritchard noted that researchers are now viewing volcanoes worldwide that previously lacked such detailed eyes on them, aided by radar’s ability to see through clouds during stormy weather. He mentioned that more than 20 years ago, when he conducted doctoral research on Kamchatka volcanoes, radar data for analysis was hard to find, whereas scientists can now access it easily through online cloud storage. While some researchers use satellites to predict eruptions via volcanic gases, NISAR’s radar records the surface itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did Krasheninnikov last erupt before this event?
The Global Volcanism Program at the Smithsonian Institution dates the volcano’s previous eruption to around 1550 CE.
When did the satellite begin capturing the eruption?
The NISAR satellite captured its first image of the erupting volcano on December 25, 2025, as it finished post-launch checks and began regular operations.
Where are the mission’s radar data products stored and distributed?
All NASA synthetic aperture radar data products are hosted and distributed by the Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center in Fairbanks.
Unanswered Questions
The time-lapse animation tracks where the lava flowed, but it does not explain why the eruption began.
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