October 17, 2022 - Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska

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On October 13, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of
autumn in the northern Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Specific landmarks
easily identified from space include sediment-filled Bristol Bay in the
southwest, the North Pacific Ocean in the east, and multi-colored
Naknek Lake, with the eastern section (called Iliuk Arm) tinted
turquoise thanks to glacial flour. Southeast of Naknek Lake, a blue
circle stands out in the snow-covered mountains. This is Crater Lake,
which sits at the peak of Mount Katmai.

Most of the land seen in this image belongs to Katmai National Park and
Preserve, an expanse of about 6,395 square miles of rugged,
spectacular, and remote terrain that is filled with volcanoes, fossils,
glaciers, lakes, and rivers. The pristine ecosystem provides homes for
a variety of wildlife, including brown bears, salmon, caribou, moose,
lynx, and snowshoe hare. About 700 species of plants are found within
the park and preserve. People also use the area for hunting, fishing,
recreation, and tourism. In fact, the park permits subsistence
activities on the park land for native and rural peoples found in and
adjacent to the park.

While the land of Katmai National Park and Preserve continues to be
remote and sparsely populated today, very few people outside of local
residents even knew it existed a century ago. However, in June of 1912
a massive volcanic eruption—said to be the century’s largest volcanic
eruption in North America—suddenly brought the region to the attention
of the world. At first, the exact location of the eruption could not be
pinpointed, but scientists soon determined that magma had flowed
beneath the tall Mount Katmai to explode through the nearby Novarupta
volcano. Erupting at a rate of 520 million tons per hour, the material
ejected from this Alaskan volcano was 30 times that spewed in the 1980
eruption of Mount St. Helens. Katmai National Monument was established
by the U.S. government in 1918 to protect this extreme volcanic
landscape. Since then, the protected area has expanded both in acreage
and purpose to embrace and preserve natural and sensitive ecosystems
found around Mount Katmai.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 10/13/2022
Resolutions: 1km (121 KB), 500m (337.6 KB), 250m (944.3 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-10-17

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