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Umnak oli 2014123 lrg
2014-05-03
- Classification
- Photograph
- Museum
- Wikimedia Commons
- Credit line
- https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=91099&src=iotdrss
- Rights
- Public domain, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Kids profiles and older: it shows nature, places, still life or a children's book. How works are placed
About this work
Some parts of the Earth are camera shy. Cloud cover seems to be ever-present around the equator and at high latitudes—where warm water and air from middle latitudes meet cooler air and water masses from the Arctic, creating near-constant fog, mist, and marine clouds. Umnak Island is one of those spots that hides from satellite lenses.
On May 3, 2014, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 acquired this natural-color image of Umnak Island and its volcanic neighbors in the Aleutian Island chain. Part of the Fox Islands, Umnak is the third largest in the Aleutian chain and lies just southwest of Unalaska.
Adventure writer Erin McKittrick described Umnak as “a place of tumultuous interruptions.” A major volcanic eruption about 8,000 years ago buried ancient settlements of Unangan Aleuts, a people who may have descended from those who crossed the Bering Land Bridge. Other eruptions and floods (caused by volcanic heating of snow and ice) have paved over the island many times. Russian traders and colonists wiped out or chased off much of the population in the 1700s. Another generation fled or were evacuated by U.S. troops during a buildup of air and naval bases during World…
