Sakurajima Volcano, Japan

Here's another great satellite shot of an active volcano, this time in Japan. It shows the Kagoshima Bay on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu. Dominating the shot is the Sakurajima volcano, a stratovolcano over 1100 meters (3600 feet) high. There are several things to note here. One is that the entire volcanic shield is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) across. The second is that it used to be an island, but an eruption in 1914—the most powerful Japan would endure in the 20^th Century— actually grew the volcano enough that it met with the mainland to the southeast, converting it from an island to a peninsula. Note the cities nearby.

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