On June 15, 1991, Mt. Pinatubo blew its top in one of the most violent volcanic events of the century. Residents of island of Luzon in the Philippines continue to live with the effects of this massive eruption that dumped tons of debris on the volcano's flanks. During monsoon rains, this debris can be turned into rivers, or lahars, of corrosive ash that strip the land of vegetation and harden into concrete-like structures.
Images using data from NASA's airborne imaging radar instrument AIRSAR show the volcano's western side where most of these pyroclastic flows occurred and how the landscape has changed between 1996 and 2000.
They are available at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/?search=&category=Earth.
AIRSAR flies aboard a NASA DC-8 based at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Built, managed and operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., AIRSAR is part of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise program.
More information about AIRSAR is available at http://airsar.jpl.nasa.gov/.
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.