Kiska
- Landsat 7
- N-60-50_2000
Located on the western side of the Rat Islands group — only the outlying Buldir Island, 100 km to the northwest, is farther westwards — Kiska is located 28 km and 42 km northwest from the islands of Segula and Rat Island, respectively. Unusually for the Aleutian Islands, the 285 km² island of Kiska is orientated from southwest to northeast, measuring 40 km in length and between 2 and 10 km in width.
Also visible in the above image is the smaller island of Little Kiska, located off the eastern coast opposite Kiska Harbor.
There are three distinct topographical zones. The northern quarter of the island is formed by the Kiska Volcano — a symmetrical stratovolcano rising to a height of 1,221 m above sea level. The volcano, last active in 1990, measures 8.5 by 6.4 km around its base. At the summit is a small crater of 0.4 km in diameter, breached on the northern wall. The northern seaward flanks of the Kiska Volcano are lined by tall sea cliffs that fall up to 450 m to the sea; the southern flanks drop to a low, lake-filled plain dominated by a series of large lakes — East and West Kiska Lake (connected by a narrow channel) and Lake Christine.
Terrain south of the Kiska Volcano comprises a series isolated plateaus. The southern half of the island is dominated by a sinuous drainage divide with steep slopes on the west and shallower slopes on the east.
image: earth sciences and image analysis laboratory, nasa johnson space center
Location Map
