Volcanic ash plumes from Sarychev Peak blowing across the Sea of Okhotsk and the island of Sakhalin. - stock photo

June 16, 2009 - Volcanic ash plumes from Sarychev Peak blew across the Sea of Okhotsk and over the island of Sakhalin. Brown volcanic ash blows in a counter-clockwise arc across a bank of clouds hovering over the ocean. Ash has thinned considerably over Sakhalin, but the ash is still discernible both east and west of the island�s shores. Sarychev Peak sits at the northwestern end of Ostrov Matua (Matua Island) in the Central Kuril (Kurile) Islands off Russia�s Kamchatka Peninsula. Rising to a height of 1,496 meters (4,908 feet), the volcano is one of the Kuril Islands�s most active.