An unknown astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) took this stunning photo.
Ruapehu is the largest stratovolcano and the highestdot Australia. It was here that Orodruin or Mount Doom from the Lord of the Rings movies was filmed. It is located in the Tongariro National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) located in the center of New Zealand's North Island. Much of Tolkien's Kingdom of the Mediterranean and Mordor was filmed here.
Volcano Ruapehu. Image: NASA
The image released by NASA was taken by one of the Expedition 65 astronauts aboard the ISS on September 23, 2021, as the station passed over the volcano.
Hydrothermal lake on top of Mount Ruapehu,known as Crater Lake or Te Wai-moe, is located between the three main peaks of the mountain. The highest of them reaches 2,797 m. A magma chamber deep inside the volcano heats the lake, causing the lake's temperature to range from 15° to 45°C. Moreover, according to observations, the lake is very acidic, with a pH level of <1 due to the large amount of volcanic gases that dissolve in the water.
Crater Lake is important to geologists whomonitoring the threat level of the volcano. The hydrothermal lake is the only accessible part of the volcanic system available to researchers, and rapid fluctuations in water temperature may reflect changes in activity below the volcano's snowy summit.
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