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The second SIR-C mission, which took place in October 1994, collected some fine images of Mauna Loa volcano. Here we can see the summit crater surrounded by the rough (red) a'a lava flows and the smoother (blue) pahoehoe lava flows. The town of Kona on the western side of the island is just off the left of this image. The different colors have been generated by displaying different radar wavelengths as different colors. Red corresponds to L-band (23 cm) horizontally transmit and receive (HH polarization), green is L-band horizontally transmit and vertically receive (HV polarization), and blue is C-band (5.6 cm) horizontally transmit and vertically receive (HV polarization).

Copyright by P. Mouginis-Mark