Welcome to the Ring of Fire © Egor Vlasov/Shutterstock
Today we"re visiting the pair of volcanoes known as Tolbachik—the flat-topped Plosky (Flat) Tolbachik on the left of our image, and the majestic Ostry (Sharp) Tolbachik on the right, which soars 12,080 feet above the Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Russia. These are just two of roughly 300 volcanoes scattered through the region; 29 of them, including the Tolbachik complex, are still active. In fact, there is so much volcanic activity here that UNESCO calls the peninsula "one of the most outstanding volcanic regions in the world," and has designated it a World Heritage site.