Volcanic Eruption in Russia: Ash Cloud Spread 108,000 sq km

As per the news agencies, one of Russia’s most active volcanoes erupted on the far eastern Kamchatka peninsula on Tuesday.

The mammoth is shooting a vast cloud of ash far into the sky that smothered villages in drifts of grey volcanic dust and triggered an aviation warning.

As per the Kamchatka Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Geophysical Survey, the Shiveluch volcano erupted just after midnight and reached a crescendo about six hours later, discharging a huge ash cloud that spread over an area of 108,000 square kilometres.

The Lava – a high-temperature liquid coming outside from such volcanic eruption flows is melting the snow and prompting a warning of mud flows along a nearby highway damaging the nearby environment in this region.

“The ash reached 20km (12.5 miles) high,” said Danila Chebrov, branch director. “The ash cloud moved westwards, and there was a very strong fall of ash on nearby villages.”

The villages can see grey ash as deep as 3.5 inches carpeted across the area, this kind of flowing of lava from the volcano is one of the deepest in 60 years.

Images taken from far away distance showed the cloud billowing over the forests and rivers of the Far East and of villages covered in ash.

A view shows a house and a car covered in volcanic dust following the eruption of Shiveluch volcano in Kamchatka region, Russia April 11, 2023 in this picture obtained from a handout. Institute of Volcanology and Seismology/Handout via REUTERS”

The ash reached 20 kilometres high, the ash cloud moved westwards and there was a very strong fall of ash on nearby villages,” said Danila Chebrov, director of the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey.

“The volcano was preparing for this for at least a year… and the process is continuing though it has calmed a little now,” Chebrov said.

Around 24 hours after the volcano began erupting, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Kamchatka, the geological survey said. Russian scientists said the quake was an aftershock from an April 3 earthquake.

About 300,000 people live on Russia’s vast Kamchatka peninsula, which juts into the Pacific Ocean northeast of Japan.

The volcano, one of Kamchatka’s largest and most active, would probably calm now, Chebrov said, though he cautioned that further major ash clouds could not be excluded. Chebrov said the lava flows should not reach local villages.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, though scientists said the volcano was still erupting 15 hours after the start of the eruption.

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Dense Cloud of Ashes

The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) issued a red notice for aviation, saying “ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft”.

Some schools on the peninsula, about 6,800 km east of Moscow, were closed and residents were ordered to stay indoors, head of the Ust-Kamchatsky municipal region Oleg Bondarenko said in a Telegram post.

“Because what I have just seen here with my own eyes, it will be impossible for children to go to school, and in general, the presence of children here is questionable,” Bondarenko said.

He said residents’ power had been restored and drinking water was being supplied.

Shiveluch has had an estimated 60 substantial eruptions in the past 10,000 years, the last major one being in 2007.

It has two main parts, the smaller of which – Young Shiveluch – scientists have reported as being extremely active in recent months, with a peak of 2,800 metres (9,186 feet) that protrudes out of the 3,283 metre-high Old Shiveluch.

Watch the Video of Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Russian:

Source: Reuters