Volcano in Russia’s Kamchatka ejects ash up to 9.2 km high

Kamchatka’s Kronotsky volcano unleashed a dramatic plume of ash on Saturday, 4 October, reaching 9.2 kilometres into the sky, painting the heavens with nature’s fiery fury, local authorities reported.

The ash plume extended roughly 85 kilometres to the south and southeast of the volcano, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team noted on its Telegram channel.

A red aviation alert has been issued, signaling high risk to both domestic and international air traffic, according to Xinhua. Kronotsky lies about 225 kilometres from the regional capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and 10 kilometres east of Lake Kronotskoye.

This eruption follows a series of six volcanic events in the region earlier this year, a phenomenon scientists describe as highly unusual.

“The last time Kamchatka experienced such widespread volcanic activity was in 1737, following a magnitude-9 earthquake,” said Alexey Ozerov, director of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as quoted by TASS. Ozerov added that the powerful seismic event on July 30 may have reawakened the region’s “sleeping giants.”

Yury Demyanchuk, head of the volcanology station in Klyuchi, said he had never witnessed such extensive volcanic activity in his five decades of work. “On Krasheninnikov Volcano, both summit and central eruptions have started simultaneously, suggesting intense internal seismic activity. As for Kambalny Volcano, which has been quiet for decades, it should not be considered extinct,” he said. Demyanchuk noted that Krasheninnikov’s previous eruption likely occurred in the 15th century, with evidence only in ash layers.

Authorities have urged residents and visitors to maintain a safe distance from all active volcanoes in the peninsula.

With IANS inputs