The ongoing eruption at Koryaksky (along with 5 other volcanoes in Kamchatka!)


Koryaksky (Koryak) in Russia

Yesterday in the USGS/SI update, I mentioned the current eruption going on at Koryaksky (a.k.a. Koryak). Today, the NASA Earth Observatory has some images of the plume from the Russian volcano heading out to the east over the Peninsula. The plume itself looks fairly diffuse and mostly whitish steam rather than laden with grey/brown ash. The last significant eruption from Koryaksky was a VEI 3 eruption in 1956-57 that produced ash fall and pyroclastic flows from the volcano.

One thing that is noted on the EO page is this snippet:

MODIS captured this plume days after reports of simultaneous activity at six Kamchatka volcanoes. Vostok Media described the simultaneous activity as rare, stating it was the first time that all six volcanoes showed concurrent unrest in 60 years.

Apparently it has been sixty years since six different volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula were "erupting simultaneously". Right now, Shiveluch, Koryaksky, Bezymianny, Kliuchevskoi, Karymsky and Gorely (which was news to me) are all actively producing plumes and/or erupting. Throw in Sarychev Peak in the Kuril Islands, and you have a busy time in the far western Pacific arcs. Remember, the volcanoes might be located in a fairly remote and unpopulated area of Russia, but many flights from North America to the Far East/Asia come up over Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands, so any eruption can pose a serious threat to aviation.

More like this

Sarychev Peak in Russia erupting on June 14, 2009. Image courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory. The transpacific air routes over the Aleutians, the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kuril Islands are a prime location for the threat of ash to commercial aviation. Many of these volcanoes, especially on…
Sally Sennert from the Smithsonian Institution sent me an email to say that this week's USGS/Smithsonian Institute Weekly Volcanic Report will be delayed due to the inclement weather in the Washington DC area. She can't connect with the server, so the report can't be updated on the Smithsonian…
News is filtering in that Koryak (aka Koryaksky) Volcano in Kamchatka might be heading towards an explosive eruption. The details are scarce, but it seems that a breach on the northwest slopes of the volcano might cause an explosive eruption, however, it is not clear why this is. All this talk has…
Bezymianny in Kamchatka, one of the many volcanoes in eastern Russia that will no longer be monitored by KVERT. In some bad news for volcano watchers (and the general public, too), Russia has decided to stop funding KVERT (the Russian equivalent of the Alaska Volcano Observatory), the institute…

just a simple question or maybe it isnt how much co2 are these volcanoes releasing...., compared to human activty, and also what is the effect upon temperaturs presumably to lower them by reflecring sunlight, is the affect significant globally or just in the north, is the rate of activity much higher than it was over the last 10 years or so.

By Frank Miles (not verified) on 16 Sep 2009 #permalink

this is my dream as well but at least watching the volcanoes live now and then sounds good already because this is certainly something I have never experienced in my life.

what is the effect upon temperaturs presumably to lower them by reflecring sunlight, is the affect significant globally or just in the north, is the rate of activity much higher than it was over the last 10 years or so.

Greetings. First of all - nice blog! Secondly this information was also good and interesting to read, but I don't think everything you have said is real truth. I will need to google about few things you have mentioned in your artcile to make sure. But anyway thanks for the great effort and good luck on writing other articles. P.S sorry for bad English, I aren't English native speaker.

Greetings. First of all - beautiful blog! Secondly this information was also good and interesting to read, but I don't think everything you have said is real truth. I will need to google about few things you have mentioned in your artcile to make sure. But anyway thanks for trying and good luck on writing other articles. P.S sorry for bad English, I aren't English native speaker.