By Sara E. Pratt, NASA Earth Observatory
June 10, 2022
May 29, 2022
Bezymianny, a stratovolcano in Russias Far East, ejected a towering plume that streaked the snow with dark ash.
A stratovolcano, also referred to as a composite volcano, is a tall, cone-shaped volcano constructed up by many layers (strata) of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike guard volcanoes, stratovolcanoes have a steep slope and periodic explosive eruptions.
They are amongst the most typical types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common guard volcanoes. Three of the most well-known examples of stratovolcanoes are Vesuvius in Italy, whose devastating eruption in AD 79 buried the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum; Krakatoa in Indonesia, known for its disastrous eruption in 1883; and Mount St. Helens in Washington, which had a major eruption on May 18, 1980.
Bezymianny Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russias Far East rises to a summit elevation of 2,882 meters (9,455 feet). Until late 1955, when it awakened with a cataclysmic eruption, the volcano was considered extinct.
The 1955– 1956 eruption was very similar to the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, with a lateral flank explosion and summit collapse producing a mile-wide horseshoe-shaped crater. Continuing volcanic activity, including the resurgence of a lava dome and pyroclastic circulations, has because filled in the 1956 crater.
On May 28, 2022, Bezymianny emerged again with a strong surge and large ash plume recorded by observers at the Kamchatka Volcanological Station. The ejected ash eventually reached an altitude of 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) and took a trip east-southeast for more than 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles). As the plume drifted over the peninsula towards the Pacific Ocean, it deposited a layer of ash on the snow-covered ground.
The streak of ash shows up in this image, acquired on May 29, 2022, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8. The image is overlain on topography information from the NASA Digital Elevation Model. Bezymianny is seen beside 2 bigger surrounding volcanoes, Kamen and Klyuchevskaya.
The recent eruption continued through June 3 “defined by strong fumarolic emissions, lava-dome incandescence, explosions, and hot avalanches,” according to reports from the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team assembled by the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program. The ash cloud prompted a red-level air travel alert prior to being decreased to orange; the 2nd greatest alert on a four-level, color-coded scale.
The Kamchatka Peninsula is house to more than 300 volcanoes, 20 of which are active, making it one of the most volcanically and geothermally active regions on the planet. The peninsula trips on the Okhotsk Plate, with the Pacific Plate diving under it at a rate of 8 to 10 centimeters each year. Lava generated by the descent of the Pacific Plate into the submarine Kuril-Kamchatka Trench has actually generated three volcanic arcs, or arcuate ranges of volcanoes, on the peninsula above.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey and topographic information from NASADEM.
Bezymianny Volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russias Far East increases to a summit elevation of 2,882 meters (9,455 feet). Until late 1955, when it awakened with a cataclysmic eruption, the volcano was considered extinct. The Kamchatka Peninsula is home to more than 300 volcanoes, 20 of which are active, making it one of the most volcanically and geothermally active regions in the world. Magma produced by the descent of the Pacific Plate into the submarine Kuril-Kamchatka Trench has actually offered increase to 3 volcanic arcs, or arcuate varieties of volcanoes, on the peninsula above.