An aviation alert was issued when one of Russia's most active volcanoes erupted on the remote Kamchatka peninsula on Tuesday, April 11, sending a huge cloud of ash high into the air that blanketed nearby communities in grey volcanic dust.
A Blanket of Ash
According to the Kamchatka Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Geophysical Survey, the Shiveluch volcano began erupting just after midnight. It reached its peak around six hours later, blasting forth an ash cloud across an area of 108,000 square kilometers (41,699 square miles).
Villages were showered in layers of grey ash as thick as 8.5 centimeters, the deepest in 60 years. Meanwhile, lava flows gushed from the volcano, melting snow and triggering a warning of mud flows along a nearby highway.
As reported by Reuters, images captured the quickly moving cloud as it swept over the woods and rivers in the far east, covering the countryside in ash.
Danila Chebrov, head of the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Survey, stated, "The ash reached 20 kilometers high, the ash cloud moved westwards, and there was a very strong fall of ash on nearby villages."
"The volcano was preparing for this for at least a year ... and the process is continuing though it has calmed a little now," Chebrov added.
One of Russia's Most Active
Kamchatka is a large peninsula extending out into the Pacific Ocean northeast of Japan, and it is home to some 300,000 people.
Chebrov predicted that the Shiveluch volcano, one of Kamchatka's biggest and most active, would settle down soon. Nevertheless, he added a warning that more massive ash clouds could not be ruled out. Villages should be safe from the lava flows, Chebrov stated.
No injuries were reported, but geologists claimed that the volcano was still active 15 hours after the eruption began.
During the previous 10,000 years, Shiveluch saw 60 significant eruptions, the most recent being in 2007.
It is divided into two sections: the larger part is Old Shiveluch which rises to a height of 3,283 meters, and the smaller one is Young Shiveluch, which summit rises to an altitude of 2,800 meters.
'Red Alert'
KVERT, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team, has issued a red aviation alert warning that ongoing activity might impact international and low-flying aircraft.
Head of the Ust-Kamchatsky municipal area, Oleg Bondarenko, stated in a Telegram message that certain schools on the peninsula, located around 6,800 kilometers east of Moscow, were shuttered. Residents were urged to remain home.
"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."
He assured families that water and electricity had been restored to their homes.
