2016 volcano eruptions in Kamchatka and the Northern Kuriles and their danger to aviation

Abstract

Strong explosive volcanic eruptions are extremely dangerous to the modern jet aircraft as they can produce several cubic kilometers of volcanic ash and aerosols that can be sent to the atmosphere and the stratosphere in several hours to several days during the eruption. In 2016, five from thirty active volcanoes erupted in Kamchatka (Sheveluch, Klyuchevskoy, Bezymianny, Karymsky, and Zhupanovsky) and three from six active volcanoes in the Northern Kuriles (Alaid, Ebeko, and Chikurachki). Effusive volcanic activity was noted at Sheveluch, Klyuchevskoy, Bezymianny and Alaid. All the volcanoes produced explosive activity. Strong explosive events occurred at Sheveluch mainly from September till December. Moderate ash emission had accompanied of Klyuchevskoy’s eruption through March till November. Explosive activity at Karymsky, Zhupanovsky, Alaid, and Chikurachki volcanoes was observed mainly in the first half of the year. The total area covered by ash in 2016 was estimated 600,000 km2, from which 460,000 km2 were related to the eruptions of Kamchatka volcanoes and 140,000 km2 were attributed to the eruption of the North Kuriles volcanoes. The activity at Sheveluch, Klyuchevskoy, and Zhupanovsky was dangerous to international and local airlines as explosions produced ash up to 10-12 km above sea level. The activity at Bezymianny, Karymsky, Alaid, Ebeko, and Chikurachki posed a threat to local aircrafts when explosions sent ash up to 5 km above sea level.

Monitoring the Thermal Activity of Kamchatkan Volcanoes during 2015–2022 Using Remote Sensing

“…The VTDAB decreased from 29.6 • C on 3 January to 10 • C by 7 August 2017, and stayed at this level until the end of 2017, sometimes reaching 34-35 • C (Figure 7a). Against the background of a gradual decrease in the temperature of the thermal anomaly, the irregular explosive activity of the volcano was noted all year, the main events of which occurred from 2 March to 30 August (Table 4) [106]. Ash plumes rose to 6-8 km a.s.l., e.g., (Supplementary Figure S54 in Addition S4), and extended more than 600 km to the different directions of the volcano.…”

“…The paroxysmal phase of the Vulcanian-type eruption began on 15 February: explosions sent ash up to 8 km a.s.l. during five hours, and ash plumes drifted for about 1000 km mainly to the southeast of the volcano, e.g., (Supplementary Figure S46 in the Addition S4) (Table 4) [80,104]. In the following days, the rise of ash clouds did not exceed 5.5 km a.s.l.…”

“…From that day on, the eruption developed rapidly: the VTDAB rose to 91 • C on 3 January and to 118 • C on 7 January (Figure 7a). According to ground-based observations, Strombolian-type activity occurred at that time: lava fountaining in the crater with the release of volcanic bombs up to 200-300 m above the crater rim, e.g., (Supplementary Figure S43 in the Addition S4) [80,104]. In the first days of the eruption, lava fountains were observed from the crater of the cinder cone, which formed on the top of Klyuchevskoy during previous eruptions.…”

“…In the first half of 2015, the lava dome was actively growing: lava flows continued to fill the explosive crater, e.g., (Supplementary Figure S15 in the Addition S2), which was formed during the paroxysmal eruption in October 2010, e.g., [78][79][80]. From January to mid-April, 16 explosive events occurred with ash removal up to 12 km a.s.l., e.g., (Supplementary Figure S16 in the Addition S2), and ash plumes spread for 840 km in various directions from the volcano (Table 2) [79,81].…”

“…In 2015-2022, there were five summit eruptions of the Klyuchevskoy volcano (from 1 January till 24 March 2015; from 3 April till 6 November 2016; from 2 March till 30 August 2017; from 1 November 2019 till 3 July 2020; from 30 September 2020 till 8 February 2021), and two lateral breakthroughs (from 26 April till 6 November 2016; and from 17 February till 20 March 2021) [10,25,27,79,[84][85][86][87]89,[103][104][105][106][107][108][109] (Figure 7).…”