On March 16, a powerful eruption occurred with the release of lava and ash from the Bezymianny volcano. The resulting huge cloud of ash flies to Chukotka, reports the Kam 24 news agency. Bezymyanny’s aviation hazard code is orange. This means that ash emissions from the volcano’s crater could pose a threat to local airlines.
According to information from the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) and the Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the height of the ash column was up to 5 thousand meters. Ashfall is possible in the settlements of Klyuchi, Kozyrevsk and Ust-Kamchatsk.
The paroxysmal volcanic eruption lasted about an hour. As a result of the collapse of pyroclastic masses from the edge parts of the eruptive column, pyroclastic flows were formed, the material of which was deposited in the Eastern and Southern valleys on the Bezymyanny slope. In addition, a huge ash cloud formed, which reached dimensions of approximately 320 by 160 kilometers.
A catastrophic volcanic eruption occurred on March 30, 1956, when Bezymianny threw ash to a height of more than 40 km. A mud flow filled the Kamchatka River. The eruption created a horseshoe-shaped crater with a diameter of more than 1 km, open to the east. At the eastern foot of Bezymyanny on an area of 500 sq. km of trees and bushes were broken and felled in the direction from the volcano.
In 2019, also on March 16, the eruption of Bezymyanny with a red code occurred, the height of the ash column of the volcano reached 10 kilometers. Taking into account the wind direction, the plume spread towards the Kamchatka Bay.