Kamchatka’s Bezymyanny volcano grows seismically active

The seismic activity has intensified at Kamchatka’s Bezymyanny volcano....

The seismic activity has intensified at Kamchatka’s Bezymyanny volcano, a source at the local department of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Geophysical Service told Itar-Tass. There are weak tremors on the surface and a minor thermal anomaly, which exceeds the air temperature by approximately nine degrees, he said. As a rule, Bezymyanny erupts once or twice per year. The monitoring of this volcano is permanent. Although eruptions are sudden, researchers predict them rather precisely. The latest eruption of Bezymyanny occurred last December. The active phase lasted for several hours, and the volcano emitted an ash plume to the height of 15 kilometers. The volcanic dust reached the village of Klyuchi, 40 kilometers away from volcano, and 300 grams of ash fell per one square meter. The local residents were recommended staying indoors. The volcano settled down within two days. It has not been that active since then, and there is no danger to local villages. Meanwhile, another two Kamchatka volcanoes, Shiveluch and Karymsky, are erupting. Shiveluch, which is located near the Klyuchi village, emitted ash to the height of 4.5 kilometers on Sunday. Karymsky may be also emitting ash, but these emissions cannot be monitored visually. The volcano, which has been erupting for more than eleven years, since January 1996, is located far away from populated areas. It is about 100 kilometers away from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The activity of the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano has quieted. The volcano was emitting lava and ash since the middle of this February. At present it sporadically emits gas and steam. There is no danger to locals, experts said. At the end of this May Klyuchevskaya Sopka was emitting ash to the distance of 30-360 kilometers at the height varying from 6.5 through eight kilometers. A minor amount of ash feel in the village of Klyuchi, 32 kilometers away from the giant. Villagers could hear the volcano roaring, yet could not see it because of thick clouds. The seismic activity of Klyuchevskaya Sopka was high, and over 220 tremors occurred per day. Klyuchevskaya Sopka is the highest active volcano in Eurasia. Its height is 4,750 meters above the sea level. This eruption started on February 15. Lava was pouring down for nearly two kilometers and the volcano’s snowcap was melting. Meanwhile, an eruption of the Bezymyanny Volcano started in Kamchatka on May 12. According to a report from the Kozyrevsk town, the volcano emitted steam and ash. Visual monitoring of the volcano was impossible as clouds were thick, but satellites confirmed a thermal anomaly. Heated gas, steam, water and rock fragments poured down the volcano slope, and an ash emission stretched northeastward. Volcanic ash fell down in the Klyuchi village, which is located 40 kilometers away. “The ash fall was rather large, about 320 grams per one square meter, which shows that the eruption was strong,” a source said. “It seems that the volcano emitted ash to the height of nine kilometers.” The strongest eruption of Bezymyanny in the modern history was the crater explosion in 1956. The volcano, which used to be 3,080 meters high, emitted one cubic kilometer of substance within a brief period, and became 280 meters shorter. Its current height is 2.8 kilometers. Shiveluch is one of the most active volcanoes in Kamchatka.