Volcano Journal Entry
Kliuchevskoi Volcano Erupts (March 7, 2001)
The Space Shuttle image (left) shows a 1991 Kliuchevskoi eruption. The color-enhanced space radar image (right) shows lava flows from the volcano in red. NASA/JPL.
The Kliuchevskoi volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula in Far Eastern Russia erupted this week. The volcano spewed a cloud of ash nearly six miles (ten kilometers) high.
Because few people live in the remote area there was little immediate danger from the eruption. In the past, airplanes have had to fly above or around eruptions to avoid damage from its ash.
Kliuchevskoi is the highest and most active volcano on the Kamchatka peninsula. It has erupted at least eighty times since the beginning of the 17th century. The volcano last erupted in August 2000. An eruption in 1994 sent rivers of lava flowing down its flanks.
The Kamchatka peninsula lies in the region where the Pacific plate dives under the Eurasian plate. Its volcanoes are included in the Ring of Fire, the large arc of volcanoes along tectonic plate boundaries surrounding the Pacific Ocean.
