November 08, 2013 - RUSSIA - A remote Russian volcano may be readying for a new eruption, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. On Nov. 5, NASA's Earth-Observing 1 satellite spotted ash above the 9,702-foot-tall (2,958 meters) Zhupanovksy volcano, which recently woke from a decades-long slumber.
The snowy peaks also shows signs of phreatic explosions — the stupendous blasts that result from hot lava meeting snow, ice or water, the
Earth Observatory reported.
Zhupanovksy's latest activity started on Oct. 23, when the volcano spewed ash 16,400 feet (5 kilometers) into the sky.
It was the first explosive eruption at the volcano since 1959, according to KVERT, the Kamchatka Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, which monitors volcanic and earthquake hazards in the Russian peninsula.
The initial blast of ash and volcanic gases was followed by several days of
phreatic bursts and strong gas emissions from fumaroles (gas vents) at the peak, KVERT reported. -
Live Science.
There are subtle signs of a new eruption brewing on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. The Earth-Observing 1 satellite captured ash above
Zhupanovsky Volcano on November 5, 2013 (top image). According to the
Global Volcanism Program, the explosions at Zhupanovksy are
phreatic, caused by the nearly instantaneous vaporization of water with hot material below the surface.
In this natural-color image, snow on the high-altitdue ridges is white, ash is light gray, bare rock is tan, and the deeply shadowed northern slopes of Zhupanovsky Massif are blue.
On October 26, 2013, the
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the
Terra satellite spied a
streak of dark material on Zhupanovsky’s north face. The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team
reported ash plumes up to 5 kilometers (3 miles) high and a weak “thermal anomaly” (infrared heat detected by satellite) from October 23 through 26. The explosions were followed by gas and steam emissions from
fumaroles—a
common feature of Zhupanovsky. -
EO.