Impact of a major eruption of the Shiveluch volcano (April 2023, Kamchatka) on ecosystems: the extent of burial and destruction of forests according to satellite data

During large-scale eruption of the Shiveluch volcano in April 2023, the active dome collapsed and intense ashfall occurred. Based on the Sentinel-2 satellite images, the scale of burial of the territory by volcanic deposits was determined – ~ 60 km2, and the diversity of buried and dead ecosystems was also estimated. The high-temperature deposits of the collapse blocked the southeastern sector of the volcano over an area of more than 50 km2in the altitude range of ~ 2000-500 m a.s.l. Below, up to ~150 m, pyroclastic flows descended, the lower mark of one of the 5 tongues is located at a distance of 22 km from the eruptive center. Flow deposits occupied an area of 12 km2. Forest and dwarf vegetation was destroyed in an area of ~24 km2, and was mostly buried (up to 85% of the area), and also died due to the flooding of trees by plumes of pyroclastic flows and the impact of pyroclastic waves. In the zone of pyroclastic flows, the destroyed forests are formed mainly by stone birch and larch, as well as thickets of dwarf alder. An ash layer more than 1 cm thick covered an area of ​​more than 10,000 km2in central Kamchatka. Ash 6–10 cm thick was deposited in the forest belt on the slopes of the Shiveluch volcano, woody plants mostly survived. Post-eruption phenomena in the form of secondary ash transfer and redeposition of pyroclastics washed out by watercourses will last for many years and will lead to the formation of new zones of damage and destruction of vegetation