The 2024 Activity of Kamchatka and Kurile Volcanoes and Their Danger to Aviation

In 2024, explosive eruptions of the Sheveluch, Klyuchevskoy, Bezymianny, and Karymsky volcanoes occurred at Kamchatka, and the Ebeko volcano at the Northern Kurile Islands. On April 26, 2024, a new lava dome, named after the 300 years of the Russian Academy of Sciences began to grow in the area of the Karan old dome on the Stary Sheveluch volcano western slope. Powerful explosive eruptions that destroyed the new dome were observed on August 17–18, September 1–2, and November 7–10, 2024: eruptive columns rose up to 11 km above sea level, ash plumes extended for 2400 km mainly to the northeast and east of the volcano. The summit explosive eruption of the Klyuchevskoy volcano lasted from December 27, 2023 to January 2, 2024: explosions send ash up to 7 km above sea level and ash plumes extended for 230 km to the northwest of the volcano. The paroxysmal explosive eruption of Bezymianny volcano occurred on July 24, 2024: the eruptive cloud rose up to 12 km above sea level, the eruptive and coignimbrite clouds moved, respectively, to the northeast and northwest up to 2500 km from the volcano. The Bezymianny eruption forecast, which was published on the KVERT website, was realized 39 h 40 min later. Explosive activity of the Karymsky volcano was observed from June 20 to November 12, 2024: explosions raised ash up to 6 km above sea level and ash clouds moved for 665 km, mainly to the east and northeast of the volcano. In 2024, 287 explosive events occurred on the Ebeko volcano with ash removal up to 4.5 km above sea level. During the explosive eruptions, the Sheveluch and Bezymianny volcanoes were dangerous for international and local air travel and the Klyuchevskoy, Karymsky, and Ebeko volcanoes were dangerous for local air travel.