2022 Eruption of Alaid Volcano (Russia, Atlasov Island)

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study of the 2022 eruption of Alaid volcano, which occurred from September 15 to December 1, 2022 the work is based on field observations conducted in 2023 and 2025 using unmanned aerial vehicles (including those equipped with thermal imagers), as well as on laboratory studies of the petrographic and geochemical composition of the eruption products. It was established that as a result of the eruption, the volcano’s crater was completely filled by a lava flow, with a volume estimated at no less than 0.04 km3 and a thickness exceeding 20 m in the near-crater part. A new scoria cone, 350–370 m in diameter and at least 60 m high, composed of tephra, formed in the southern part of the crater. The eruption products are homogeneous high-alumina trachybasalts with a high-potassium signature. A comparison of the composition of the 2022 eruption rocks with products from previous historical eruptions was carried out, thereby refining existing geochemical trends. Thermal imaging surveys, as well as direct temperature measurements, recorded a significant decrease in temperature in the crater zone from >550°C in 2023 to 300°C in 2025, with fumarolic activity persisting locally. The lahar depositional cone in the Cape Devyatka area was studied, where stabilization of the coastline is currently observed.