A subaqueous eruption in Karymsky lake in the Academii Nauk caldera dramatically changed its water column structure, water chemistry and biological system in less than 24 h, sending major floodwaves down the discharging river and eruption plumes with ash and gases high into the atmosphere. Prior to the eruption, the lake had a pH of about 7, was dominated by bicarbonate, and well stocked with fish, but turned in early 1996 into a stratified, initially steaming waterbody, dominated by sulfate with high Na and K levels, and devoid of fish. Blockage of the outlet led to rising waterlevels, followed by dam breakage and catastrophic water discharge. The total energy input during the eruption is estimated at about 1016 J. The stable isotope composition of the lake water remained dominated by the meteoric meltwaters after the eruption.

There have been three episodes of lava dome growth at Shiveluch volcano, Kamchatka since the Plinian explosive eruption in 1964. The episodes in 1980–1981, 1993–1995 and 2001–2004 have discharged at least 0.27 km3 of silicic andesite magma. A time-averaged mean extrusion rate of 0.2 m3/s is thus estimated for the last 40 years. Here the 2001–2004 activity is described and compared with the earlier episodes. The recent activity involved three pulses in extrusion rate and a transition to ongoing lava extrusion. Estimated magma temperatures are in the range 830 to 900 °C, with 850 °C as the best estimate, using the plagioclase−amphibole phenocryst assemblage and Fe−Ti oxides. Melt inclusions in amphibole and plagioclase have maximum water contents of 5.1 wt.%, implying a minimum pressure of ∼ 155 MPa for water-saturated conditions. The magma chamber depth is estimated to be about 5–6 km or more, a result consistent with geophysical data. The thicknesses of opx–mt–amph reaction rims on olivine xenocrysts are used to estimate the residence time of olivine crystals in the shallow chamber in the range 2 months to 4 years, suggesting replenishment of deeper magma into the shallow chamber contemporaneous with eruption. The absence of decompression-driven breakdown rims around amphiboles indicates ascent times of less than 7 days. Volcanological observations of the start of the 2001–2004 episode suggest approximately 16 days for the ascent time and a conduit equivalent to a cylinder of diameter approximately 53–71 m. Application of a conduit flow model indicates that the magma chamber was replenished during the 2001–2004 eruption, consistent with the results of olivine reaction rims, and that the chamber has an estimated volume of order 7 km3.

Large explosive eruptions of volcanoes pose the highest hazard to modern jet f lights, because such eruptions can eject as much as several cubic kilometers of volcanic ash and aerosol into the atmosphere during a few hours or days. The year 2016 saw eruptions on 5 of the 30 active Kamchatka volcanoes (Sheveluch, Klyuchevskoy, Bezymianny, Karymsky, and Zhupanovsky) and on 3 of the 6 active volcanoes that exist on the North Kuril Islands (Alaid, Ebeko, and Chikurachki). Effusive activity was observed on Sheveluch, Klyuchevskoy, Bezymianny, and Alaid. All volcanoes showed explosive activity. The large explosive events mostly occurred from September through December (Sheveluch), a moderate ash emission accompanied the entire Klyuchevskoy eruption in March–November, and explosive activity of Karymsky, Zhupanovsky, Alaid, and Chikurachki was mostly observed in the earlie r half of the year. The ash ejected in 2016 covered a total area of 600 000 km2, with 460 000 km2 of this being due to Kamchatka volcanoes and 140 000 km2 to the eruptions of the North Kuril volcanoes. The activity of Sheveluch, Klyuchevskoy, and Zhupanovsky was dangerous to international and local f lights, because the explosions sent ash to heights of 10–12 km above sea level, while the eruptions of Bezymianny, Karymsky, Alaid, Ebeko, and Chikurachki were dangerous for local flights, since the ash did not rise higher than 5 km above sea level.