Volcanic ash from Russia disrupts flights in western Alaska

A volcanic ash cloud from an eruption in Russia disrupted air travel in Alaska, prompting Alaska Airlines to cancel five flights to western Alaska communities.

Flights to Nome, Kotzebue, and Utqiagvik were grounded as a safety precaution after ash from the Klyuchevskoy Volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula drifted over the Bering Sea, Caliber.Az reports, citing Alaskan media.

Alaska Airlines said it plans to resume operations on August 13 but will continue closely monitoring the ash cloud.

Volcanic Ash Advisory is currently in effect for areas over the Bering Sea. Satellite observations have confirmed the presence of the ash, which is expected to remain over the water at least through the morning of August 13. The advisory was issued by the National Weather Service’s Anchorage Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre.

The ash cloud from Klyuchevskoy has also reached Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, according to the local branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geophysical Service.

The Kamchatka Emergency Situations Ministry reported that, based on data from the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), Klyuchevskoy has been assigned an “orange” aviation hazard code. The volcano briefly received a “red” code at night after spewing an ash column 12 kilometres high toward populated areas, but authorities later determined that the immediate threat to settlements had passed.

The eruption comes ahead of an international event in Alaska. On August 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump are scheduled to meet in Anchorage at a military base. Authorities have announced that the skies over Alaska’s largest city will be closed on Friday due to the “movement of VIPs.”

The explosive activity at Klyuchevskoy began on April 20, 2025. By July 29, the crater formed after a paroxysmal eruption on October 31–November 1, 2023, had gradually filled with lava. Volcanic-type explosions resumed, sending ash up to 8 kilometres above sea level. Lava flows began descending the western slope of the volcano on July 30. That same day, the region experienced the strongest earthquake since 1952, with a magnitude of 8.7 and an epicentre 360 kilometres northeast of Severo-Kurilsk in the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 17 kilometres.

Tremors were felt strongly in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (7–8 on the Richter scale) and moderately in the Sakhalin region (5–6 on the Richter scale). The resulting tsunami impacted not only these areas but also other countries. The earthquake also caused the earth’s surface to shift southeast by nearly two meters, most noticeably in the southern part of the peninsula.

Further volcanic activity followed: on August 3, the Krasheninnikov volcano erupted for the first time in 600 years, a phenomenon clearly visible even from space. By August 7, ash from Klyuchevskaya Sopka again reached 12 kilometres high, while lava flows formed rivers of molten rock down the slopes.

By Tamilla Hasanova