Krasheninnikov volcano erupts in Russia after 500 years

The Krasheninnikov volcano on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula has entered an eruptive phase after remaining dormant for nearly 500 years. Satellite data from the NISAR mission, a collaboration between NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has captured the evolution of the eruption through a time-lapse sequence of 17 radar images taken between December 2025 and August 2026.

The eruption appears to have been triggered by a magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck the nearby ocean on July 30, 2025. The captured imagery shows lava spreading from the volcano's northern crater, first filling a smaller internal caldera before overflowing into a wider crater and advancing in a fan shape.

Operating from an altitude of approximately 747 kilometers, the NISAR satellite observed the site twice every 12 days. This frequent monitoring allowed scientists to track landscape transformations by comparing detailed radar signals returned from the surface over several months.