English: A long plume of volcanic ash poured from Russia’s Shiveluch volcano in mid-April 2019. On April 12, the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Tokyo reported that a volcanic ash plume rose up to an estimate 13,000 feet (4,000 m) altitude of flight level 130 and was blowing southward.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the ongoing eruption on April 12. The red hot spot marks an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected hot temperatures associated with the eruptive caldera. The long, gray plume rises from the volcano and blows southward more than 120 miles (193 km) to reach the Pacific Ocean.

Shiveluch is a stratovolcano - steep-sloped volcano composed of alternating layers of solidified ash, hardened lava and volcanic rocks. One of Kamchatka's largest volcanoes, it sports a summit reaching 3,283 meters (10,771 feet). Shiveluch is also one of the peninsula's most active volcanoes, with an estimated 60 substantial eruptions in the past 10,000 years.