Russian volcanoes cultivate “devil’s horns” and spit out a long, 1,000-mile river of smoke – Earth from space

This eerie satellite image shows a “devil” Russian volcano expelling a 1,000-mile-long river of smoke into the Earth’s atmosphere. This is an impressive reminder of the volcanic power trapped in the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire.”

The volcano known as Klyuchevskoy (or sometimes Klyuchevskaya Sopka) is an active formation in the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, with over 300 volcanoes. According to the Smithsonian Association’s global volcanic activity program, Kraichevskoy’s peak stands at 15,597 feet (4,754 meters) above sea level, making it taller than other volcanoes in Asia and Europe.

The satellite image was snapped by NASA’s Aqua satellite at a particularly active point of the eruption phase that continues from June 22nd to December 31st, 2023. The sudden gust of activity released a stream of twin lava, shaped like a pair of horns.

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According to NASA’s Earth Observatory, the eruption plume reached a height of up to 7.5 miles (12 km) from the surface of the Earth, extending over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) across the Pacific Ocean.

The above satellite snaps are images in the wrong color. The lava flows helped to make them visible using infrared light, but the clouds surrounding the volcano are given a shade of blue that helps to distinguish them from the eruption plume.

Related: See all the best images of Earth from Space

Klyuchevskoy is one of the most active volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula. According to the Global Volcanism program, it has experienced at least 18 eruption stages since the turn of the 21st century, blew the top of the list more than 60 times in the past 100 years.

The latest eruption stages of the noble mountain began in April 2025 and are still ongoing, but volcanic activity had declined by May.

Klyuchevskoy is closely adjacent to Bezymianny, a small volcano standing about 9,900 feet (3,000 m) high. The nearby mountain was less active than Kraichevskoy and was supposed to be extinct until it erupted in 1955. It has erupted multiple times since then.

The other four volcanoes in Ushkovsky, Tolbachik, Zimina and Udina are located within a 20-mile radius (32 km) of Klyuchevskoy. All of these mountains, including Klyuchevskoy and Bezymianny, are thought to have been formed within the last 10,000 years, which is relatively young in the volcano.

The Kamchatka Peninsula is a volcanic hot spot due to its location along the ring of fire. This is a roughly 25,000 miles (40,000 km) arc surrounding most of the Pacific Basin, with structural plates intersecting each other. Running even under Indonesia, Japan and Tonga, this huge ring includes about two-thirds of the world’s terrestrial volcanoes and is about 90% of all earthquakes.