On the west coast of the Pacific Ocean lies one of the most active volcanoes on the planet. Shiveluch, located about halfway down the Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Russia, has been erupting every year (save for one) since 1984. It has produced some big blasts over the last few thousand years, including multiple eruptions on the scale of Mount St. Helens in 1980. It regularly blasts ash over 30,000 feet skyward and sends pyroclastic flows roaring down its slopes. Shiveluch is a beast.
However, unlike better known but less active volcanoes like Mount St. Helens, Rainier, Vesuvius and Fuji, Shiveluch is remote. The Global Volcanism Program reports a few more than 11,000 people live within 100 kilometres of Shiveluch. Compare that to the four I mentioned before (2.1 million, 2.6 million, 6 million and 25 million within 100 kilometres, respectively) and you can get an idea why Shiveluch is ...
