Qualla: Raikoke https://qualla.com/raikoke en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:40 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/z/2/s/f/raikoke-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Raikoke https://qualla.com/raikoke Raikoke: Introduction https://qualla.com/raikoke/ Photo credit edited by Telim tor, Public domain. The Ainu called it hellmouth. At just 2.5 kilometers long and 2 kilometers wide, Raikoke barely qualifies as an island — more a volcanic cone that happens to break the surface of the Sea of Okhotsk. But in June 2019, this 4.6-square-kilometer speck near the center of the Kuril Islands chain reminded the world that geological significance has nothing to do with size. The eruption sent a column of ash and sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, where satellite instruments tracked it as it circled the Earth three times.

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Image: edited by Telim tor | Public domain

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/z/2/s/f/raikoke-wp/z2sf-raikoke-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Raikoke: Anatomy of a Stratovolcano https://qualla.com/raikoke/ Photo credit Bigwumpus, CC BY-SA 4.0. Raikoke is roughly circular, a basalt stratovolcano rising from a submarine terrace 130 meters below the surface to a summit of 551 meters above sea level. The crater at the top is 700 meters wide and 200 meters deep, with lava flows extending along the island's eastern half. The...

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Image: Bigwumpus | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/z/2/s/f/raikoke-wp/z2sf-raikoke-anatomy-of-a-stratovolcano.mp3 0:06 2 full Raikoke: A Plume That Circled the World https://qualla.com/raikoke/ Photo credit Bigwumpus, CC BY-SA 4.0. The 2019 eruption produced something scientists rarely observe: a stable, self-sustaining anticyclonic vortex of sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere. The European Space Agency's Sentinel-5P satellite detected the plume clustering into distinct structures within 72 hours of the eru...

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Image: Bigwumpus | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/z/2/s/f/raikoke-wp/z2sf-raikoke-a-plume-that-circled-the-world.mp3 0:06 3 full Raikoke: Rookery and Refuge https://qualla.com/raikoke/ Photo credit Bigwumpus, CC BY-SA 4.0. Between eruptions, Raikoke belongs to the animals. The island is one of five major Steller sea lion rookeries in the Kuril Islands. In spring and summer, it hosts one of the largest northern fulmar aggregations in the chain, along with nesting colonies of crested auklets, parakee...

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Image: Bigwumpus | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/z/2/s/f/raikoke-wp/z2sf-raikoke-rookery-and-refuge.mp3 0:06 4 full Raikoke: Flags Over Basalt https://qualla.com/raikoke/ Photo credit Umbra Lab, Inc., CC BY 4.0. Raikoke appears on an official 1644 map of Matsumae Domain, a feudal territory of Edo-period Japan, and these holdings were confirmed by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1715. Russia subsequently claimed the island, and sovereignty initially passed to Russia under the Treaty of Shimoda....

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Image: Umbra Lab, Inc. | CC BY 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/z/2/s/f/raikoke-wp/z2sf-raikoke-flags-over-basalt.mp3 0:06 5 full Raikoke: The Mouth Still Speaks https://qualla.com/raikoke/ Photo credit Bigwumpus, CC BY-SA 4.0. Raikoke sits 16 kilometers from Matua, its nearest neighbor in the chain. From the air, the island looks deceptively peaceful: a green-capped cone rising from dark water, seabirds wheeling around its cliffs. The crater's 200-meter depth is hidden from view unless you pass directl...

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Image: Bigwumpus | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/z/2/s/f/raikoke-wp/z2sf-raikoke-the-mouth-still-speaks.mp3 0:06 6 full