Raikoke

Raikoke (Russian Остров Райкоке; jap雷公 计 岛, Raikoke -tō ) is a small, uninhabited volcanic island in the central area of the Kuril Islands. It is located about 20 kilometers north of the island of Matua and belongs administratively to the Russian Sakhalin Oblast.

Raikoke is an approximately round island with a diameter of 2.5 km and an area of 4.6 km ². It is formed by an active stratovolcano of the same name, which rises steeply from the ocean to a height of 551 m. The crater has a depth of 200 meters with a diameter of 700 meters. During an outbreak of strength four on the Vulkanexplosivitätsindex ( VEI ) in 1778, 15 people were killed by volcanic bombs. At the outbreak of the upper third of the volcano to have been destroyed. The last eruption in 1924 also had a strength of four.

The island hosts within the Kuril one of the five colonies of Steller sea lions ( Eumetopias jubatus ) and one of the largest populations of Eissturmvogels ( Fulmarus glacialis ).