Kamchatkan and Northern Kurile Volcanic Activity

INFORMATION RELEASE 02-05

Tuesday, January 11, 2005, 22:40 KST (10:40 UTC)

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) received the following release

via e-mail from KVERT (Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruptions Response Team).

Kamchatkan Standard Time (KST) is 21 hours ahead of Alaska Standard

Time. All time and dates are UTC, if not marked specifically.

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO 55° 58'N, 160°36'E; Elevation 2,895 m

CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS RED.

PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE WAS ORANGE.

According to seismic data, an explosive eruption of the volcano began at

08:02 UTC on January 11. According to the interpretation of seismic data,

probably an ash column is rising up to 26,000 to 33,000 feet (8-10 km) ASL.

There is no visual or satellite data because dense clouds obscure the

volcano.

According to seismic data, an explosive eruption occurred at the volcano

from 08:02 till 08:45 UTC. Probably the main explosive event was in 08:23

UTC. Seismic activity was above background levels this week and increased

continuously. About 60 strong earthquakes of Ml=1.25-2.25 and weak shallow

ones were registered from January 07 till January 11. An intermittent

volcanic tremor up to 0.2 x10-6 mps

was recorded on January 10. According to the information by the observers,

snow falls without wind occur at Klyuchi in real time.

PLEASE CONTACT AVO IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Olga Girina

Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruptions Response Team

IVS FED RAS, Piip Blvd, 9

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 683006 RUSSIA

E-mail: girina@kcs.iks.ru

Tel. (41522) 58627

Sergey Senyukov

Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruptions Response Team

KEMSD FED RAS, Piip Blvd, 9

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, 683006 RUSSIA

E-mail: ssl@emsd.iks.ru

Tel. (41522) 59523

Tom Murray

Scientist-in-Charge, Alaska Volcano Observatory

4200 University Drive

Anchorage, Alaska 99508 USA

E-mail: tlmurray@usgs.gov

Tel. 907-786-7497

The Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team is a cooperative program of

the Alaska Volcano Observatory (USA), the Institute of Volcanology and

Seismology FED RAS and the Kamchatkan Experimental and Methodical

Seismological Department GS RAS (Russia).