Kamchatkan and Northern Kurile Volcanic Activity

INFORMATION RELEASE 03-05

Wednesday, January 12, 2005, 09:55 KST (21:55 UTC on January 11)

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 ORANGE.

PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE WAS RED.

Seismic activity at the volcano was not exceeding background levels

from 08:45 UTC till real time - 21:50 UTC on January 11. There is no

visual data because is snow falling in the area of the volcano.

According to seismic data, an explosive eruption occurred at the

volcano from 08:02 till 08:45 UTC. According to satellite data from

Russia, an ash cloud (~ 50 km in diameter) on the height ~ 8-9 km (or

26,400-29,700 ft) ASL locating in 160 km from the volcano to the

south-west direction was noted at 10:14-10:18 UTC on January 11.

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 GS 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).