Kamchatkan and Northern Kurile Volcanic Activity
INFORMATION RELEASE 20-05
Thursday, March 24, 2005, 12:00 KST (00:00 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.

KLYUCHEVSKOY VOLCANO: 56°03'N, 160°39'E; Elevation 4,750 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: RED.
PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: ORANGE.

Eruptive activity has increased. Continuous explosions from the summit crater could produce ash plumes that reach as high as 10 km or 32,800 ft above sea level and travel many tens or hundreds of kilometers downwind.
The current activity of the volcano is very dangerous to aviation. The network of seismometers maintained by KEMSD does not allow calibration of ash plume height from the seismic signal.

Seismic activity of the volcano has increased. The amplitude of volcanic tremor at Klyuchevskoy volcano was about 12-13x10-6 mps on March 18-21 and increased to about 46.0x10-6 mps on March 22. From 05:30 till 07:00 UTC on March 23 it was up to 62x10-6 mps. According to visual and video data, a gas-steam plume containing some amounts of ash rose up to ~7500 m (24600 ft) ASL on March 22 and up to ~ 8500 m (27,800 ft) ASL on March 23, extending to the north-west. There was ash fall at Kluchi from 18:45 till present time on March 23. According to data from AMC Yelizovo, an ash plume rising up to 7,000 m (23, 000 ft.) ASL and extending 70-80 km (44 -50 mi) to the north-west was observed by pilots of aircraft AN-72 N 71602 at 23:05
UTC on March 23.

PLEASE CONTACT AVO IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS

Olga Girina
KVERT, IVS FED RAS
E-mail: girina@kcs.iks.ru
Tel. (41522) 58627

Svetlana Droznina
KVERT, KEMSD GS RAS
E-mail: ssl@emsd.iks.ru
Tel. (41522) 59523

Tom Murray, Scientist-in-Charge, AVO
E-mail: tlmurray@usgs.gov
Tel. 907-786-7497

The Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) is a cooperative program of the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO, USA), the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (IVS) FED RAS and the Kamchatkan Experimental and Methodical Seismological Department (KEMSD) GS RAS (Russia).