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activity will be sent directly from KVERT in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
___________________________________________________________

Kamchatkan and Northern Kurile Volcanic Activity
INFORMATION RELEASE 28-05
Friday, May 06, 2005, 11:50 KDT (22:50 UTC on May 05)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

KAMCHATKA:
SHEVELUCH and KARYMSKY: ORANGE
KLYUCHEVSKOY, BEZYMIANNY: YELLOW
TOLBACHIK PLOSKY, KIZIMEN, AVACHINSKY, KORYAKSKY, MUTNOVSKY and GORELY: GREEN

NORTHERN KURILE:
CHIKURACHKI, ALAID, EBEKO : GREEN

CURRENT CHANGES IN COLOR CODE:
CHIKURACHKI IS NOW AT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: GREEN

CHIKURACHKI VOLCANO, Paramushir Island, Northern Kurile:
50°19'N, 155°28'E, Elevation 1,816 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS GREEN.
PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW.

Chikurachki volcano is not monitored with seismic instruments. KVERT has satellite monitoring and receives occasional visual observations of this volcano. According to satellite data, no eruptive activity or thermal anomaly has been observed over the past three weeks.

SHEVELUCH VOLCANO: 56°38'N, 161°19'E; Elevation 3,283 m,
the dome elevation ~2,500 m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS ORANGE.

Growth of the Sheveluch lava dome continues. At any time and with little warning, explosions could produce ash plumes that rise as high as 6 km or 20,000 ft. ASL, as well as localized ash fall and hot avalanches. The nearest seismic station from the volcano was destroyed by the eruption of February 28, 2005.

According to visual and video data, a new extrusion grows at the western part of the dome. Many ash-gas plumes rose up to 2,000 m above the dome (14,800 ft ASL) on May 03. A gas-steam plume rose up to 1000 m above the dome (11,500 ft ASL) extended to the east on May 05. Gas-steam plumes rose up to 100-400 m above the dome (8,500 - 9,500 ft ASL) on April 29 and May 02-04, and extended to the west on April 29. Clouds obscured the volcano at other times. According to satellite data from the USA and Russia, a large thermal anomaly at the dome was registered all week.

KARYMSKY VOLCANO: 54°03'N, 159°27'E; Elevation 1,486 m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS ORANGE.

High seismic activity continues. A possibility of ash explosions up to 4 km (or 16,500 ft.) ASL exists. Ash fall within a few tens of km around the volcano is also possible.

Seismic activity was above background levels all week. The number of local shallow events was 60-230 per day during the week. According to seismic data, many possible ash-gas plumes rose up to the 1,000 m above the crater (or 8,200 ft ASL) on April 28-29. Two strong ash-gas explosions were observed at 12:08 and 12:50 UTC on April 28. They were confirmed by seismic records. IVS FED RAS volcanologists near the volcano reported that ash-gas explosions rose up to 100-200 m above the crater (5,200 - 5,600 ft ASL) and extended to the west on May 02-03. Ash deposits extending to the south-west from the volcano were observed on May 03. According to satellite data from the USA and Russia, a thermal anomaly was registered at the volcano on May 02-05. Clouds obscured the volcano at other times.

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

Seismic activity of the volcano increased above background levels on May 04. Ash explosions from the summit crater are possible and may rise up to 6-7 km or 19,700 - 23,000 ft above sea level.

Seismic activity was at background levels on April 29-30 and May 01-03 and above background levels on May 04. The amplitude of volcanic tremor exceeded background level on May 04-05. A great number of shallow earthquakes and 14 earthquakes of Ml=1.1-1.7 were recorded. According to visual and video data, a weak ash-gas plume rose up to the 1,300 -1,500 m above the crater (or 19,700 - 20,500 ft ASL), extended to the west on May 04 and for 10 km (or 6.2 mi) to the south-west on May 05. Weak gas-steam plumes rising up about 100 m above the crater (or 15,900 ft ASL) were observed on April 28-29 and May 03-04. Clouds obscured the volcano at other times. According to satellite data from the USA and Russia, a weak thermal anomaly was registered at the volcano on April 29 and May 02 and 04.

BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO: 55°58'N, 160°36'E; Elevation 2,895 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW.

Based on the persistent thermal anomaly at the dome, we suggest that unrest at the volcano continues.

According to visual and video data, gas-steam plumes rose up to 100 m above the dome (or 9,800 ft ASL) and extended to the north-east on April 29, to the south on May 02 and to the south-east on May 04-05. Clouds obscured the volcano at the other days. According to satellite data from the USA and Russia, a thermal anomaly was registered at the dome on April 29 and May 02-05.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

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

Sergey Senyukov, 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 non-commercial 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). KVERT is not staffed 24 hours per day, however KVERT staff are available by phone during the evenings. KVERT uses daily satellite imagery, information from remote scientific observation stations, real-time seismic data for 10 volcanoes, and other information to monitor activity at Kamchatkan and Northern Kurile Volcanoes.