SPECIAL NOTICE:
From May 06, AVO will no longer relay email
information releases from
KVERT. Information regarding Kamchatkan volcano
activity is sent
directly from KVERT staff in
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
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Kamchatkan
and Northern Kurile Volcanic Activity
INFORMATION RELEASE 46-05
Friday,
August 26, 2005, 10:20 KDT (21:20 UTC on August 25)
SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:
KAMCHATKA:
SHEVELUCH and KARYMSKY:
ORANGE
BEZYMIANNY: YELLOW
KLYUCHEVSKOY, TOLBACHIK PLOSKY, KIZIMEN, AVACHINSKY,
KORYAKSKY, MUTNOVSKY and GORELY: GREEN
NORTHERN KURILE:
EBEKO, CHIKURACHKI and
ALAID: GREEN
SHEVELUCH VOLCANO: 56o38'N, 161o19'E;Elevation 3,283
m, the dome elevation ~2,500 m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE:
ORANGE
Growth of the lava dome continues. At any time explosions
could produce ash plumes that rise as
high as 8 km (or 25,000 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.
About 10 shallow earthquakes according to seismic data, a big
thermal anomaly all week, a
fumarolic activity were registered. According to
photo by Yu. Demyanchuk on August 19, a new
viscose lava flow is effusing at
the lava dome of the volcano.
KARYMSKY VOLCANO: 54o03'N, 159o27'E; Elevation 1,486
m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: ORANGE.
Seismic activity is above background levels. The danger of a
sudden explosion or series of
explosions of ash up to 4 km (or 16,500 ft.)
ASL, as well as localized ash fall and hot
avalanches, exists.
According to seismic data, possible ash-gas plumes up to 3.5
km (or 11,500 ft.) ASL were
registering this week. A thermal anomaly was
noted on August 18 and 20-25. Three ash plumes
extended to the east about 130
km on the height possibly 4-3 km (13,100-9,800 ft. ASL) on
August
22.
BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO: 55o58'N, 160o36'E; Elevation 2,895
m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: YELLOW.
The volcanological field research and development on
July-August 2005 showed that unrest at the
volcano continues.
One weak shallow earthquake on August 22, a gas-steam activity
and a thermal anomaly at the lava
dome on August 20-23, were registered this
week.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE
CONTACT:
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 Branch of Geophysical Service(KB GS) RAS (Russia). KVERT staff
is
available in the office from 8:30 AM till 6:00 PM (KST or KDT) and 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.