Kamchatkan and Northern Kurile Volcanic
Activity
INFORMATION RELEASE 68-05
Friday, December 16, 2005, 11:00 KST
(23:00 UTC on December 15)
SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN
COLOR CODES:
KAMCHATKA:
KARYMSKY:
ORANGE
SHEVELUCH, BEZYMIANNY and AVACHINSKY: YELLOW
KLYUCHEVSKOY,
TOLBACHIK PLOSKY, KIZIMEN, KORYAKSKY, MUTNOVSKY and GORELY:
GREEN
NORTHERN
KURILE:
EBEKO: YELLOW
CHIKURACHKI and ALAID: GREEN
KARYMSKY VOLCANO: 54o03'N, 159o27'E; Elevation 1,486
m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: ORANGE
Continuing seismicity indicated that growth of a lava dome in
the summit crater
continues. Ash explosions up to 6 km (or 26,300 ft.) ASL
are possible.
There were no seismic data on December 08 and 11 and sometimes
for many hours in other
days. A thermal anomaly was registered over the
volcano on December 09-11 and 14-15.
According to satellite data from Russia
and USA, ash plumes and clouds were noted on
December 09 and 10 (moving to
the south-west and south-east, and to the south-east and
east from the
volcano, respectively).
SHEVELUCH VOLCANO: 56o38'N, 161o19'E;
Elevation 3,283 m, the dome elevation
~2,500 m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: YELLOW
Growth of the lava dome continues, but seismic activity was at
background levels all
week. Ash explosions up to 6 km (19,600 ft.) ASL could
occur at any time.
Seismic and fumarolic activity of the lava dome continues.
Thermal anomaly over the
dome on December 09-11 was noted.
BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO: 55o58'N, 160o36'E; Elevation 2,895
m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: YELLOW
Seismic activity of the volcano remains at background levels.
Based on past experience
with Bezymianny, a viscous lava flow is probably
active at the summit lava dome. There
are no indications that an explosive
eruption is imminent.
A gas-steam plume was visible on December 09-11 and a thermal
anomaly at the lava dome
was registered on December 09.
AVACHINSKY: 53o15'N, 158o51'E; Elevation 2,751
m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: YELLOW
Seismic activity of the volcano remains elevated. The
possibility of sudden ash
explosions exists.
Shallow earthquakes were registered at the volcano this week.
Moderate fumarolic
activity was observed at the volcano on December
08-10.
EBEKO VOLCANO, Paramushir Island, Northern Kurile:
50o41'N, 156o01'E Elevation 1,156 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE:
YELLOW
Ebeko volcano is not
monitored with seismic instruments. KVERT uses satellite
monitoring and
receives occasional visual observations from Paramushir Island.
Moderate
fumarolic activity of the volcano continues. The danger of sudden
ash explosions up to
3 km (9,840 ft.) ASL exists.
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.