Kamchatkan and Northern Kurile Volcanic Activity
INFORMATION RELEASE 54-06
Tuesday, December 05, 2006, 11:00 KST (23:00 UTC on December 04)

SHEVELUCH VOLCANO: 56œ38'N, 161œ19'E; Elevation 3,283 m, the dome elevation ~2,500 m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS ORANGE
PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

Growth of the lava dome continues. Ash explosions up to 6 km (19,700 ft.) ASL could occur at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the volcano.

New explosive activity began at Sheveluch volcano.
According to video-data, an ash plume raising up to 4.0 km (13,100 ft) ASL and extending to the north-west was observed at 21:00 UTC on December 04. A strong seismic event was registered at the volcano from 19:06 till 19:40 UTC on December 04. Possibly there were strong explosions at the lava dome and a series of avalanches to the south-west flank of the volcano. A run-out of deposits is about 3-5 km.

Seismic activity was at background levels on previous days. According to visual and video data, a weak fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed. A weak thermal anomaly was registered over the lava dome on November 22 last time.

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, KB 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 Branch of Geophysical Survey (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.

The official web-page of KVERT (the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology FED RAS): ttp://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index.html
Archive of daily information KB GS RAS:
http://emsd.iks.ru/~ssl/Volcanoes/