Kamchatkan and Northern Kurile Volcanic Activity
INFORMATION RELEASE 56-06
Friday, December 15, 2006, 11:00 KST (23:00 UTC on December 14)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

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

NORTHERN KURILE:
EBEKO, CHIKURACHKI and ALAID: GREEN

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

A moderate explosive eruption of the volcano continues. Ash explosions up to 6 km (or 19,700 ft.) ASL are possible. The activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the volcano.

There was no seismic data during the past week due to technical reasons. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly over the dome was noted on December 08-12. Ash plumes extending from 7 km till 60 km (4 - 37 mi) to the different directions from the volcano were observed all week.

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

Activity of the volcano 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. Growth of the lava dome continues.

Seismic activity was above background levels last week. Several tens of shallow earthquakes were registered at the volcano. According to visual and video data, ash plumes rose up to 4.0 km (13,100 ft) ASL and extended to the north-west on December 08 and to the east-southeast on December 12. According to satellite data (AVO, KVERT, KB GS RAS), ash plumes extending from 25 till 460 km (16-285 mi) to the east and north-east from the volcano were detected all week. Ash plumes rose up to 6.0-7.5 km (19,700-24,600 ft.) ASL (the data from AVO and KB GS RAS).

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

Growth of the lava dome continues. The activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the volcano.

Seismic activity was above background levels on December 10 and 12-13, and at background levels in the other days. Several shallow earthquakes were registered during the week. According to visual and video data, a fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed all the week. Gas-steam plume rose up to 3.5 km (11,500 ft) ASL on December 10. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly over the dome was noting during the week.

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): http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index.html
Archive of daily information KB GS RAS: http://emsd.iks.ru/~ssl/Volcanoes/