Kamchatkan and Northern Kurile Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 03-07
Friday, January 19, 2007, 10:15 KST (22:15 UTC on January 18)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

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

NORTHERN KURILE:
EBEKO, CHIKURACHKI and ALAID: GREEN

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 10 km (32,800 ft.) ASL could occur at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect international and local aircraft.

Seismic activity was above background levels last week, over 160 shallow earthquakes and volcanic tremor were registered. According to seismic data, ash plumes up to 6.5 km (21,330 ft) ASL and hot avalanches occurred at the volcano all week. According to visual and video data, gas-steam and ash plumes rose up to 3.5 km (11,480 ft) on January 16. The volcano was obscured by clouds in the other days. According to satellite data, gas-steam plumes containing ash extended about 24-60 km (15-37 mi) to the south-west, north-west and north-east from the volcano on January 12 and 14-18. A big thermal anomaly was noting all week. Possibly a hot lava extrudes or effuses at the top of the dome.

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

An 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.

Seismic activity was above background levels last week. According to seismic data, a number of weak local shallow earthquakes was 100-450 per day, intermittent spasmodic volcanic tremor was registered on January 14-16. Possibly, weak ash explosions occurred on January 14-16. Possibly a lava flow effuses at a flank of the volcano.

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 slightly above background levels on January 16 and at background levels in the other days. According to visual and video data,  a gas-steam plume up to 3.7 km (12,140) ASL was observed on January 16. The volcano was obscured by clouds in the other days. A thermal anomaly was noted on January 12 and 15-17.

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 continues. The activity of the summit volcanic crater, possibly, could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

Seismicity was slightly above background levels during the week. A number of weak seismic events into the volcanic edifice was 360-465 per day. According to visual observations, a weak fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed on January 16. The volcano was obscured by clouds in the other days. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly was registering over the volcano on January 12 and 15-17.

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: ftp://emsd.iks.ru/pub/DATA/RTS/Volcanoes
KVERT Information Releases at the web-page of AVO (Alaska Volcano Observatory): http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/avoreport.php?view=kaminfo