Kamchatkan and Northern Kurile Volcanic Activity

KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 13-07

Friday, April 27, 2007, 10:45 KDT (April 26, 21:45 UTC)

 

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

 

KAMCHATKA:

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

 

NORTHERN KURILE:

CHIKURACHKI: YELLOW

EBEKO and ALAID: GREEN

 

CURRENT CHANGES IN COLOR CODE:

CHIKURACHKI IS NOW AT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE YELLOW

 

CHIKURACHKI VOLCANO 50°19'N, 155°28'E; Elevation 1,816 m

CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS ORANGE 

 

Eruptive activity of the volcano was noted on April 18 last time. Chikurachki volcano is not monitored with seismic instruments. KVERT has satellite monitoring and receives occasional visual observations of this volcano. According to satellite data, no an eruptive activity, a thermal anomaly and ash plumes were observed at the volcano last week. But possibly the activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft.

 

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.

 

Growth of the lava dome continues. A hot lava extrudes at the top of the dome. 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, a lot of shallow volcanic earthquakes and volcanic tremor were registered. According to seismic data, probably ash plumes up to 7.0-9.0 km (23,000-30,000 ft) ASL occurred at the volcano all week. According to visual and video data, hot avalanches from a top of the dome occurred each day and ash plumes rose up to 6.5 km (21,300 ft) ASL. According to satellite data, ash plumes extended >120 km (74 mi) mainly to the east and south-east from the volcano each day of this week. A big thermal anomaly was noted all week.

 

KLYUCHEVSKOY VOLCANO; 56°03'N, 160°39'E; Elevation 4,750 m 

CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS ORANGE.

 

Explosive-effusive eruption of the volcano continues. The activity of the volcano could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

 

Seismicity was above background levels last week: volcanic earthquakes and a volcanic tremor were registered. According to video data and visual observations, Strombolian activity at the volcanic crater was observed all week. Lava flows and mud flows moved downslope on the north western flank of the volcano. An increase activity of the volcano was noted on April 24-25. Phreatic activity observed on the front of the lava flows. Ash plumes extended from the lava flow's front. Gas-steam plumes containing ash rose up to 7.2 km (23,600 ft) ASL last week. According to satellite data, ash plumes extended > 250 km (155 mi) mainly to the east and south-east from the volcano last week. A large thermal anomaly over the volcanic crater was noted all days.

  

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. According to seismic data, weak local shallow earthquakes all week and an ash explosion up to 4.0 km (13,100 ft) ASL on April 21, occurred at the volcano. According to visual data by volcanologists who work now at the volcano, an ash plume rose up to 4.5 km (14,800 ft) ASL on April 21. According to satellite data, an ash plume extended about 40 km (25 mi) to the south-east from the volcano on April 21.

 

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.

 

Strong seismicity at nearby Klyuchevskoy volcano makes it difficult to determine seismicity at Bezymianny, and KB GS RAS' staff is unable to accurately determine the state of the volcano from 15 April. According to visual and video data, gas-steam plumes rose up to 3.5 km (11,500 ft) ASL and extended to the south-east from the volcano on April 24-27. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly over the lava dome was noted all week.

 

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

 

Olga Girina, KVERT, IVS FED RAS

E-mail: girina@kscnet.ru

Tel. (41522) 58627

 

Svetlana Droznina, 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  olcanology 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