Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 16-07
Friday, May 11, 2007, 11:55 KDT (May 10, 22:55 UTC)

CURRENT CHANGES IN COLOR CODE:
BEZYMIANNY IS NOW AT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE ORANGE

BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO: 55œ58'N, 160œ36'E; Elevation 2,895 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS ORANGE
PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

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.

According to satellite data on May 10, a large thermal anomaly with a temperature about 51 degrees of Celsius is noting at the area of lava dome of Bezymianny volcano. This anomaly can reflection a strong extrusive proses at the dome or a strong gas-steam emission from the dome. These data indicate that probably an explosive eruption of the volcano can occur in rapid time.

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.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Olga Girina, KVERT, IVS FED RAS
E-mail:
girina@kscnet.ru
Tel. (41522) 58627

Svetlana Toloknova, 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 Kuriles 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