Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 18-07
Thursday, May 17, 2007, 13:10 KDT (00:10 UTC)

CURRENT CHANGES IN COLOR CODE:
KLYUCHEVSKOY IS NOW AT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE RED

KLYUCHEVSKOY VOLCANO; 56°03'N, 160°39'E; Elevation 4,750 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS RED
PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE WAS ORANGE

Explosive-effusive eruption of the volcano continues. Ash explosions more than 10 km (32,800 ft.) ASL could occur at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect international and local aircraft.

The amplitude of volcanic tremor has increased during last few days. According to visual data from Kozyrevsk and Klyuchy, ash plume from central crater about 9700 m or (31900 ft) ASL was observed at 03:50 UTC on May 16 extending to the North. According to satellite data, ash plumes extended for 200-600 km (125-370 mi) to the north-east, north-west, and east from the volcano this week. A large thermal anomaly was noted all days. Clouds obscured the volcano several last days.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

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

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