Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 21-07
Thursday, May 25, 2007, 10:55 KDT (May 24, 21:55 UTC)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

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

NORTHERN KURILES:
CHIKURACHKI, EBEKO and ALAID: GREEN

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

Volcano keeps explosive-effusive erupting. Ash explosions up to 10 km (32,000 ft.) ASL could occur at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

Seismicity was above background levels last week: volcanic earthquakes and a strong volcanic tremor were registered. According to video data and visual observations, Vulcanian activity at the terminal crater and phreatic bursts at the north-western flank of the volcano were observed on May 22-24. Ash plumes rose up to 5-8 km (16,000-25,600 ft) ASL and extended to the south-east. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days. Ash fall was noted at Klyuchi on May 18. According to satellite data, ash plumes extended for 50-350 km (30-210 mi) to the north, north-east, and south-east from the volcano all week. A large thermal anomaly was noted all days.

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 were registered. According to seismic data, probably ash plumes up to 4-8 km (12,800-25,600 ft) ASL occurred at the volcano last week. Clouds obscured the volcano this week. According to satellite data, ash plumes extended for 30-110 km (19-70 mi) to the north, north-east, and north-west from the volcano on May 17-19. A big thermal anomaly was noted all week.

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 at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the volcano.

Seismic activity was slightly above background levels last week. According to seismic data, weak local shallow earthquakes occurred at the area of the volcano. Possibly, an ash explosion rose up to 2.0 km (6,400 ft) on May 18.

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 the staff of KB GS RAS cannot determine accurately the volcano activity since 15 April. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly over the lava dome was noted on May 18-19 and 21-23.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:
 
Sergey Ushakov, KVERT, IVS FED RAS
E-mail: ushakov@kscnet.ru  
Tel. (41522) 58627
 
Irina Nuzhdina, 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/Volcanoes  
KVERT Information Releases at the web-page of AVO (Alaska Volcano Observatory): http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/avoreport.php?view=kaminfo