Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 31-07
Monday, July 01, 2007, 23:05 UTC (July 02, 12:05 KDT)

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

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

Seismic activity of Kluchevskoy increased at 03 h 50 min on June 28 and remains at meduim level till present time, 20 h 00 min June 01. According to visual and video data, continuous ash emission to probably more than 7 km (or 22,400 ft). It is difficult to estimate height because plume extents to north direction, to video camera in Klyuchi.
According to satellite data, ash plumes extended for more than 2000 km (1360 mi) to the east on June 29 and for 900 km (555 mi) to the SW on June 30 and for 270 km (168 mi) to the north on July 01 from Klyuchevskoy volcano. Approximate plume altitude: 6500-9000 m (20,800-29,500 ft) ASL (by atmospheric profile).
Based on past eruptions, this could continue for some hours or days probably.
According to the puff prediction for potential eruption at Klyuchevskoy a plume for about 10 km (or 32000 ft) will move to NORTH and NORTH-EAST from volcano. According to view from MTSAT the plume starts to move from NW to NORTH for last 6 hours.
Strong terminal paroxysmal eruptions of the volcano occurred in 1945 (lasting for 1 month), 1984-1985 (18 months), 1987 (2), 1990 (7), 1994 (< 1), 1998 (8) and 2005 (3). Ash plumes during these eruptions rose up to 7.0-8.0 km (23,000-26,200 ft) ASL but were briefly as high as 10.0-13.0 km (33,000-42,600 ft) ASL.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Sergey Ushakov, KVERT, IVS FED RAS
E-mail: ushakov@kcsnet.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/Volcanoes  
KVERT Information Releases at the web-page of AVO (Alaska Volcano Observatory): http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/avoreport.php?view=kaminfo