Kamchatkan and  Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE  39-07
Friday, August 16, 2007, 21:40 UTC (August 17, 10:40  KDT)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR  CODES:

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

NORTHERN KURILES:
CHIKURACHKI, EBEKO and ALAID:  GREEN

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

KLYUCHEVSKOY VOLCANO;  56œ03'N, 160œ39'E; Elevation 4,750 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS  GREEN
PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

Activity of Klyuchevskoy has decreased and KVERT is now assigning level of concern color code GREEN to the volcano: seismic activity was at background levels during the past five weeks, and  ash plumes were not noted for the last four weeks.

Seismic activity was at background levels last week, weak continuous spasmodic volcanic tremor  and a few weak shallow earthquakes were registered. According to video and visual data, no activity was observed on August 11 and the volcano was obscured by clouds on the other days. According to satellite data, thermal anomaly was noted on August 11.

SHEVELUCH  VOLCANO: 56œ38'N, 161œ19'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. Ash explosions up to 10 km (32,800 ft.) ASL could occur at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

Seismic activity was above background levels. Many shallow volcanic earthquakes and intermittent volcanic tremor were registered. According to seismic data,  ash plumes up to 10 km (32800 ft) ASL and avalanches occurred at the volcano last week. According to visual data from Kluchi, intensive  growth of the eastern part of the lava dome, incandescence of the dome and hot avalanches were noted on August 11-12. Two avalanches, accompanied with ash plumes up to 4.5 km (14800 ft) ASL extending to the north-west, were observed on August 14, clouds obscured the volcano in other days. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was noted all week, diffused ash plume extended about 90 km (56 mi) to the south-east on August 11.

KARYMSKY VOLCANO: 54œ03'N, 159œ27'E; Elevation  1,486 m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS ORANGE

The 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 above background levels all week, 350-600 shallow volcanic earthquakes and a spasmodic volcanic tremor were registered at volcano all days. According to seismic data, possibly ash explosions rose up to 3.0 km (9,850 ft) ASL . According to satellite data,  the volcano was obscured by clouds all week.

BEZYMIANNY  VOLCANO: 55œ58'N, 160œ36'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.

Seismic activity was slightly above background levels on  August 09-10 and 12-13 and did not exceed level of registration on the other days. Several shallow volcanic earthquakes were registered during the week. According to satellite data a thermal anomaly was noted on August 11, clouds obscured the volcano on the other days.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE  CONTACT:

Nataliya Malik, KVERT, IVS FED RAS
E-mail:
malik@kscnet.ru
Tel. (41522) 58627
       9622826547

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