Kamchatkan and  Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE  42-07
Friday, August 30, 2007, 21:40 UTC (August 31, 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: ORANGE
EBEKO and ALAID:  GREEN

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. 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 9.0 km (29,500 ft) ASL and
avalanches occurred at the volcano last week. According to visual and video data, ash plumes up to 4.5 km (14,760 ft) ASL  were observed on August 25, clouds obscured the volcano in other days. According to satellite data, 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

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, 100-280 shallow volcanic earthquakes and a spasmodic volcanic tremor were registered at volcano all days. According to seismic data, possibly ash
explosions rose up to 5.9 km (19,350 ft) ASL . According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was noted on August 24 and 30, ash clouds were observed to the south-east on August 24 and north-east from volcano on August 28-30, the volcano was obscured by clouds on the other days.

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.

Seismic activity was at background levels on  August 25, 27-29 and did not exceed level of registration on the other days. A few shallow volcanic earthquakes were registered during the week.  According to
visual data, no activity was observed on August 25. According to satellite data a thermal anomaly was noted on August 28, clouds obscured the volcano on the other days.

CHIKURACHKI VOLCANO 50°19'N, 155°28'E; Elevation 1,816 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: ORANGE

The eruption of the volcano continues. Ash explosions up to 6 km (or 19,700 ft.) ASL are possible. The activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft.

According to visual information, ash explosions up to 0,1-1 km (300-3,280 ft) ASL were observed on August 21-26.  According to satellite data, ash plumes extended 150-300 km (93-186 mi) to the north-east on
August 28-30, clouds obscured the volcano on the other days..

Chikurachki volcano is not monitored with seismic instruments. KVERT has satellite monitoring and receives occasional visual observations of this volcano.


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