Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE  47-07
Thursday, October 04, 2007, 21:40 UTC (Friday, October 05, 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

BEZYMIANNY  VOLCANO: 55œ58'N, 160œ36'E; Elevation 2,895 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF  CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

Activity of the volcano continues. Ash explosions up to 10 km (or 32,800 ft.) ASL are possible during next weeks. The activity of the volcano could affect international and low-flying  aircraft.

Growth of the lava dome continues. According to  satellite data, an intensity of a thermal anomaly over the lava dome slightly increased last week. Seismic activity did not exceed background level on this week. According to visual data, a weak fumarolic activity was noted at the dome on September 27-28 and October 01-02, clouds obscured the volcano on the other days.

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 an intermittent volcanic tremor were registered on September 27-29 and October 02-03. There was no seismic data in the other days this week. According to seismic data, ash plumes up to 5.3 km (17,400 ft) ASL occurred at the volcano on September 27-29. There were hot avalanches in these days. According to video data, gas-steam plumes raising up to 4.5 and 3.5 km (14,800 and 11,500 ft) ASL were noted on  September 27 and October 02, respectively. There was a weak fumarolic activity on October 01. Clouds obscured the volcano on the other days. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was noted all week. Ash plumes extended > 40 km (25 mi) to the west-south-west and south-east from the volcano on September 27 and 29, respectively.

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, many shallow volcanic earthquakes and a spasmodic volcanic tremor were registered at the volcano all days. According to seismic data, possibly ash explosions rose up to 3.5 km (11,500 ft) ASL all week. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was noted on September 27, 29-30 and October 01 and 03, clouds obscured the volcano on the other days. Ash plumes extended > 160 km (> 99 mi) to the south-east and east from the volcano on September 30 and October 01 and 03.

CHIKURACHKI VOLCANO 50œ19'N, 155œ28'E; Elevation 1,816 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. The activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft.

According to satellite data, gas-steam plume containing ash extended > 100 km (> 62 mi) from the volcano to the east-south-east on October 04, 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:

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

Svetlana Droznina, 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