Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 60-07
Thursday, November 29, 2007, 22:50 UTC (Friday, November 30, 10:50 KST)

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

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 last week. Many shallow volcanic earthquakes and an intermittent volcanic tremor were registered all week. According to seismic data, ash plumes up to 6.0 km (19,700 ft) ASL and hot avalanches occurred at the volcano all week. According to visual and video data, strong gas-steam plumes rose up to 5.0 km (16,400 ft) ASL on November 22 and 26-29. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was noted all week. Ash plumes extended 15-66 km (9-41 mi) to the south-west, north-west, north and south-east from the volcano on November 26-28. Clouds obscured the volcano on the other days.

KARYMSKY VOLCANO: 54°03'N, 159°27'E; Elevation 1,486 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS ORANGE

The activity 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 on November 26 and at background levels on November 24-25. There were no seismic data on the other days this week. According to satellite data, the volcano was quiet.

BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO: 55°58'N, 160°36'E; Elevation 2,895 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

Growth of the volcano continues. A viscous lava flow is effusing from the summit dome at Bezymianny. Sudden ash emission related to this activity could affect low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the volcano.

Seismic activity was above background levels on November 25 and at background levels on the other days. According to visual and video data, strong gas-steam plumes from the volcano were noted on November 27-29. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly over the volcano was observed on November 26 and 28-29. Clouds obscured the volcano on the other days.


IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

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

Tatiana Kozhevnikova, 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