Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 61-07
Thursday, December 06, 2007, 22:50 UTC (Friday, December 07, 10:50 KST)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

KAMCHATKA:
SHEVELUCH: ORANGE
KARYMSKY  and BEZYMIANNY : YELLOW

KLYUCHEVSKOY, TOLBACHIK PLOSKY, KIZIMEN, AVACHINSKY, KORYAKSKY, MUTNOVSKY and GORELY: GREEN

NORTHERN KURILES:
CHIKURACHKI, EBEKO and ALAID: GREEN

CURRENT CHANGES IN COLOR CODE:
KARYMSKY IS NOW AT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: YELLOW

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

PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE: ORANGE

According to satellite data over the past month, activity has diminished at Karymsky Volcano. KVERT is therefore lowering the color code to YELLOW. However, activity at Karymsky can resume at any time and ash explosions up to 6 km (or 19,700 ft.) ASL could occur. The explosive activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the volcano.

Seismic activity was slightly above background levels all week. Weak local shallow earthquakes occurred at the area of the volcano. According to satellite data, thermal anomaly and ash plumes were not noted.

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 5.3 km (17,000 ft) ASL and hot avalanches occurred at the volcano all week. According to visual and video data, an ash plume up to 5.7 km (18,700 ft) ASL on December 02, and strong gas-steam plumes up to 4.0-5.0 km (12,800-16,400 ft) ASL all weak were registered. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was noting all week.

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 lava dome. Sudden ash emission related to this activity could affect low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the volcano.

Seismicity of the volcano did not exceed background levels all week. According to visual and video data, a moderate fumarolic activity was noted at the lava dome on November 29 and December 02 and 04-06. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly over the volcano was observing all week.

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.