Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 07-08
Thursday, February 14, 2008, 23:30 UTC (Friday, February 15, 11:30 KST)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

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

Activity of the volcano continues and 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  slightly above background levels on February 07-11 and at the background levels on February 12-13. Shallow volcanic earthquakes and sometimes weak volcanic tremor were registered last week. According to seismic data, ash plumes up to 3.3 km (10,800 ft) ASL possibly occurred at the volcano on February 09. Strong fumarolic activity of the volcano was noted on February 08-09 and 11-12. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was observed 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 lava dome continues. Possibly a viscous lava flow is effusing at the lava dome. Sudden ash emission related to this activity could affect low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the volcano.

Seismic activity was at the background levels on February 08-09 and 11-13, and did not exceed background levels in the other days of the week. According to visual and video data, a moderate fumarolic activity was observed at the lava dome on February 08, 10-11 and 13. Clouds obscured volcano in the other days. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly was noted on February 08, 11 and 13.

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

There was  not seismic data from January 14 to present time, by technical reasons. But activity of 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.

According to satellite data, the weak thermal anomaly was noted on February 11. The volcano was quiet or obscured by clouds last week.


IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE  CONTACT:

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

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_eng.php
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