Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 10-08
Thursday, March 06, 2008, 22:00 UTC (Friday, March 07, 10:00 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.

Seismicity was slightly above background levels last week but a number of weak seismic events began to increase from March 03. Possibly weak ash plumes or hot avalanches occurred at the lava dome all week. According to visual and video data, a strong fumarolic activity of the dome was observed on February 29 and March 02-06. Hot avalanches at the dome were noting in dark time. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was noting over the lava dome 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 background levels on March 04 and didn`t exceed background levels in other days. According to visual and video data, a moderate fumarolic activity was observed at the lava dome on March 02-06. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly over the lava dome was observing on March 03-06.

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.

Seismic activity was slightly above background levels on March 05. There was not seismic data by technical reasons in the other days of week. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly was observing over the lava dome on March 03-06. Clouds obscured the volcano in 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

Svetlana Toloknova, KVERT, KB GS RAS
E-mail: ssl@emsd.iks.ru
Tel. (41522) 59523

Christina Neal, Scientist-in-Charge, AVO
E-mail: tneal@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