Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 13-08
Thursday, March 27, 2008, 21:30 UTC (Friday, March 28, 09:30 KST)
 
SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:
 
KAMCHATKA:
SHEVELUCH and KARYMSKY: ORANGE
BEZYMIANNY:  YELLOW
KLYUCHEVSKOY, TOLBACHIK PLOSKY, KIZIMEN, AVACHINSKY, KORYAKSKY, GORELY and MUTNOVSKY: GREEN
NORTHERN KURILES:
CHIKURACHKI, EBEKO and ALAID: GREEN
SHEVELUCH VOLCANO: 56œ38'N, 161œ19'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 level last week: a large number of weak seismic events and a weak volcanic
tremor was registered each day. According to seismic data, possible hot avalanches occurred at the volcano on March
19-22. According to visual and video data, a moderate and weak fumarolic activity of the dome was observed on March
20-24 and 27. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was
registering over the lava dome all week.
 
KARYMSKY VOLCANO: 54œ03'N,  159œ27'E; Elevation 1,486 m.
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS  ORANGE
 
Activity of the volcano continues and ash explosions up to 6 km (or 19,700 ft.) ASL could occur at any time. The
explosive activity of the  volcano could affect low-flying aircraft in the vicinity of the  volcano.
 
Seismic activity was above background level on March 23 and 25-26 and at the background level in the other days of
week. Small numbers of weak local shallow earthquakes occurred at the area of the volcano. According to  seismic
data, ash plumes up to 3.3 km (10,560 ft) ASL possibly occurred at the volcano on March 22. Possible weak ash-gas
explosions or hot avalanches were registered on March 23-26. According to satellite data, the volcano was quiet or
obscured by clouds.
 
BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO: 55œ58'N, 160œ36'E; Elevation 2,895 m
CURRENT  LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW
Growth of the lava dome continues. 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 20 and 25-26, and didn`t exceed background levels in the other
days. According to visual and video data, a moderate fumarolic activity was noted at the lava dome on March 20.
Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly over the lava dome
was observing on March 20-24 and 27 .
 

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
 
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