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: 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 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: 54°03'N, 159°27'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: 55°58'N, 160°36'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:
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.govTel. 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.