Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 45-08
Thursday, October 02, 2008, 22:00 UTC (Friday, October 03, 11:00 KDT)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

KAMCHATKA:
KARYMSKY and SHEVELUCH: ORANGE
BEZYMIANNY and KLYUCHEVSKOY: YELLOW
TOLBACHIK PLOSKY, KIZIMEN, AVACHINSKY, KORYAKSKY, MUTNOVSKY and GORELY: 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 (the lava flow is effusing on the south-western flank of the lava dome) 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 above background levels all week: volcanic earthquakes and a weak volcanic tremor were registered at the volcano all week. According to seismic data, probably strong ash explosions occurred at the lava dome on September 28 and on October 01; ash plumes rose up to 7.5 km (24,600 ft) ASL. A great number of hot avalanches occurred at the lava dome all week. These avalanches generated ash plumes that rose up to 4-5 km (13,100-16,400 ft) ASL. An ash plume of an altitude of ~ 5.0 km (~ 16,400 ft) ASL was observed on web-camera on September 28. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of the week. Two ash-falls were registered at the Klyuchi (~ 45 km from the volcano) on October 01. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the lava dome on September 28 and October 01-02; ash plumes extended about 70 km (43 mi) to the south-west from the lava dome on October 01.

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 are possible. The explosive activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft.

Seismic activity of the volcano was above background levels all week. According to seismic data, possibly ash-gas explosions up to 3.3 km (10,800 ft) ASL occurred at the volcano on September 25-27 and 29-30, and October 01-02. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano on September 29; clouds obscured the volcano on the other days of the week.

KLYUCHEVSKOY VOLCANO; 56° 03'N, 160° 39'E; Elevation 4,750 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

Seismic activity of the volcano continues. The activity of the volcano, possibly, could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

Seismic activity of the volcano was above background levels all week: a lot of volcanic earthquakes and volcanic tremor were registered at the volcano all week. According to visual data, a strong fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed on September 29, clouds obscured the volcano in the other days. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano on September 26-29 and October 01-02.

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

Seismic activity of the volcano did not exceed background levels. A strong fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed on October 02. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of last week. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the lava dome on September 29 and October 02.


IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

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

Oxana Sobolevskaya, KVERT, KB GS RAS
E-mail: ssl@emsd.ru
Tel. (41522) 59523

Tom Murray, Scientist-in-Charge, USGS
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