Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 49-08
Thursday, October 23, 2008, 21:30 UTC (Friday, October 24, 10:30 KDT)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

KAMCHATKA:
KLYUCHEVSKOY, SHEVELUCH and KARYMSKY : ORANGE
BEZYMIANNY : 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: a big number of volcanic earthquakes were registered at the volcano all week. According to seismic data, a great number of hot avalanches occurred at the lava dome each day of last week. These avalanches generated ash plumes that rose up to 6.7 km (22,000 ft) ASL. According to visual data, strong hot avalanches were noted on October 16 and 20. Ash plumes rose up to 5.0 km (16,400 ft) ASL. A moderate and strong fumarolic activity of the dome was observed on web-camera on October 17-20 and 22-23. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of the week. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the lava dome all week. An ash plume extending about 60 km (37 mi) to the east from the dome was noted on October 20. Ash clouds in sizes 10x11 and 10x5 km about 30 and 40 km to the south-east from the volcano were noted on October 19 and 22, respectively.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/shv/index.html

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

A weak Strombolian activity of the volcano continues. Possibly the volcanic crater is packed with lava, and lava could effuse to a volcanic slope in the near future. Moreover, an explosive process could increase at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

Seismic activity of the volcano was above background levels: a lot of volcanic earthquakes and volcanic tremor were registered at the volcano all week. According to video and visual data, a moderate fumarolic activity of the volcano was noting on October 17-19 and 22-23, clouds obscured the volcano in the other days. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano all week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/klch/index.html

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 on October 17 and 20, and at background levels in the other days of past week. According to seismic data, possibly ash-gas explosions up to 3.2 km (10,500 ft) ASL occurred at the volcano all week. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano on October 17, 19 and 21. Clouds obscured the volcano on the other days of the 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 continues to 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.

Strong seismicity of Klyuchevskoy volcano does not allow to detach a seismicity of Bezymianny volcano. A weak fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed on web-camera on October 19-20. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of the week. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the lava dome on October 19-20.


IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

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

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

Dr. 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