Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 54-08
Thursday, November 27, 2008, 23:10 UTC (Friday, November 28, 11:10 KST)

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

KORYAKSKY VOLCANO: 53°19'N, 158°43'E; Elevation 3,456 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS GREEN

Seismic activity is registering in the area of the volcano from March 07, 2008, till present. Strong fumarolic activity of the volcano began to noted soon after October, 2008. Seismologists and volcanologists continues to monitor this volcano.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/krk/index.html

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 southern 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 lot of volcanic earthquakes and an intermittent volcanic tremor were registered at the area of the the volcano. According to seismic data, ash plumes could rose up to 5.6 km (18,400 ft) ASL past week. According to visual data, ash plumes rose up to 5.5 km (18,040 ft) ASL on November 25. Ash fall was noted at Klyuchi on November 22. A strong and moderate fumarolic activity of the lava dome was observed on web-camera on November 26-28. 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. Gas-steam plume about 30 km (64 mi) long extending to the south-east was observed on November 26.
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

Explosive-effusive eruption of the volcano continues. 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 continuous volcanic tremor were registered at the volcano all week. According to visual data, a lava flow was noted on the north-western flank of the volcano on November 21. The run-out of the lava flow was about 1.5-1.8 km in that day. An effusion of the lava continues. Gas-steam plumes containing small amount of ash rose up to 500-700 m above the terminal crater on November 26-27, and extended about 80 km (50 mi) to the north-west on November 24 and about 20-40 km (12-25 mi) to the south-east on November 25-26. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days. According to satellite data, a large 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 November 24-25, and at background levels in the other days of the week. According to seismic data, possibly ash-gas explosions up to 3.0 km (9,800 ft) ASL occurred at the volcano on November 23-25. According to visual data by volcanologists from a helicopter in the area of the volcano, gas-steam rose up to 2.0-2.4 km (6,600-7,900 ft) ASL. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano on November 20, 22 and 24-26. 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 moderate fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed on web-camera on November 27-28. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of the week. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly was registered over the lava dome on November 25 and 26.


IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

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

Svetlana Toloknova, 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