Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 55-08
Thursday, December 04, 2008, 23:10 UTC (Friday, December 05, 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

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 was increasing from December 04: a content of ash into gas-steam plumes increased. Activity of the volcano will grow. The activity of the volcano is dangerous for 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, the lava flow continues to move downwards on the north-western flank of the volcano. Strombolian activity of the volcano continues too: volcanic bombs rose up to 500 m above the crater. According to satellite data, a large thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano all week. Gas-steam plumes containing small amount of ash rose up to 6.0 km (19,700 ft) ASL, and extended from the volcano: about 60 km (37 mi) to the north-east on November 27-28, about 69 km (43 mi) to the east and 98 km (61 mi) to the south-west on November 29, about 40 km (25 mi) to the south-east on December 02 and about 114 km (71 mi) to the north-east on December 04. Ash plumes moved on altitude of 6.0-6.2 km (19,700-20,300 ft) ASL about 90 km (56 mi) to the north-east from the volcano on December 04.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/klch/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 probably an intermittent volcanic tremor were registered at the area of the the volcano. According to seismic data, ash plumes could rose up to 5.8 km (19,000 ft) ASL past week. According to visual data, gas-steam plumes rose up to 3.5 km (11,500 ft) ASL on November 27 and 29-30 and December 02. 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.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/shv/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 27-30. There was not data by a technical reason on December 01-03. According to seismic data, possibly ash-gas explosions up to 3.7 km (12,100 ft) ASL occurred at the volcano on November 27-30. A continuous volcanic tremor was registered on November 29-30. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano on November 27-29 and December 01. Ash cloud 85 km (53 mi) in length was noted at the distance of 65 km (40 mi) from the volcano to the east on November 28. 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 28 and December 02-03. 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 27-29 and December 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

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