Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 58-08
Thursday, December 11, 2008, 23:00 UTC (Friday, December 12, 11:00 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. Gas-steam plumes containing small amount of ash continues to extending from the volcano to different directions. Probably an explosive 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. Sometimes phreatic bursts occurred on a contact of lava flow front and Erman Glacier. Ash falls were noted at the village of Klyuchi on 6 and 9 December. According to satellite data, a large thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano all week. Ash plumes rose up to 7.5-8.0 km (24,600-26,240 ft) ASL on December 8-10, and extended about 700 km (434 mi) to the east from the volcano. Gas-steam plumes containing small amount of ash rose up to 5.0-6.0 km (16,400-19,700 ft) ASL, and extended more 300 km (186 mi)  from the volcano to the eastern directions.
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 were registered at the area of the the volcano. According to seismic data, ash plumes could rose up to 5.0 km (16,400 ft) ASL past week. According to visual data, a weak gas-steam activity was noted on December 05, 07 and 09-10. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of the week. According to satellite data, a big 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 December 05 and 09-10: possibly ash-gas explosions up to 2.8 km (9,200 ft) ASL occurred at the volcano in these days. There was not seismic data by a technical reason in the other days of the week. According to visual data by volcanologists in the area of the volcano, sometimes ash plumes rose up to 2.0 km (6,560 ft)ASL and extended to the east from the volcano. Ash deposits > 5 km (> 3 mi) long were noted to the east from the volcano. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano on December 08. Ash cloud was noted at the distance of 74 km (46 mi) to the east-southeast from the volcano. 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. 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 December 09-10. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of the week. According to satellite data, the volcano was quiet.


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