Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 27-09
Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 01:20 UTC (14:20 KDT)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF  CONCERN COLOR CODES:

KAMCHATKA:
SHEVELUCH: ORANGE
KORYAKSKY: YELLOW

KORYAKSKY VOLCANO; 53°19'N, 158°43'E; Elevation 3,456 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW
PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE WAS ORANGE

A gas-steam activity of the volcano continues and aerosolic plumes could affect low-flying aircraft.

Seismic activity of the volcano was above background levels on April 23-25 and has decreased to the background levels on April 26-28. A weak volcanic tremor did not register 24 hours from April 26 but sometimes short episodes of tremor take place at present.

According to visual data, weak gas-steam plumes sometimes containing a small amount of ash drifted from the volcano to different directions on April 23-28. According to satellite data, the ash plumes did not note there from April 18.
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
PREVIOUS LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE WAS RED

Activity of the volcano continues. A danger of a strong explosive eruption of Sheveluch remains. Ash explosions > 10 km (> 32,800 ft) ASL could occur at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

Seismic activity of the volcano decreased but a weak volcanic tremor and a lesser number of shallow events in the area of the volcano register. There are partly absences of seismic data from 19:00 UTC on April 26 till present by technical reasons.

According to video data, a gas-steam plume containing a small amount of ash is observing at the volcano at present. Sometimes hot avalanches occur at the lava dome. Ash plumes raise from hot avalanches up to 4-5 (13,100-16,400 ft) km ASL and dispersing quickly near the volcano. Ash plumes extend to the south-east from the volcano.

According to satellite data, ash plumes from the volcano were not noted from 09:40 UTC on April 28 till present.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/shv/index.html


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