Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 37-09
Thursday, July 02, 2009, 21:30 UTC (Friday, July 03, 10:30 KDT)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

KAMCHATKA:
SHEVELUCH: ORANGE
KORYAKSKY, BEZYMIANNY and KARYMSKY: YELLOW
KLYUCHEVSKOY, TOLBACHIK PLOSKY, KIZIMEN, AVACHINSKY, GORELY and MUTNOVSKY: GREEN

NORTHERN KURILES:
EBEKO: YELLOW
CHIKURACHKI 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: a new viscous lava flow effuses at the lava dome. 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.

Seismicity was above background levels all week. According to seismic data, possibly ash plumes rose up to 8.1 km (26,600 ft) ASL on June 25-30, and gas-steam plumes with some ash occurred at the volcano this week. Pyroclastic flows occurred on June 25-26. According to video data, volcano was obscured by clouds last week. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was registered over the lava dome all week. Ash plumes extended up to 97 km (60 mi) to the north-east from the volcano on June 26.
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 YELLOW

Activity of the volcano continues and a possibility of ash explosions up to 6.0 km (or 19,700 ft) ASL remains. The explosive activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft.

Seismicity was at background levels all week. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano on June 26.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/krm/index.html

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

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

Seismic activity of the volcano was at background levels all week. Weak shallow earthquakes were registered during this week. According to visual data, a strong and moderate fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/krk/index.html

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.

Seismic activity of the volcano was at background levels. According to satellite data, volcano was obscured by clouds during all week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/bzm/index.html

EBEKO VOLCANO, Paramushir Island, Northern Kurily: 50°41'N, 156°01'E; Elevation 1,156 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

Activity of the volcano continues. Moderate gas-steam emission sometimes with small amount of ash occur at Ebeko. The danger of sudden ash explosions up to 3.5 km (11,500 ft) ASL exists. Activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft.

According to satellite monitoring, a thermal anomaly and ash plumes were not registered.

Ebeko volcano is not monitored with seismic instruments. KVERT uses satellite monitoring and receives occasional visual observations from Paramushir Island.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/ebk/index.html


IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Alexander Manevich, KVERT, IVS FED RAS
E-mail: mag@kscnet.ru
Tel. (41522) 58325

Tat`yana 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