Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 41-09
Thursday, July 30, 2009, 20:30 UTC (Friday, July 31, 10:30 KDT)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

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

NORTHERN KURILES:
EBEKO: GREEN
CHIKURACHKI and ALAID: GREEN

CURRENT CHANGES IN COLOR CODE:
KIZIMEN IS NOW AT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE YELLOW
EBEKO IS NOW AT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE GREEN

KIZIMEN VOLCANO: 55°12'N, 160°32'E; Elevation 2,485 m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

Seismic activity of the volcano increased since July 11. Shallow earthquakes were registered during three weeks. Strong explosive eruption possible in case of further seismicity increasing.

Seismicity was above background levels, several tens of shallow earthquakes per day were registered.

Kizimen is a conical stratovolcano with a small lava dome at the summit. Last explosive eruption was on 1928-1929 (VEI 2). Volcano is located on the western slope of the southern part of Tumrok ridge in 265 km (166 mi) to the north-east from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
http://www.ivs.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/volcanoes/Kizimen/index_eng.html

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

Activity of the volcano remains low since July 13. There were no significant ash or gas plumes during several weeks.

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

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. According to seismic data, possibly ash plumes rose up to 6.5 km (21,300 ft) ASL, and gas-steam plumes with some ash occurred at the volcano this week. According to video data, ash plumes rose up to 5 km (16,400 ft) ASL on July 23, 27; gas-steam plumes up to 2.7 km (8,900 ft) ASL occurred on July 24, 27. 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 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 on July 27-28, there was no seismic data during other days. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered on July 28-29.
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.

Seismicity was at background levels. Weak shallow earthquakes were registered during this week. According to visual data, moderate fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was not registered.
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.

Seismicity didn't exceeded background levels all week. According to visual data, weak fumarolic activity was observed on July 26. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered on July 28-29.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/bzm/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