Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 44-09
Thursday, August 13, 2009, 21:30 UTC (Friday, August 14, 10:30 KDT)

SUMMARY OF LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODES:

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

NORTHERN KURILES:
EBEKO, 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. According to seismic data, possibly ash plumes rose up to 5 km (16,400 ft) ASL at the lava dome last week. The volcano was obscured by clouds all week. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was registering over the lava dome all week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/shv/index.html

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 continues to increase since July 11. Strong explosive eruption possible in case of further seismicity increasing.

Seismicity was above background levels on August 07 and 09-11; and at background levels in the other days of this week. According satellite data, volcano was obscured by clouds last week, a thermal anomaly was not registered this week.

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.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/volcanoes/Kizimen/index_eng.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 above background levels on August 10-12, and didn't exceeded background levels during other days. According to visual data on August 12, the height of a gas-steam plume containing small amount of ash was about 3.5 km (11,500 ft) ASL, but on August 13 - about 5 km (16,400 ft) ASL. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of week. According to satellite data, an ash plume extending > 180 km (> 112 mi) to the ESE from the volcano was registered on August 12.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/krk/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 slightly above background levels on August 10, and at background levels during other days. According to satellite data, the volcano was obscured by clouds all week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/krm/index.html

KLYUCHEVSKOY VOLCANO; 56° 03'N, 160° 39'E; Elevation 4,750  m
CURRENT LEVEL OF CONCERN COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

Seismic activity of the volcano increased since July 30. Explosive activity with ash and gas-steam plumes is possible.

Seismicity was above background levels on August 09-10 and 12, and didn't exceeded background levels during other days. The volcano was obscured by clouds all week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/volcanoes/Klyuchevskoy/index_eng.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 during this week. The volcano was obscured by clouds all week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/bzm/index.html


IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Olga Girina, KVERT, IVS FED RAS
E-mail: girina@kscnet.ru
Tel. (41522) 58627

Oksana Sobolevskaya, 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