Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 50-09
Thursday, September 03, 2009, 21:50 UTC (Friday, September 04, 10:50 KDT)

SUMMARY OF AVIATION COLOR CODES:

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

NORTHERN KURILES:
EBEKO, CHIKURACHKI and ALAID: GREEN

KAMCHATKA:

CURRENT CHANGES IN COLOR CODE:
AVIATION COLOR CODE OF KORYAKSKY IS YELLOW

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

Activity of the volcano continues and gas-steam plumes and possible ash plumes could affect low-flying aircraft.

Activity of the volcano decreased from August 27 and remains the same till now. Seismicity of the volcano didn't exceeded background levels all week but a volcanic tremor was registering on August 27-28 and September 01. According to visual data, gas-steam plumes raising up to 3.7 km (12,100 ft) ASL and extending to the different directions from the volcano were observed last week. According to satellite data, the volcano was quiet.
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
AVIATION 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 5.2 km (17,060 ft) ASL at the lava dome last week. According to volcanological data, seismic signals correspond to hot avalanches at the lava dome. Gas-steam plumes rose up to 3 km (9,800 ft) ASL on August 28-29 and 31 and September 01-03. Clouds obscured the volcano on August 30. 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

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

Activity of the volcano continues. Explosive eruption with ash and gas-steam plumes could affect low-flying aircraft.

Seismicity of the volcano didn't exceeded background levels last week but a weak volcanic tremor was registering all week. Gas-steam activity of the volcano was observing on August 27-29 and 31 and September 01-03. The volcano was obscured by clouds on August 30. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registering over the volcano on August 30 and September 02-03.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/volcanoes/Klyuchevskoy/index_eng.html

BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO: 55°58'N, 160°36'E; Elevation 2,895 m
AVIATION 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. Weak and moderate fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed on August 28-29 and September 01-03. The volcano was obscured by clouds during other days. According to satellite data, the volcano was quiet.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/bzm/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

Irina Nuzhdina, 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