Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 53-09
Friday, September 11, 2009, 21:50 UTC (Saturday, September 12, 10:50 KDT)

SUMMARY OF AVIATION COLOR CODES:

KAMCHATKA:
SHEVELUCH: ORANGE
KORYAKSKY and BEZYMIANNY : YELLOW
KLYUCHEVSKOY, 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 SHEVELUCH IS ORANGE

SHEVELUCH VOLCANO: 56°38'N, 161°19'E; Elevation 3,283 m, the dome elevation ~2,500 m
CURRENT AVIATION COLOR CODE IS ORANGE
PREVIOUS AVIATION COLOR CODE WAS RED

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.

Seismic activity of the volcano decreased: only three explosive events occurred from 02:15 till 15:46 UTC on September 11. According to an interpretation of seismic signals, ash plumes rose up to 4.5-6.5 km (14,800-21,300 ft) ASL. No visual data about this events - the volcano obscures by clouds. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly over the lava dome was registering on September 10-11.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/shv/index.html

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

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

Seismicity of the volcano was slightly above background levels on September 04 and didn't exceeded background levels in the other days of week. Weak volcanic tremor was registering all week. According to visual data, gas-steam plumes raising up to 3.4 km (11,100 ft) ASL were observed on September 04 and 06. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of week. According to satellite data, the volcano was quiet.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/krk/index.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 all week. Weak and moderate fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed on September 04-07. The volcano was obscured by clouds during other days. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly was registering over the lava dome on September 05 and 07-08.
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

Tatiana 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