Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 73-09
Monday, December 21, 2009, 00:15 UTC (12:55 KST)

SUMMARY OF AVIATION COLOR CODES:

KAMCHATKA:
SHEVELUCH, KLYUCHEVSKOY and KARYMSKY: ORANGE

BEZYMIANNY: YELLOW
TOLBACHIK PLOSKY, KORYAKSKY, AVACHINSKY, GORELY, MUTNOVSKY and KIZIMEN: GREEN

NORTHERN KURILES:
EBEKO, CHIKURACHKI and ALAID: GREEN

BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO: 55°58'N, 160°36'E; Elevation 2,895 m
AVIATION COLOR CODE IS
YELLOW
PREVIOUS AVIATION COLOR CODE WAS ORANGE

Activity of the volcano continues and its aerosolic plumes could affect low-flying aircraft.

Seismic activity of the volcano significant decreased from December 17, but remains slightly above background levels. Big thermal anomaly over the lava dome of the volcano was registering on December 17-20. According to volcanologists experience, probably a viscous lava flow extrudes from the crater of the lava dome. No visual and video data on December 19-20 because the volcano obscured by clouds. Ash plumes were not noted on the satellite images on December 19-20.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/bzm/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 5.5 km (18,000 ft) ASL last week. According to video data, 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

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

Explosive-effusive eruption of the volcano continues. Ash explosions > 7.0 km (>23,000 ft)ASL could occur at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

Seismicity of the volcano was above background levels all week. According to visual data, the volcano was obscured by clouds all week. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was registering over the volcano all week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/klch/index.html

KARYMSKY VOLCANO: 54°03'N, 159°27'E; Elevation 1,486 m
AVIATION COLOR CODE IS ORANGE

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

Seismicity of the volcano was above background levels on December 12-13 and there was no seismic data by technical reasons in the other days of week. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registering over the volcano on December 11-13 and 17.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/krm/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

Sergey Senyukov , 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