Happy New Year!

Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 75-09
Wednesday, December 30, 2009, 22:40 UTC (Thursday, December 31, 10:40 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

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 4.9 km (16,070 ft) ASL last week. According to video data, moderate fumarolic activity was observing on December 28 and 30, clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of week. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was registering over the lava dome all week. An ash plume about 15 km (24 mi) extending to the west from the volcano was noted on December 28.
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 on December 25-26, 28 and 30, Strombolian activity of the volcano continues. A height of bursts was about 500 m above the crater. An effusion of a lava flow on the east-south-eastern volcanic flank continues too. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of 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.

Possibly, seismic activity of the volcano was above background levels all week. According to data by volcanologists, gas-steam bursts from the volcano were noted on December 28. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registering over the volcano on December 24-26 and 29-30. Clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/krm/index.html

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

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

Seismic activity of the volcano was above background levels on December 24 and 26, and didn't exceeded background levels during other days. Strong fumarolic activity of the volcano was observing on December 28-30, clouds obscured the volcano in the other days of week. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registering all week.
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

Oxana Khuzeyeva, 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