Scientists of KVERT Project return to the full KVERT operations (the information ensuring of air services for the results of daily analysis and evaluation of activity of Kamchatka and Northern Kuriles volcanoes) and will discharge these obligations for 01 February - 30 April 2010

Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 11-10
Thursday, March 11, 2010, 23:10 UTC (Friday, March 12, 11:10 KST)

SUMMARY OF AVIATION COLOR CODES:

KAMCHATKA:
SHEVELUCH and KLYUCHEVSKOY: ORANGE

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

NORTHERN KURILES:
EBEKO, CHIKURACHKI and ALAID: GREEN


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, gas-steam plumes rose up to 6.8 km (22,300 ft) ASL on March 06 and 08, and up to 5.0 km (16,400 ft) ASL in the other days of week. Strombolian activity of the volcano continues. A height of bursts was about 300 m above the crater. An effusion of new lava flows on the north-eastern and southern volcanic flanks were noted on March 04. A length of a southern flow was about 1.3 km on March 09 (Terra ASTER image). Phreatic bursts sometimes were observed at fronts of these lava flows. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was registering over the volcano all week. Gas-steam plumes extending about 80 km (50 mi) to the eastern directions from the volcano were noted on March 05-06 and 08.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/klch/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 6.4 km (21,000 ft) ASL last week. According to visual data, an ash plume rose up to 5.5 km (18,040 ft) ASL on March 10. Moderate gas-steam plumes sometimes containing ash were noting all week. Plumes rose up to 2.5-3.5 km (8,200-11,500 ft) ASL. According to satellite data, a big thermal anomaly was registering over the lava dome all week. Ash plumes extended about 130 km (18.6 mi) to the east-south-east from the dome all week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/shv/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.

Strong volcanic activity of Klyuchevskoy volcano obscured seismic data of Bezymianny last week. Moderate fumarolic activity of the volcano was observed on March 05-08 and 10-11. Clouds obscured the volcano on March 09. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly over the lava dome was registering all week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/bzm/index.html

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


Weak activity of the volcano continues but ash plumes were not observing last time and a thermal anomaly over the volcano was small and weak. But 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.

Seismic activity of the volcano was slightly above background levels all week. According to seismic data, possibly weak ash-gas bursts occurred last week. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly was registering over the volcano all week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/krm/index.html

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

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

Svetlana Toloknova, KVERT Project, KB GS RAS
E-mail: ssl@emsd.ru
Tel. (41522) 59523

Chris Waythomas, KVERT Project, Acting Scientist-in-Charge, USGS
E-mail: chris@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