Kamchatkan and Northern Kuriles Volcanic Activity
KVERT INFORMATION RELEASE 06-11
January 20, 2011, 22:30 UTC (January 21, 2011, 11:30 KST)

KAMCHATKA
Real-time seismic data:
KIZIMEN, SHEVELUCH and KARYMSKY: ORANGE
KLYUCHEVSKOY, GORELY and BEZYMIANNY: YELLOW
TOLBACHIK PLOSKY, USHKOVSKY, KORYAKSKY, AVACHINSKY, MUTNOVSKY: GREEN

No seismic data: ICHINSKY, VYSOKY, GAMCHEN, KOMAROV, KRONOTSKY, KRASHENINNIKOV, KIKHPINYCH, TAUNSHITS, MALY SEMYACHIK, ZHUPANOVSKY, OPALA, KSUDACH, ZHELTOVSKY, ILIINSKY, KOSHELEV, KAMBALNY, DIKII GREBEN, KHODUTKA and KHANGAR: GREEN

NORTHERN KURILES
No seismic data: EBEKO, CHIKURACHKI, ALAID, TATARINOV, FUSS PEAK and KARPINSKY: GREEN

KIZIMEN VOLCANO (1000-23)
55°08'N, 160°19'E; Elevation 8,151 ft (2,485 m)
AVIATION COLOR CODE IS ORANGE

Strong seismic activity of the volcano continues. Stronger ash explosions up to 10 km (or 32,800 ft) ASL could occur at any time. Ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

Seismicity of the volcano remains high but is variable. Many shallow volcanic earthquakes and volcanic tremor continued to be recorded at the volcano all week. Based on seismicity, it is possible that ash plumes rose not above 4-6 km (13,120-19,700 ft) ASL during this week. According to the satellite data, a bright thermal anomaly over the volcano continues to registering each day. Ash plumes extended >200 km (124 mi) to the western directions from the volcano on January 15-16 and 20. Clouds obscured the volcano on the other days of week.

*****
History of Kizimen eruptions is unknown. We have incomplete data about only one eruption in 1928-1929 which were likely moderate explosive (or explosive-effusive) events. Tephrachronological data point out several catastrophic eruptions in evolution of this volcano.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/kzm/index.html
Melekestsev et. al. J Volc. Geoth. Res. 1995. 65: 205-226.: http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/bibl/vulk/kiz/jvgr_kizimen.pdf

SHEVELUCH VOLCANO (1000-27)
56°38'N, 161°19'E; Elevation 3,283 m, the dome elevation ~8,200 ft (~2,500 m)
AVIATION COLOR CODE IS ORANGE

Growth of the lava dome and ash emission constrained with this continues. Ash explosions up to 10 km (or 32,800 ft) ASL could occur at any time. Ongoing activity could affect international and low-flying aircraft.

Moderate seismic activity of the volcano continues: many volcanic earthquakes were registered last week. Based on seismicity, it is possible that ash plumes rose up to 7.0 km (23,000 ft) ASL on January 18. According to visual data, ash plume rose up to 6.5 km (21,300 ft) ASL on January 18. Moderate gas-steam activity of the volcano was observed on January 17-18 and 20. Clouds obscured the volcano on the other days of week. According to satellite data, bright thermal anomaly over the lava dome was registered on January 13-15 and 18-20. Clouds obscured the volcano on the other days of week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/shv/index.html

KARYMSKY VOLCANO (1000-13)
54°03'N, 159°27'E; Elevation 4,874 ft (1,486 m)
AVIATION COLOR CODE IS ORANGE

Explosive activity of the volcano continues. Ash explosions up to 6.0 km (or 19,700 ft) ASL could occur at any time. Activity of the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft.

Moderate seismic activity of the volcano continues. Based on seismicity, it is possible that ash plumes rose up to 4.6 km (15,100 ft) ASL all week. According to satellite data, a thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano on January 15 and 18-20. A weak ash plume extended 24 km (15 mi) to the south-west from the volcano on January 20. Clouds obscured the volcano on the other days of week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/krm/index.html

BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO (1000-25)
55°58'N, 160°36'E; Elevation 9,455 ft (2,882 m)
AVIATION COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

Growth of the lava dome of the volcano continues and next explosive eruption of the volcano is preparing. Aerosol plumes could affect low-flying aircraft.

Seismicity of the volcano did not exceed background levels all week but weak volcanic earthquakes continue to registering sometimes into the volcano from December 23. Clouds obscured the volcano all week. According to satellite data, a weak thermal anomaly was registered over the volcano on January 14 and 20, clouds obscured the volcano on the other days of week.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/bzm/index.html

KLYUCHEVSKOY VOLCANO (1000-26)
56°03'N, 160°39'E; Elevation 15,580 ft (4,750 m)
AVIATION COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

Moderate activity of the volcano continues. Aerosol plumes could affect low-flying aircraft.

Moderate seismic activity of the volcano continues and weak volcanic tremor was registering at the volcano all week. Clouds obscured the volcano all week. According to satellite data, a very weak thermal anomaly was noted over the volcano on January 13 and 16.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/klch/index.html

GORELY VOLCANO (1000-07)
52°33'N, 158°02'E; Elevation 5,996 ft (1,828 m)
AVIATION COLOR CODE IS YELLOW

Seismic and thermal activity of the volcano remains high. This ongoing unrest may eventually lead to an explosive eruption. At present, aerosol plumes from the volcano could affect low-flying aircraft.

Moderate seismic activity of the volcano continues. According to visual data, moderate gas-steam activity was observing on January 17-19, on the other days the volcano was obscured by clouds.
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/current/grl/index.html

BEGINNING IN NOVEMBER 2010, KVERT WILL ASSIGN AN AVIATION COLOR CODE FOR 22 ADDITIONAL VOLCANOES OF KAMCHATKA AND THE NORTHERN KURILES. THESE VOLCANOES ARE NOT PRESENTLY MONITORED WITH SEISMIC INSTRUMENTS HOWEVER KVERT SCIENTISTS EXAMINED SATELLITE INFORMATION EACH DAY TO LOOK FOR EVIDENCE OF VOLCANIC UNREST SINCE 2002. NOT ALL OF THESE VOLCANOES HAD ERUPTIONS IN HISTORICAL TIME, HOWEVER THEY ARE POTENTIALLY ACTIVE AND THEREFORE ARE OF CONCERN TO AVIATION.

INFORMATION ABOUT VOLCANOES OF KAMCHATKA AND THE NORTHERN KURILES: http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/volcanoes/index_eng.html

WEB CAMERAS IN KAMCHATKA:

KLYUCHEVSKOY VOLCANO: http://data.emsd.iks.ru/videokry/kly.jpg , http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/video_camera/Klyu.html
SHEVELUCH VOLCANO: http://data.emsd.ru/videokry/svl.jpg
BEZYMIANNY VOLCANO: http://data.emsd.iks.ru/videokzy/videokzy.htm
KORYAKSKY VOLCANO: http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/video_camera/koryak/koryak.htm
AVACHINSKY VOLCANO: http://data.emsd.iks.ru/videokry/capture.jpg


IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS, PLEASE CONTACT:

Dr. Olga Girina, KVERT Project, IVS FED RAS
E-mail: girina@kscnet.ru
Tel. (4152) 29-78-90

Sergy Senyukov, KVERT Project, KB GS RAS
E-mail: ssl@emsd.ru
Tel. (4152) 431-831

Dr. John Power, KVERT Project, USGS
E-mail: jpower@usgs.gov
Tel. (907) 786-7426

The KVERT Project 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