Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team Research Articles

Volcanoes and their hazard to aviation

In March 2013, the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) celebrated the 20th anniversary of its activity. This team, which was created by the joint efforts of Russian and American scientists, analyzes on a daily basis the data supplied by the complex (seismic, video, visual, and satellite) monitoring system of volcanoes of Kamchatka and the Northern Kuril Islands to notify airline companies and all interested organizations about potential hazards.

The 2005 eruption of Kliuchevskoi volcano: Chronology and processes derived from ASTER spaceborne and field-based data

Kliuchevskoi volcano, located on the Kamchatka peninsula of eastern Russia, is one of the largest and most active volcanoes in the world. Its location and diversity of eruption styles make satellite-based monitoring and characterization of its eruptive activity essential. In 2005, the Kamchatka Volcano Emergency Response Team (KVERT) first reported that seismic activity of Kliuchevskoi increased above background levels on 12 January (Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) Report, 2005. Kliuchevskoi Volcano, 14 January through 13 May 2005. ( http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/avoreport.php?view=kam info&id=&month=January&year=2005). Cited January 2007). By 15 January Kliuchevskoi entered an explosive–effusive phase, which lasted for five months and produced basaltic lava flows, lahar deposits, and phreatic explosions along its northwestern flank. We present a comparison between field observations and multispectral satellite image data acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument in order to characterize the eruptive behavior. The ASTER instrument was targeted in an automated urgent request mode throughout the eruption timeline in order to collect data at the highest observation frequency possible. Brightness temperatures were calculated in all three ASTER wavelength regions during lava flow emplacement. The maximum lava flow brightness temperatures, calculated from the 15 m/pixel visible near infrared (VNIR) data, were in excess of 800 °C. The shortwave infrared (SWIR) data were radiometrically and geometrically corrected, normalized to the same gain settings, and used to estimate an eruptive volume of 2.35 × 10 − 2 km 3 at the summit. These data were also used to better constrain errors arising in the thermal infrared (TIR) data due to sub-pixel thermal heterogeneities. Based on all the ASTER data, the eruption was separated into three phases: an initial explosive phase (20 January–31 January), an explosive–effusive phase (1 February–8 March), and a subsequent cooling phase. Decorrelation stretch (DCS) images of the TIR data also suggested the presence of silicate ash, SO 2, and water vapor plumes that extended up to 300 km from the summit. The ASTER rapid-response program provided important multispectral, moderate spatial resolution information that was used to detect and monitor the eruptive activity of this remote volcano which can be applied to other eruptions worldwide.

Russian eruption warning systems for aviation

More than 65 potentially active volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kurile Islands pose a substantial threat to aircraft on the Northern Pacific (NOPAC), Russian Trans-East (RTE), and Pacific Organized Track System (PACOTS) air routes. The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) monitors and reports on volcanic hazards to aviation for Kamchatka and the north Kuriles. KVERT scientists utilize real-time seismic data, daily satellite views of the region, real-time video, and pilot and field reports of activity to track and alert the aviation industry of hazardous activity. Most Kurile Island volcanoes are monitored by the Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT) based in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. SVERT uses daily moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images to look for volcanic activity along this 1,250-km chain of islands. Neither operation is staffed 24 h per day. In addition, the vast majority of Russian volcanoes are not monitored seismically in real-time. Other challenges include multiple time-zones and language differences that hamper communication among volcanologists and meteorologists in the US, Japan, and Russia who share the responsibility to issue official warnings. Rapid, consistent verification of explosive eruptions and determination of cloud heights remain significant technical challenges. Despite these difficulties, in more than a decade of frequent eruptive activity in Kamchatka and the northern Kuriles, no damaging encounters with volcanic ash from Russian eruptions have been recorded.

The active volcanoes of Kamchatka and Paramushir Island, North Kurils in 2007

Eight strong eruptions of four Kamchatka volcanoes (Bezymyannyi, Klyuchevskoi, Shiveluch, and Karymskii) and Chikurachki Volcano on Paramushir Island, North Kurils took place in 2007. In addition, an explosive event occurred on Mutnovskii Volcano and increased fumarole activity was recorded on Avacha and Gorelyi volcanoes in Kamchatka and Ebeko Volcano on Paramushir Island, North Kurils. Thanks to close cooperation with colleagues involved in the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) project from the Elizovo Airport Meteorological Center and volcanic ash advisory centers in Tokyo, Anchorage, and Washington (Tokyo VAAC, Anchorage VAAC, and Washington VAAC), all necessary precautions were taken for flight safety near Kamchatka.

Russian volcano warnings reinstated

The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) is again issuing warnings for aviation during periods of activity by Kamchatkan volcanoes. KVERT had stopped issuing warnings on 1 March due to a loss of funding by the Federal Unitary Enterprise State Air Traffic Management Corporation of Russia (see Eos 88(12), 2007). The funding for this work has now resumed. KVERT is a collaborative project of scientists from the Russian Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the Kamchatka Experimental and Methodical Seismological Department, and the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

Kamchatka volcano warnings for aviation discontinued

The program that provides warnings to the international aviation community when volcanoes on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula erupt stopped providing these notices on 1 March due to a loss of funding.As of 1 January 2007, the Federal Unitary Enterprise State Air Traffic Management Corporation of Russia halted its funding for the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team. KVERT is a collaborative project of scientists from the Russian Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, the Kamchatka Experimental and Methodical Seismological Department, and the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). AVO is a cooperative program of the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.

Detection of a new summit crater on Bezymianny Volcano lava dome: satellite and field-based thermal data

An explosive eruption occurred at the summit of Bezymianny volcano (Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia) on 11 January 2005 which was initially detected from seismic observations by the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT). This prompted the acquisition of 17 Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) satellite images of the volcano over the following 10 months. Visible and infrared data from ASTER revealed significant changes to the morphology of the summit lava dome, later seen with field based thermal infrared (TIR) camera surveys in August 2005. The morphology of the summit lava dome was observed to have changed from previous year’s observations and historical accounts. In August 2005 the dome contained a new crater and two small lava lobes. Stepped scarps within the new summit crater suggest a partial collapse mechanism of formation, rather than a purely explosive origin. Hot pyroclastic deposits were also observed to have pooled in the moat between the current lava dome and the 1956 crater wall. The visual and thermal data revealed a complex eruption sequence of explosion(s), viscous lava extrusion, and finally the formation of the collapse crater. Based on this sequence, the conduit could have become blocked/pressurized, which could signify the start of a new behavioural phase for the volcano and lead to the potential of larger eruptions in the future.

Kamchatkan volcanic eruption team celebrates tenth anniversary at Workshop

Awareness of the hazards to aviation posed by explosive volcanic eruptions worldwide increased significantly in the 1980s and 1990s. On Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, 29 active volcanoes lie beneath and upwind of the heavily used airways of the North Pacific. Systematic monitoring and timely reporting of Kamchatkan volcanic activity geared toward the aviation community was largely lacking until 1993, when a collaborative effort between the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO; a joint project of the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Alaska‐Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys) and the Russian Academy of Science's Institute of Volcanic Geology and Geochemistry (IVGG) prompted formation of the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT).

Workshop on subduction, arc magmatic processes completes North Pacific meeting cycle

What was once a remote backwater in the study of Earth processes—subduction and associated volcanism and seismicity of the far north Pacific region—has become a locus of real‐time observation. For example, the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO)—a collaborative project of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the University of Alaska‐Fairbanks (UAF), and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS) at Anchorage and Fairbanks— now maintains real‐time seismic monitoring networks on 25 active volcanoes, from Cook Inlet to Adak Island; conducts continuous operational satellite surveillance of Alaska and Kamchatka for volcanic hot spots and ash plumes; and is now implementing real‐time continuous GPS networks. Also, the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) of the Institute for Volcanic Geology and Geochemistry and the Institute of Seismology (both in Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula) is similarly active in the Russian Far East.

Russian volcano erupts with little warning

With little advance seismic warning, the Kamchatka Peninsula's Mt. Bezymianny erupted on the afternoon of October 20. Preliminary estimates indicate that this is the largest eruption of the volcano since 1956. There are a few seismic stations in the area, but the ongoing activity at nearby Klyuchevskoy and Sheveluch volcanos masked the Bezymianny precursor (and initial eruptive) activity, said Thomas P. Miller of the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO). Located at 56°04′N, 160°43′E, in east‐central Kamchatka, Russia, Bezymianny is a 9500‐foot‐high stratovolcano breached to the east with a large active dome in the summit crater.Observers from the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), led by Vladimir Kirianov, notified AVO that Bezymianny was generally obscured by heavy ashfall, with ash plumes extending up to about 8–15 km above sea level on October 23–24. The ash layer measured more than 1 cm at the Apahonchich seismic station (15 km northeast of the volcano) and 0.5 cm at the Gorno‐Topolovo meteorological station (30 km southeast of the volcano). As of November 10, the volcano had yet to be observed at close range because of much volcanic ash, bad weather conditions, and lack of funding, said Miller. A helicopter, with a volcanologist from the Russian Institute of Volcanic Geology and Geochemistry onboard, is scheduled to fly into the area as soon as weather permits. More information on the size and status of activity will be available then, said Miller.