***************************************** From: Shellie Rose <srr13@xxxxxxxx> ***************************************** Volcanic unrest continues at Klyuchevskoy Volcano (~30 km southwest of the town of Klyuchi) on the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. This activity is being closely monitored by the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) and more remotely by the University of Pittsburgh using the ASTER imaging instrument on the NASA Terra satellite. The color code of Klyuchevskoy was initially raised by KVERT from yellow to orange on 15 January 2007 and continues today as ash explosions, gas/steam plumes, and volcanic tremor remain constant. To support the monitoring of this remote volcano, the ASTER urgent request protocol has been utilized several times over the past two months. The most recent data can be seen here: http//ivis.eps.pitt.edu/data/Kamchatka/26Apr2007_Klyuch.pdf http//ivis.eps.pitt.edu/data/Kamchatka/26Apr2007_Klyuch2.pdf Although previous ASTER acquisitions showed most of the summit covered in cloud/volcanic plume, the new daytime data from 26 April indicates a substantial thermal anomaly along the northwestern flank. This anomaly has significantly increased in both thermal output and areal extent since the last clear ASTER image of the summit (21 February). The ASTER data are 15m/pixel in the visible/near infrared (VNIR), 30 m/pixel in the shortwave infrared (SWIR), and 90m/pixel in the thermal infrared (TIR) regions. The low-sun angle VNIR data show a diffuse plume partially covering the summit and extending to the east for approximately 30 km. A decorrelation stretch performed on the TIR data indicates that the plume is primarily water and ice with little to no SO2 or ash. However, a daytime acquisition on 19 April revealed a considerable amount of ash near the summit concomitant with strombolian activity reported by KVERT. The thermal anomaly present along the northwestern flank is approximately 3.5 to 4.0 km in length, up to 270 m wide, and includes numerous TIR pixels that are 10 degrees or more above the average background temperature of -10 C. The size and thermal output of the open-channel lava flow is causing 22 TIR pixels (0.18 sq. km) to be at or above the saturation level (> 97 C). This is a significant increase from the February data where only 10 pixels were thermally elevated, with none being saturated and the maximum temperature was only 32.8 C. Reports by KVERT detail explosive strombolian activity and lava flow extrusion along the northwestern flank initiating on 28 March and continuing to the present. Data from the ASTER SWIR sensor, which is more sensitive to higher temperatures and has a higher spatial resolution, reveal significant thermal output over the lava flows. The maximum temperatures within the lava flows were > 384 C, which was the saturation for 92 pixels (82,800 sq. m). Temperatures recorded at or above these levels produce visible incandescence observed in the 15m/pixel VNIR data. The VNIR data also reveals two main lava flows up to 180 m wide and 1.5 km in length with one significant lahar, extending up to 7 km to the north. ASTER will continue to monitor the volcano to assess changes in the thermal and gas flux throughout this phase of activity. ------------------------------------------- Shellie Rose University of Pittsburgh Department of Geology and Planetary Science SRCC 200 Pittsburgh, PA 15260 srr13@xxxxxxxx 412-624-9324 ============================================================== To unsubscribe from the volcano list, send the message: signoff volcano to: listserv@xxxxxxx, or write to: volcano-request@xxxxxxxx To contribute to the volcano list, send your message to: volcano@xxxxxxxx Please do not send attachments. ==============================================================
