************************************************* From: Shellie Rose <srr13@xxxxxxxx> ************************************************* Klyuchevskoy volcano (~30 km southwest of the town of Klyuchi on the Kamchatka Peninsula of eastern Russia) is showing signs of increased thermal activity at the summit. It was last active in the spring of 2007 and prior to that in 2005 when strombolian activity produced small to moderate ash-rich plumes and large lava flows fed from the summit crater (see previous Listserv postings). The current activity has been detected and confirmed by the ASTER instrument as part of its rapid response program for the Northern Pacific region. ASTER, which is on the NASA Terra satellite, acquired daytime (local time) data on 26 July 2008. Both 15m/pixel visible/near infrared (VNIR) and 90m/pixel thermal infrared (TIR) data were collected. A sizable thermal anomaly at the summit crater was detected, with associated linear thermal features extending from the summit to the northwest and the southeast flanks. The summit thermal anomaly is 7 TIR pixels, which are 10 degrees or more above the average background temperature (13.1 C). However, the maximum temperature of 58.6 C is most likely not hot enough to indicate lava at the summit. The linear thermal features are less than/equal to 90 m wide and up to 3 km in length. They are located in the Krestovsky channel on the NW flank as well as on the SE flank - in the same location as lava flows observed during the effusive phase of the 2007 eruption. Their temperature is only ~7 C above the average background. A decorrelation stretch of TIR bands 14, 13, 11 indicate strong water/steam and weak SO2 signatures over these warm features. They are most likely melt-water channels with the possibility of forming lahars. Klyuchevskoy is being actively monitored by the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO), as well as with ASTER by the University of Pittsburgh. Because ASTER data collected during previous weeks did not show thermally-elevated pixels, these new data (as well as past trends in 2005 and 2007) indicate increasing thermal output and the potential for a new eruption. The latest images can be seen here (in both PDF and full-resolution JPG): http://ivis.eps.pitt.edu/data/Kamchatka/26Jul2008_Klyuch-vnir.pdf http://ivis.eps.pitt.edu/data/Kamchatka/26Jul2008_Klyuch-tir.pdf http://ivis.eps.pitt.edu/data/Kamchatka/26Jul2008_Klyuch-vnir.jpg http://ivis.eps.pitt.edu/data/Kamchatka/26Jul2008_Klyuch-tir.pdf ============================================================== 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. ==============================================================
