KVERT reported that seismicity at Shiveluch was moderate during 5-12 August. Seismic data indicated that possible ash plumes rose to an altitude of 6.7 km (22,000 ft) a.s.l. on 8 August, to an altitude of 6 km (19,700 ft) a.s.l. on 10 August, and to altitudes of 4-5.5 km (13,100-18,000 ft) a.s.l. on other days. Ground-based observers indicated that ash plumes rose to an altitude of 7 km (23,000 ft) a.s.l. on 6 August. Satellite imagery showed a daily thermal anomaly on the lava dome, and ash plumes that drifted 60 and 20 km SE on 6 and 10 August, respectively. The Aviation Color Code remained at Orange.

Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Tokyo VAAC reported that on 13 August a possible eruption produced a plume that rose to an altitude of 4.3 km (14,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted W. Ash was seen in subsequent satellite images that same day. An eruption on 15 August produced a plume that rose to an altitude of 7.9 km (26,000 ft) a.s.l.

Geological Summary. The high, isolated massif of Sheveluch volcano (also spelled Shiveluch) rises above the lowlands NNE of the Kliuchevskaya volcano group. The 1,300 km3 andesitic volcano is one of Kamchatka's largest and most active volcanic structures, with at least 60 large eruptions during the Holocene. The summit of roughly 65,000-year-old Stary Shiveluch is truncated by a broad 9-km-wide late-Pleistocene caldera breached to the south. Many lava domes occur on its outer flanks. The Molodoy Shiveluch lava dome complex was constructed during the Holocene within the large open caldera; Holocene lava dome extrusion also took place on the flanks of Stary Shiveluch. Widespread tephra layers from these eruptions have provided valuable time markers for dating volcanic events in Kamchatka. Frequent collapses of dome complexes, most recently in 1964, have produced debris avalanches whose deposits cover much of the floor of the breached caldera.

Sources: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)