KVERT reported that during 9-16 July seismic activity from Shiveluch was above background levels and suggested that possible ash plumes rose to an altitude of 4.3 km (12,100 ft) a.s.l. Satellite imagery showed a large daily thermal anomaly over the lava dome. Gas-and-steam plumes were seen rising to an altitude of 3.7 km (12,100 ft) a.s.l. during 9 and 11-14 July. Based on analysis of satellite imagery, the Tokyo VAAC reported a possible eruption on 19 July. Ash was seen in subsequent satellite images and then later dissipated. The Aviation Color Code level remained at Orange.

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