The results of the work conducted by the institutes of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (FEB RAS) to develop the IT infrastructure for solving general and specialized tasks for...

Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands are home to 36 active volcanoes with yearly explosive eruptions that eject ash to heights of 8 to 15 km above sea level, posing hazards to jet planes. In order to reduce the risk of planes colliding with ash clouds in the north Pacific, the KVERT team affiliated with the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IV&S FEB RAS) has conducted daily satellite-based monitoring of Kamchatka volcanoes since 2002. Specialists at the IV&S FEB RAS, Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (SRI RAS), the Computing Center of the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (CC FEB RAS), and the Far East Planeta Center of Space Hydrometeorology Research (FEPC SHR) have developed, introduced into practice, and were continuing to refine the VolSatView information system for Monitoring of Volcanic Activity in Kamchatka and on the Kuril Islands during the 2011–2015 period. This system enables integrated processing of various satellite data, as well as of weather and land-based information for continuous monitoring and investigation of volcanic activity in the Kuril–Kamchatka region. No other information system worldwide offers the abilities that the Vol-SatView has for studies of volcanoes. This paper shows the main abilities of the application of VolSatView for routine monitoring and retrospective analysis of volcanic activity in Kamchatka and on the Kuril Islands

In the basin of the Amur River in the Russian Far East, the influence of watershed areas covered by forests on the river basin has a complex nature, and no strict functional dependency has been established yet between these two factors. A study of the Amur River watershed in the current conditions, between 2000 and 2016 (climate, forest coverage, fires, and felling), has been conducted using the ground and satellite observations. The purpose of the study was to identify their influence on the river behaviour (flow, flooding, and levels of water). The study of hydrological regime of rivers was conducted in conjunction with the analysis of the dynamics of forest and burns areas over the synchronised periods of time. A special attention was given to the changing nature of the species composition of the forests (coniferous and deciduous forests separately) from 2000 to 2016, and climatic parameters over thirty years (atmospheric temperature, dew point, precipitation). New facts have been obtained, which provide an explanation of the reasons for predominant prolonged trends in the dynamics of the summer streamflow. In the view of the general tendency toward increased forest coverage combining all species of forest stand, the trend in the dynamics of the coniferous species areas is negative. Therefore, a conclusion can be made, that one of the major factors in the increase of the river flood flow (alongside the atmospheric precipitation), is deforestation of primary coniferous forests on the watershed areas, in contrast with the deciduous forests, where the trend is positive. Practicability of such conclusions can be justified, as different types of forests have different root systems, which mellow the ground and facilitate partial loss of the atmospheric precipitation and its transformation into the groundwater flow. Besides, coniferous forests attract more frequent and intensive fires, more subjected to felling, have longer regeneration period, and also, use larger volumes of ground waters for growing and functioning. Consequently, with their disappearance, an increase in streamflow should be expected. No changes in surface temperature and humidity of the forest cover in the watersheds during 1980-2016 despite global warming. Therefore, annual variability of forested areas of watersheds is greatly influenced by fires and felling. There are reasons to assume, that because of the tendency for decreasing areas of coniferous forests, the conditions contributing to the increases in rivers’ flood flow and flood risks during monsoon and frontal cyclonic rainfalls will remain.

This paper considers the architecture and program implementation of the automated information system Signal-S. Based on the example of the FEB RAS observation network, it provides a comprehensive...

The powerful explosive eruptions with large volumes of volcanic ash pose a great danger to the population and jet aircraft. Global experience in monitoring volcanoes and observing changes in the parameters of their thermal anomalies is successfully used to analyze the activity of volcanoes and predict their danger to the population. The Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, with its 30 active volcanoes, is one of the most volcanically active regions in the world. The article considers the thermal activity in 2015–2022 of the Klyuchevskoy, Sheveluch, Bezymianny, and Karymsky volcanoes, whose rock composition varies from basaltic andesite to dacite. This study is based on the analysis of the Value of Temperature Difference between the thermal Anomaly and the Background (the VTDAB), obtained by manual processing of the AVHRR, MODIS, VIIRS, and MSU-MR satellite data in the VolSatView information system. Based on the VTDAB data, the following “background activity of the volcanoes” was determined: 20 °C for Sheveluch and Bezymianny, 12 °C for Klyuchevskoy, and 13–15 °C for Karymsky. This study showed that the highest temperature of the thermal anomaly corresponds to the juvenile magmatic material that arrived on the earth’s surface. The highest VTDAB is different for each volcano; it depends on the composition of the eruptive products produced by the volcano and on the character of an eruption. A joint analysis of the dynamics of the eruption of each volcano and changes in its thermal activity made it possible to determine the range of the VTDAB for different phases of a volcanic eruption.