During more than 80 years, the unique observations of the geyser regime in Kamchatka has been obtained through visual observations and using automatic recording devices. In the 1970-1990s, scientists from the Institute of Volcanology have observed the geyser activity in the Valley of Geysers visually and instrumentally for several months each year.

The database (DB) of the information system "Geysers of Kamchatka" (GESKA) has collected and systematized all available (published and unpublished) data on the geyser regime, accumulated by several generations of researchers.
The creation of the DB was included in the work plan for the grant of the Russian Science Foundation No. 23-27-00318 "The mechanism of periodic action of geysers, the evolution of the dynamics of their eruptions under changes in the environment and geological situation" (grant principal investigator: leading researcher of the IVS FEB RAS Belousov Alexander).

The DB contains the objects described as "geyser" in at least one scientific publication, regardless of their current state:

• geysers (including dwarf ones that have a name);
• boiling pulsating springs – former geysers which have changed the geyser regime to the pulsating source regime.

For each object, the status of its current state is indicated:

• active – currently working;
• dead – disappeared as a result of natural disasters – collapses, landslides, mudflows, etc.;
• extinct – ceased to be active due to other reasons including human activity, for example, the exploitation of the geothermal energy of the region.

Data on geysers of four hydrothermal systems of Kamchatka are provided:

• Valley of Geysers – about 25 active geysers are known: from dwarf (fountain height 10-20 cm) to large (up to 10-20 m);
• Uzon Caldera – in 1968-1976 there was a small geyser, in 2008 a new geyser appeared, which is still active;
• Karymsko-Akademicheskaya – after the eruption in the lake in 1996, a geyser appeared on the southern shore of Lake Karymskoye, it is difficult to access, observations are rare;
• Pauzhetka – in the 30-60s of the XXth century, unsystematic observations were carried out on two geysers, which in the mid-60s stopped working due to large-scale drilling and the launch of a geothermal power plant.

The GESKA info system was created and has been developing as part of the IVS FEB RAS Geoportal since 2024.

Data Sources

• Catalog of geysers of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve... (Leonov, 2017): basic information about geyser (names, codes (unique identifiers), geographic coordinates, descriptions);
• Data from scientific publications: descriptions of geysers, observational data;
• Data from archives of the employees of the Institute of Volcanology (Sugrobova N.G., Sugrobov V.M, Droznin V.A.);
• Observational data of the authors of project since 1998 (Belousov A.B. and Belousova M.G.);
• Spatial data layers for geoservice: from GIS "Geysers and pulsating springs of the Valley of Geysers and Uzon Caldera" (author A.V. Leonov).

Structure of Information System

Now the IS includes information blocks: "Geysers", "Observations", "Images", "Bibliography", "Geoservice".
The "Bibliography" block is implemented based on the data of the IVS FEB RAS Repository – an open archive of scientific publications.