The Paratunsky geothermal field has been in operation since 1964, mostly in a self-flowing mode, with a discharge rate of approximately 250 kg/s of thermal water at temperatures of 70–90°С (47 Mw, with the waste water having a temperature of 35°С). The water drawn from the field is used for local heating, spa heating, and for greeneries in the villages of Paratunsky and Termal’nyi (3000 residents). The potential market of thermal energy in Kamchatka includes Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii (180000 residents), Elizovo (39 000), and Vilyuchinsk (22 000). The heat consumption in the centralized heating systems for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii is 1 623 000 GCal per annum (216 Mw). A thermohydrodynamic model developed previously is used to show that the Paratunsky geothermal reservoir can be operated in a sustainable mode using submersible pumps at an extraction rate of as much as 1375 kg/s, causing a moderate decrease in pressure (by no more than 8 bars) and temperature (by no more than 4°С) in the reservoir. Additional geothermal sources of heat energy may include the Verkhne-Paratunsky and Mutnovsky geothermal fields.

Annual Kamchatkan strong explosive eruptions with ash emissions of 8–15 km above the sea level represent a real threat to modern jet aviation. To reduce the risk of aircraft encounters with volcanic ash clouds in the North Pacific region, the KVERT team of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of Far Eastern Branch RAS (IVS FEB RAS) conducts daily satellite monitoring of Kamchatkan volcanoes. In 2011, experts of IVS FEB RAS, Space Research Institute RAS, Computing Center of Far Eastern Branch RAS and Far Eastern Center of “Planeta" Research Center for Space Hydrometeorology created and put into trial operation an information service "Monitoring of volcanic activity of Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands" (VolSatView). This service allows working with different satellite data, including hyperspectral data, as well as meteorological and ground information. VolSatView will be able to provide volcanologists with the possibility of continuous monitoring and study of volcanic activity in Kamchatka and the Kurile Islands. The paper presents examples of hyperspectral satellite data use in the VolSatView environment to analyze different volcanic processes.

The results of geological and geophysical studies, including recent ones, which make it possible to verify the existence of a liquid magma chamber below the Avachinsky volcano on Kamchatka, and to estimate the chamber depth and approximate dimensions, are analyzed. The heat stored in the host rock heated by the volcanic magma chamber from the time of chamber origination to the present is estimated, taking variable chamber dimensions during the process of evolution into account. The geological-geophysical prerequisites for using the thermal energy of the heated rock which surrounds the magma chamber to supply heat and power to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskii are analyzed. The creation of an underground geothermal circulation system (fracture heat exchanger) using deep boreholes is proposed.

The article describes the alternative mechanisms of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in which the leading role is played by the deep compact fluid areas. Redistribution of fluid pressure between these areas due to the migration of fluids along fractures and faults can provoke seismic and volcanic activity in the region, as well as determine the different sorts of their interdependence.