More than 65 potentially active volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula and the Kurile Islands pose a substantial threat to aircraft on the Northern Pacific (NOPAC), Russian Trans-East (RTE), and Pacific Organized Track System (PACOTS) air routes. The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) monitors and reports on volcanic hazards to aviation for Kamchatka and the north Kuriles. KVERT scientists utilize real-time seismic data, daily satellite views of the region, real-time video, and pilot and field reports of activity to track and alert the aviation industry of hazardous activity. Most Kurile Island volcanoes are monitored by the Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT) based in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. SVERT uses daily moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images to look for volcanic activity along this 1,250-km chain of islands. Neither operation is staffed 24 h per day. In addition, the vast majority of Russian volcanoes are not monitored seismically in real-time. Other challenges include multiple time-zones and language differences that hamper communication among volcanologists and meteorologists in the US, Japan, and Russia who share the responsibility to issue official warnings. Rapid, consistent verification of explosive eruptions and determination of cloud heights remain significant technical challenges. Despite these difficulties, in more than a decade of frequent eruptive activity in Kamchatka and the northern Kuriles, no damaging encounters with volcanic ash from Russian eruptions have been recorded.

Analysis of paleomagnetic variations along parallel sections across the Holocene soil-pyroclastic cover of Ма1уĭ Semyachek Volcano in Kamchatka has shown that directions of magnetization were similar during а period of 350 — 6000 В.P. This proves that magnetization is primary and applicable for reconstruction of the history of the Earth's magnetic field. Paleomagnetic variations that occurred in the interval of 1000 — 4000 В.P. have been investigated in the contemporaneous tephra section of Klyuchevskoĭ Volcano 240 km to the north.
It is known that since some of the tephra horizons may be missing in this section owing to specific conditions of tephra deposition, а more detailed knowledge of paleomagnetic variations requires the study of two or more parallel sections.

The northeast Kamchatka Peninsula is characterized by unique tectonic regimes: (i) the triple junction ~30 km off the east coast [1], (ii) subduction of the Emperor Seamount Chain [2], and (iii) possible asthenospheric flow between the mantle wedge and the sub-slab mantle via the edge of subducted Pacific slab [3]. Within this area, a monogenetic volcanic group occurs along the east coast, including high-Mg andesitic rocks and relatively primitive basalts (East Cones, EC [4]). We have conducted geochemical studies of the EC lavas, with bulk rock major and trace elements, Sr-Nd isotopic compositions, and K-Ar and Ar-Ar ages, based on which a possible contribution of subducted seamounts and its relation to the tectonic setting are discussed.
The elemental and isotopic compositions indicate that the lavas from individual cones have distinct mantle sources with different amounts and/or compositions of slab-derived fluids. Based on mass balance, water content and melting phase relations, we estimate the melting P-T conditions to be ~1200 ℃ at 1.5 GPa, while the slab surface temperature is 620 – 730 ℃ (at 50-80 km depth). The Sr-Nd isotopic compositions is close to Late Cretaceous Emperor Seamount Chain, especially Detroit [5]. The K-Ar and Ar-Ar ages of the Middle to Late Pleistocene are consistent with the present tectonic setting after 2 Ma [6].
These results suggest that the EC lavas including high-Mg andesite and basalt were generated by mantle flux-melting induced by dehydration of a subducted seamount inheriting a local thermal anomaly [7, 8]