Objective The Kamchatka peninsula and Kurile islands represent one of the most volcanically active regions on Earth. More than 200 Quaternary volcanoes, including 20 major calderas, have been identified in Kamchatka alone. As of April 1995 substantial gas plumes continue to drift from the summit craters of Kliuchevsky, Bezymianny, and Sheveluch, all of which erupted in the last 2 years. Even minor eruptions in Kamchatka can affect a large volume of international air traffic. The two volcanology institutes in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky have been severely affected by the economic crisis in Russia, the more so for their remoteness (9 time zones) from Moscow. Indeed, the situation has deteriorated in the last period with the shut-down, through funding delays, of several seismic stations and the institutes' international eruption alert service. This project seeks to initiate and integrate major studies aimed at understanding essential aspects of magma generation and volcanic activity, as well as supporting, in innovative ways (including satellite remote sensing), the on-going efforts of institute scientists charged with investigating eruption likelihood.The project will support Russian and west European scientists in a three-year collaboration. Focused multidisciplinary research (employing both conventional and novel field and laboratory geochemical and geophysical techniques) at a few key volcanoes will be supplemented by baseline remote sensing measurements of many other active sites. The anticipated results extend beyond realising purely volcanological objectives. Fundamental problems of research management will be be tackled with assistance from experts on restructuring in the NIS. The Russian participants stand to gain through integration into the international volcanological community. The west European side will benefit greatly by sharing the tremendous volcanological insights won by their Russian colleagues from many years of dedicated research, hitherto little known outside the NIS.The scientific research themes encompass: geochemical and petrological studies of fundamental processes of magmatism and evolution of continental crust; analysis of active magmatic-hydrothermal systems, i.e. fumarole gas and aerosol emissions, spring and crater chemistry, in order to infer on-going subsurface magmatic processes; remote surveillance volcanic unrest such as thermal features and eruptions such as dispersal of ash clouds, areas affected by ashfall, lavas and mudflows, to assist mitigation of volcanic hazards. Programme(s) IC-INTAS - International Association for the promotion of cooperation with scientists from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (INTAS), 1993- Topic(s) 53 - Geophysics Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme Data not available Coordinator University of Cambridge EU contribution No data Address Downing Place CB2 3EN Cambridge United Kingdom See on map Links Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Participants (6) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Georg-August Universität of Göttingen Germany EU contribution No data Address 37077 Göttingen See on map Total cost No data Institute of Volcanic Geology and Geochemistry Russia EU contribution No data Address 683006 Petropavlovsk - Kamchatsky See on map Total cost No data Russian Academy of Sciences Russia EU contribution No data Address 683006 Petropavlovsk - Kamchatsky See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PERUGIA Italy EU contribution No data Address Piazza dell'Universita 1 PERUGIA See on map Total cost No data University of Wolverhampton United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address Wulfruna Street WV1 1SB Wolverhampton See on map Total cost No data Université Libre de Bruxelles Belgium EU contribution No data Address 1050 Bruxelles See on map Total cost No data