Volcanos

Roundup of New Global Volcanic Activity:

Batu Tara (Sunda Islands, Indonesia): Activity remains strong with frequent explosions of strombolian to vulcanian type. An eruption this morning produced an ash plume detected on satellite images. VAAC Darwin estimated the elevation at 7,000 ft (2.1 km).

Sinabung (Sumatra, Indonesia): A new and seemingly more or less unexpected eruption occurred over night at Sumatra's Sinabung volcano. The Volcanological Survey of Indonesia (VSI) raised the volcanic alert level to 3 (out of 4). Since its first historical eruption in September 2010, the volcano had been closely monitored, but the alert level had been reduced to 2 in October that year, after activity had subsided again.

Kliuchevskoi (Kamchatka): Lava effusion continues. Since the night 10-11 Sep, the lava has changed path and now feeds a second lava flow a bit to the north from the previous one, making it better visible from the KVERT webcam located north of the volcano.

Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): A moderate explosion occurred yesterday at 07:03 (local time), producing an ash plume that rose about 2 km above the crater. The event was accompanied by small amplitude volcanic tremor, and a volcano-tectonic earthquakes of magnitude 2.6. Other than that, the volcano has been fairly calm, with an average of 1-2 small emissions, mostly vapour and gas, per hour.

Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia): The volcano has had a phase of increased degassing producing an important SO2 plume visible on satellite data. No reports of other unusual activity have become known.

Reventador (Ecuador): Activity, both internal and external, remains high, with occasional ash explosions and possibly lava effusion from the summit vent.

Tungurahua (Ecuador): The volcano observatory reports a change in activity, which could herald a new eruptive phase in the near future. Starting from yesterday at approximately 17:00 (local time), increased steaming and gas emissions were visible, producing a column reaching about 1 km height. Incandescence in the crater area could be detected at night as well. Previously, activity had been consisting of weak steaming producing a column of less than 200 m height.