Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity

Wolf (Galápagos Islands, Ecuador): A large eruption might have started at the largest volcano of the Galapagos Islands - Volcán Wolf on the northern end of the archipelago's biggest island Isabela.

Starting this morning at 08:04 UTC, Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) has issued several alerts of ash plumes reaching up to 35-50,000 ft from the volcano, based on GOES-EAST satellite imagery. The latest report< from 10:38 UTC (about an hour ago), i.e. mentions a high-altitude ash plume moving ENE at 50,000 ft at 30 knots, while a lower portion of the plume is moving south at 45,000 ft altitude. If the observed plume is in fact from an eruption, it should by now be extending more than 150 km distance and soon picked up by other satellite data.

As day breaks on the archipelago, the first images start to emerge and media pick up on the spectacular eruption. From images it seems that a large effusive-explosive eruption is occurring. Tall lava fountains produce an immense ash plume that rises to up to 45,000 ft (14 km) altitude, if the estimations by VAAC Washington are correct. At the same time, several lava flows descend from the vent(s), likely a fissure on the volcano.

The last eruption of Wolf volcano, a 1710 m tall shield volcano, was in 1982. That eruption, too, started with an explosive onset accompanied and followed by effusion of large lava flows from a 1 km long fissure.