Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity

Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion): A new eruption could be underway at the volcano, the Volcano Observatory reported. Today, it recorded a seismic swarm of shallow earthquakes located under the summit of Dolomieu crater that started at noon. The prefecture declared alert phase 1 "probable eruption" and closed public access to the Enclos.

Hakone (Honshu): Following a small explosion in the Owakudani hydrothermal area and increased seismic activity, the alert level of the volcano was raised to 3 (on a scale of 1-5) on 30 June.

Raung (East Java): The effusive-explosive activity at the volcano continued and increased over the past week. Strombolian explosions accompany a lava flow emitted from a vent inside the large summit crater. Some of the explosions were strong enough to produce significant but low-level ash plumes drifting east. Some airlines canceled flights to Surabaya and Bali that would pass near or in the paths of the plumes. The alert level was raised to 3("Siaga") on a scale of 1-4 and some nearby villages have been evacuated.

Sinabung (Sumatra, Indonesia): Over the past days, pyroclastic flows have been weaker and less frequent, but the slow extrusion of lava at the summit continues with little change. The volcano remains at highest alert.

Dukono (Halmahera): Activity (explosions, ash emissions) remains elevated. An ash plume was observed extending 70 km NE from the volcano on 3 July (VAAC Darwin).

Pacaya (Guatemala): Mild strombolian activity producing small ash plumes continues at the Mackenney crater. Incandescence is visible from the crater at night,

Fuego (Guatemala): The eruptive activity intensified into another paroxysm during 1 July, producing a lava flow, more than 1 km long, and relatively large pyroclastic flows through the Las Lajas drainage on the southeast side that reached 4-5 km length. Areas in the La Réunion area near the Las Lajas river bed were evacuated.

Tungurahua (Ecuador): New ash explosions took place at the volcano the day before yesterday (3 July), generating a plume that rose approx. 1 km above the summit and caused light ash fall on the western slope. This was the first significant activity since the weak eruptive episode in April. IGEPN reported moderate internal activity and does not exclude that more vigorous eruptions might follow in the near future.