Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity

Ambrym (Vanuatu): The activity at the active vents (mainly Marum and Benbow craters) has been elevated recently. Wellington VAAC reported frequent low-level ash emissions based on satellite data. Geohazards has not updated about the activity in recent days, but maintains alert level 2 (on a scale of 0-5, 5 being highest).

Kilauea (Hawai'i): The active lava flows in the coastal plain are now only about 1 km from the coast. Their advance has slowed down significantly as the lava is now in almost flat terrain and the arriving new lava is mostly "used" to inflate the fresh field and expand its sides, until a main lava tube is established in the coastal flat as well. It is impossible to predict when lava will be hitting the ocean- this could be within few days or even less or still take weeks (if at all, but it is now extremely likely).

Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): The activity at the volcano remains essentially unchanged and CENAPRED maintains alert level "Yellow Phase 2". As magma continues to slowly rise inside the conduit, it accumulates in the inner summit crater as a flat pancake-shaped dome and causes small to moderate intermittent explosions with more or less ash. This activity is not completely stable, of course, but shows sometimes significant variations: a marked increase of seismic activity occurred during the past days, including a swarm of volcano-tectonic earthquakes and prolonged phases of tremor, probably related to the rise of new magma into the volcano's plumbing system. At the surface, more vigorous ash emissions and more intense glow at the summit were seen and occasionally, stronger explosions were able to throw incandescent bombs outside the crater. The activity has declined again since yesterday.

Santiaguito (Guatemala): Another explosion took place at the volcano yesterday morning (at 01:45 local time), sending an ash plume to 6000 m a.s.l. (18,000 ft), which means it was likely one of the largest in the current series of vulcanian eruptions. As it occurred at night, there seem to be no direct observations, but the ash plume, which drifted west before dissipating over the Pacific, was detected on satellite imagery.

Bromo (Indonesia): Mount Bromo volcanic eruption in Indonesia closed all activities at the Abdurrahman Saleh airport in Malang district. Mount Bromo spewed a column of ash by up to 1,200 meters to the sky on Monday. Tourists are banned from entering the area of 1 kilometre from the crater.