Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity

Kliuchevskoi (Kamchatka): The effusive-explosive eruption of the volcano continues. The active lava flow on the eastern slope remains well alimented and ash emissions from intense strombolian activity at the summit often generate smaller and moderately sized ash plumes that reach several hundred meters of height above the crater. During end of June, a series of collapses occurred from the lava flow on the eastern slope, generating small glowing avalanches. The rhythmic explosive activity at the summit crater also generates occasional "smoke rings" (or better: gas rings, ring vortexes created by rapid degassing through circular vents).

Alaid (Northern Kuriles): The activity at the volcano has again picked up. An intense thermal anomaly is visible on recent satellite data and is stronger than during the preceding eruptive phase in March-May this year. A (rare) aerial image taken on 28 April shows the volcano's summit occupied by fresh lava, a new cinder cone and a breach in the southwestern crater wall with a lava flow tongue present on its slope beneath (visible by the steaming front). The current thermal anomaly is almost certainly due to another phase of intense lava effusion, likely in the same location.

Kilauea (Hawai'i): The new lava flow southeast of Puʻu ʻŌʻō continued to be active and made some rapid advance through the coastal plain: when HVO last mapped it Tuesday afternoon, the nearest lava front was only about 1.7 km (1.1 miles) away from the coast, after having advanced nearly 1 km alone since the morning of Monday (i.e. little more than 24 hours). If the current rapid advance continues, lava might begin to flow into the ocean - and construct new land on Hawai'i - very soon (few days?).