Volcanos

Global volcanic activity:

Within the past few days, the lava lake at Kilauea volcano on Hawai'i within Halema‘uma‘u crater has risen to a record levels. 1 year ago the lake was 70m/230ft deep, 1 month ago it was 60m/200ft deep, 1 week ago it was 50m/165ft deep, and today it sits only 33m/110ft deep!

Elevated surface temperatures were detected at Cleveland volcano in Kamchatka on 19 and 22 October, this may be related to a period of lava dome growth at the volcano.

Lokon volcano in North Sulawesi erupted again on Saturday (20/10/2012) at around 01:33 am in the morning. According to a news article, ejecta were seen rising 400 m from the observatory and the eruption lasted for about 70 seconds.

Paluweh volcano (Rokatenda) volcano on Flores (Indonesia) is still showing some activity. A Modis satellite image taken on Monday, 22 October showed a gas plume containing ash drifting 80 KM west of the volcano.

Popocatépetl's activity in Mexico has decreased again. During 22-23 Oct, 39 small explosions, some with weak ash plumes, were recorded. Crater glow is still visible at night, and some small earthquakes continue under the volcano.

The lava flow from Fuego volcano is decreasing and now only 600 m long. As effusive activity weakens, more explosions seem to occur. INSIVUMEH counted 6 weak events during 22-23 Oct with ash plumes rising about 500 m.

Seismic activity remains elevated at Sotará volcano in Colombia and INGEOMINAS keeps a close watch on the volcano. A swarm on 17 Oct contained over 700 small quakes.

The seismic swarm in the Tjörnes Fracture Zone north off Iceland continues at reduced rate. According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office, there is enough stress to produce a magnitude 6.8 earthquake, but it is impossible to predict if and when such a quake might occur.