Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:

Stromboli (Eolian Islands, Italy): Seismic activity remains elevated and accompanies strong explosions, mainly from the NE vent.

Etna (Sicily, Italy): Etna's New SE Crater produced the 9th episode of lava fountaining (paroxysm) yesterday, and has now again fallen back to quiet, but for how long nobody knows. The intervals between the past paroxysms seem to follow an exponential trend of being roughly double each time...

El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain): Earthquake activity has continued to calm down and only few and weaker quakes have occurred since yesterday. Whether this is a pause or (more likely) the gradual ending of the latest seismic crisis will likely be seen in the next days.

Kizimen (Kamchatka): A volcanic ash plume rising to 15,000 ft (4.5 km) altitude from the volcano was reported last night by Tokyo VAAC. Most likely, a combination of an explosion and small lava dome collapse (dark area below glowing summit dome in webcam image) has produced it.

Karymsky (Kamchatka): There has not been seismic data available recently for technical reasons, but a weak thermal anomaly remains visible on satellite data and suggests ongoing occasional explosive (strombolian) activity.

Tolbachik (Kamchatka): KVERT reports no change in the ongoing effusive eruption of lava flows from the southern fissure vent of Tolbachik Dol. However, tremor has decreased by about 25% compared to last week, which could be a sign that the eruption is weakening. No changes or significant activity has been posted for any of the other active volcanoes in Kamchatka (including Shiveluch and Bezymianny with continuing lava dome growth, Gorely in a process of strong degassing accompanied by moderate seismic activity).

Grozny (Iturup Island): (3 Apr) An eruption from Ivan Grozny volcano was reported yesterday by the Voice of Russia (German edition). According to the short news article, nearby villages received ash fall, and 2 millimetres of ash fell in Kurilsk town. Clouds prevented direct observations, and there was no sulfour odor detected. Civil protection assured the population that there was no danger, the Voice of Russia wrote.

Paluweh (off Flores Island, Indonesia): Ash plumes rising to altitudes of 7-10,000 ft (2-3 km) altitude are observed on a nearly daily basis, showing that the lava dome continues to be very active (and dangerous!).

Lokon-Empung (North Sulawesi, Indonesia): New explosions occurred yesterday at 12:28 pm and later at 18:15 local time. An exclusion zone of 2.5 radius around the Tompaluan crater is in effect. Volcanic ash plumes reached 700 m above the crater and were blown to the south. The activity was preceded by an increase of seismicity since Tuesday, April 2.

Kilauea (Hawai'i): No significant changes have occurred in the ongoing eruption at Kilauea volcano. The lava lake inside Halema'uma'u Crater rises and falls in response to patterns of inflation and deflation, several vents remained activity inside Pu'u 'O'o Crater, from where lava flows continued to spread in 2 main branches, one NE of the cone over older lavas, and the other flowing onto the pali and into the coastal plain.

Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): The rate of small to modest emissions dropped from 80 (yeesterday) to 36 today during the respective past 24 hours intervals. The largest explosion during the day occurred at 11:36 local time, and produced a plume with some ash content rising 2 km and drifting east.

Santa María / Santiaguito (Guatemala): Activity has been low in recent days. The observatory reports that the lava flows have been calm today, and that only one weak explosion was heard (not seen due to mist hovering over the lava dome).

Pacaya (Guatemala): Weak strombolian eruptions continue to be observed from Mackenney crater.

Fuego (Guatemala): Activity has been relatively calm today, with only 5 explosions of small to moderate size (ash plumes 6-900 m) reported by INSIVUMEH. At night, these strombolian explosions provide a good spectacle, though: glowing bombs are ejected up to 150 m above the crater and shower the upper crater cone at all directions, then roll and slide down as small avalanches.

Telica (Nicaragua): The earthquake swarm still continues and has gained some strength again, but there are no reports of unusual surface activity.

Sacabaya (Northern Chile, Bolivia and Argentina): Volcanic earthquakes continue at high rate, and there is increased SO2 degassing, as the surface expression of fresh magma intruding at shallow depth. In an Instituto Geofísico de Perú (IGP) report from 1 April, a photo showed a fumarolic plume rising above Sabancaya on 8 March. During the third week of March, a bluish colored plume rose 500 m above the crater, possibly indicating sulfur dioxide emissions. On 25 March the seismic network detected a continuing high rate of volcano-tectonic (VT) earthquakes and an increasing number of long-period (LP) events. On 27 March and 1 April VT earthquakes continued to be dominant and located below the NE sector of the crater. The number and amplitude of LP events did not change.

Lascar (Northern Chile, Bolivia and Argentina): A new eruption occurred yesterday at the volcano. SERNAGEOMIN reported that at 09:20 (local time) on 3 March degassing became more intense at the volcano. The plumes were sometimes grey colored, suggesting slight ash content. Incandescence was visible at night. Despite this activity, seismicity remains normal.