Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:

Tolbachik (Kamchatka): Activity continues with little changes, although the slow trend of decreasing seismic activity persists. A small lava lake 20 m across and weak strombolian activity were recently observed by Russian volcanologists who visited the site. Lava flows continue to be alimented and spread mainly to the SE.

Kikai (Ryukyu Islands): New activity seems to have started from Satsuma-Iwo-jima (Kikai) volcano. A steam / gas and possibly ash-containing plume has been observed on satellite images and a thermal anomaly was visible on recent MODIS satellite data. On yesterday morning's NASA Aqua satellite image, the plume from the volcano was about 70 km long to the SW. A thermal anomaly was visible already on images from 23 May. Kikai south of Kyushu island it is the northernmost of the volcanic Ryukyu island chain that stretches between Japan and Taiwan.

Kerinci (Sumatra): An small eruption occurred last Sunday (2 June) at 8:43 am (local time), preceded by a rise in seismic activity reported by the local volcano observatory. An ash explosion produced a small rising 300-600 m and light ash fall at Gunung Tujuh about 20 km away. According to local news, the sudden eruption caused panik among inhabitants of Sungai Rumpun village and several evacuated their homes. Some climbers who were on the volcano at the time of the explosions returned unharmed. The eruption was not signalled by VSI nor VAAC and originally only mentioned in some Indonesian media where it is not worth more than a brief note, given the large number of such events every year. Many more eruptions probably occur around the world without getting the attention of international media.

Kelimutu (Flores): VSI raised the alert level of the volcano on Flores, famous for its 3 differently colored crater lakes, from 1 to 2 ("normal" to "waspada", "watch") on a scaled of 1 to 4, after one of the 3 crater lakes turned from blue to white on 3 June. In addition, a strong smell of sulfur was noted by people from Pemo village a few kilometers south. The main risk in case of an eruption would be phreatic explosions, ash falls, and the possibly catastrophic draining of the lake(s) potentially causing large lahars and floods threatening nearby communities near and inside the valleys radiating from the volcano.

Pavlov (Alaska Peninsula, USA): New ash emissions resumed at approximately 11:00 AKDT (19:00 UTC) this morning and were seen in satellite data and observed by pilots. The new ash plume was drifting SE at approx. 19,000 ft (6 km) a.s.l. altitude. AVO reported weak seismicity beginning at 10:57 AKDT and raised the Aviation Color Code to Orange.