Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:

Etna (Sicily, Italy): The activity of the volcano has remained similar to the previous days: so far, relatively weak but more or less steady ash emissions are occurring at the North-East crater, and tremor continues its slow rise. Whether this is a precursor to more vigorous activity (from the New SE crater?) remains to be seen probably in the coming days.

Shiveluch (Kamchatka): A series of ash plumes to altitudes around 20,000 ft (6 km) from the volcano were reported by VAAC Tokyo, suggesting that the lava dome is currently in a relatively active phase with frequent explosions and/or rockfalls / pyroclastic flows.

Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): Following an unusually long interval with no real explosions, two small to modest vulcanian eruptions have again occurred on 6 January and today, with ash plumes reported to 10,000 ft (3 km) and 6,000 ft (1.8 km) altitude.

Marapi (Western Sumatra, Indonesia): The volcano (not to be confused with MErapi in Central Java) erupted again yesterday (Thu) morning, producing a series of small (probably phreatic?) ash explosions, with ash plumes that rose to a few 100 m above the crater. According to local newspapers citing PVMBG, the new eruptions were preceded by an increase in seismic activity under the volcano since 1 January and there were 5 explosions at 05:34, 05:53, 05:59, 06:12 and at 07:14 am local time, as well as some weaker ash emissions at 08:07. The current alert status of Mount Marapi, a popular climbing destination, still stays at level 2 (out of 4), but it is recommended not to approach the crater within a radius of 3 km.