Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:

Kelud (East Java): BNPB (Civil protection) confirmed 3 fatalities (indirectly or directly) caused by the eruption: two as result of breathing difficulties caused by the ash, one as a road accident during evacuation. All of the victims were in Pandasari village less than 7 km from the volcano where 20 cm of ash has fallen. So far, 76,388 people are confirmed evacuated into 293 shelters so far, while evacuation efforts within the 10 km exclusion zone continue. Preliminary estimations are that the eruption produced 80 million cubic meters of tephra. At the moment, the volcano continues to emit ash and steam, accompanied by tremors. The government of East Java has declared the state of emergency for the affected area. 350,000 dust masks are being distributed. The ash plume from last night's major eruption (possibly sub-plinian or even plinian in size) of Kelut is drifting rapidly to the west above the Indian Ocean. It is estimated to be as high as 55,000 ft (16 km) and extends several hundred kilometres in both N-S and W-E directions. An important warning for aircraft using routes in this part of SE Asia was issued by VAAC Darwin.

The eruption plume is well visible on satellite data. According to VSI, the eruption started at 21:15 local time, following a rapid build-up in seismic activity during the same day. Monitoring staff were forced to evacuate their observation post as the eruption began to increase and a heavy rain of gravel-sized lapilli set in. It is still unclear how large exactly the eruption was and what type exactly is was. An important question is whether fresh magma was involved (which seems rather likely) or whether it was phreatic (no new magma involved) and simply the result of a brutal release of pressure that had accumulated beneath the 2007 lava dome. In the first scenario, there would be a significant amount of fresh, viscous magma that has come to explosion. In this case, the eruption might still continue for a while, possibly with new violent explosions, until the portion of the new gas-rich magma that is able to erupt has been vented. It could then end with the emplacement of a new lava dome at the end of the eruption, corresponding to the last, relatively degassed magma that is able to reach the surface.