Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity:

More than a dozen people have reportedly been killed, after a volcano erupted on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. A thick cloud of ash spewed into the air, engulfing people in a nearby village.

Tolbachik (Kamchatka): On 31 Jan, KVERT finally lowered the Aviation Color Code of the volcano back to green, as the volcano has been calm for a while and shows no more signs of unrest that new activity could be likely in the near future. At the moment, "only" 3 volcanoes in Kamchatka are at elevated status: Shiveluch (active growing lava dome) and Karymsky (strombolian-vulcanian explosions) at orange, and Bezymianny (possible weak lava extrusion) at yellow.

Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): The volcano's typical small to moderate vulcanian-type explosions have been occurring more frequently again, and now appear to average 1-2 per day. Ash plumes regularly reach 10-12,000 ft (3-3.6 km) altitude.

Suwanose-jima (Ryukyu Islands): Explosions have become less frequent, but still occur from time to time. This morning, an ash plume from an eruption could be seen on the webcam. VAAC Tokyo estimated the height of the ash plume that drifted SSE at approx 3 km altitude.

Dukono (Halmahera): The volcano continues to produce frequent ash plumes detected on satellite imagery. Most likely, these originate from strong strombolian-type explosions.

Kilauea (Hawai'i): The eruption continues essentially unchanged. Since 2 days, the inflation-deflation cycle has turned to deflation and the Halema'uma'u lava-lake level dropped several meters. At the middle east rift zone, the Pu`u `O`o vent continued to feed the Kahauale`a 2 lava flow which was active to the northeast. Spatter cones on the floor of Pu`u `O`o crater displayed persistent glow with the northeast spatter cone hosting an active lava pond of about 15 m diameter.

Kavachi (Solomon Islands): What could be a small steam plume above the submarine volcano is visible on the latest reasonably clear satellite image from 12 hours ago. It does not look as if the volcano has breached the surface (yet).

Shishaldin (United States, Aleutian Islands): AVO still detected elevated surface temperatures at the crater on the summit, but a clear webcam image from 31 Jan showed no steaming from the summit area. The volcano remains at Aviation Color Code YELLOW.

Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): Activity at the volcano has remained unchanged and weak. Only few (less than 10 per day) and generally weak emissions of steam, gas and minor amounts of ash have been recorded. Weak glow is visible at the crater at night.

Fuego (Guatemala): Yesterday evening's INSIVUMEH report suggests that activity at the volcano increased. 16 explosions were observed with ash plumes up to 1200 m height and a new lava flow on the upper southern flank headed towards the Ceniza canyon. Many of the explosions produced moderate to strong shock waves that caused vibrations in nearby villages. Incandescent material was seen ejected to up to 200 m above the crater and produced abundant avalanches on the crater slopes.

Tungurahua (Ecuador): A strong phase of activity (a paroxysm) occurred yesterday afternoon, with a series of powerful vulcanian explosions, that produced an ash plume surpassing 40,000 ft (13 km) altitude, heavy tephra fall and pyroclastic flows to up to approx 8 km length. Activity began to increase at approximately 17:00 (local time ). At 17h12 and 17h32 (local time), two moderate-sized explosions occurred that generated ash columns that rose approx 5 km above the summit, and partial collapses of the column produced pyroclastic flows that descended about 500 m in the north-eastern and north-western flanks.