Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity

Etna (Sicily, Italy): No significant changes have occurred at the volcano recently. Lava continues to arrive at the vent(s) at the eastern base of the NE crater, where strombolian activity is building up a complex cone and several small lava flows are spreading towards the Valle del Bove. A small collapse occurred on 1 August, partially destroying the cone that had been built above the 25 July vent.

Kuchinoerabu-jima (Ryukyu Islands): A new eruption occurred yesterday at the volcano at 12h25 local time. It consisted of a single powerful explosion from the Shin-Dake crater. An ash plume rose to approx 1.5 km height, and a pyroclastic flow was generated. The eruption lasted about 10 minutes and much of the erupted mass collapsed into an impressive pyroclastic flow (hot avalanche of fragmented lava and gasses).

Dukono (Halmahera): Our team member Andi returned from an expedition to the volcano. He observed near-continuous ash emissions as well as classic strombolian activity.

Pavlof (Alaska Peninsula, USA): The Alaska Volcano Observatory set the volcano back to normal status a few days ago, as no more signs of eruptive activity had been detected recently.

Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): Activity at the volcano remains low with little variation. Occasional small explosions with ash emissions and near-constant degassing, as well as weak glow at the summit at night characterize the current status of the volcano. CENAPRED keeps the alert level unchanged at "Yellow Phase 2".

Santiaguito (Guatemala): Activity at the volcano is dominantly effusive. No explosions were observed during the past 24 hours, but the viscous lava flow on the SE side into the gully of Nima I river remains active. Rudiger Escobar Wolf, volcanologist at Michigan Tech, published satellite imagery that shows the advance of the flow through the 9 May collapse scar and into the ravine between 30 June and 31 July.

Fuego (Guatemala): Activity remains at typical average levels, characterized by intermittent, sometimes strong strombolian explosions that eject abundant incandescent material to 100-200 m above the crater. The bombs create avalanches on the upper slopes. Ash plumes rise to 600-700 m height above the crater. Shock waves and audible degassing accompany these explosions.

Tungurahua (Ecuador): Activity continued to increase at the volcano as new magma continues to arrive at its summit. Since the first ash emission a week ago, more and stronger explosions, as well as phases of continuous ash and gas emissions and milder strombolian activity have occurred. Ash plumes have been rising up to 4 km above the volcano's summit and moderate ash fall occurred in several areas, most notably the sectors of Choglontús, El Manzano, Motilones, Cusúa, Tisaleo and Mocha.

Sabancaya (Peru): A pilot reported a volcanic ash plume to approx. 17,000 ft yesterday afternoon, which would infer that the volcano, which has been showing seismic unrest for a while, actually erupted. There are no other indications of an eruption and the ash plume was most likely a weather cloud. Peru's geophysical institute reported in its latest summary on 1 Aug, that seismic activity continued at the volcano, but had decreased and mostly is tectonic in nature and lacks signature of magma moving (such as hybrid quakes). No thermal anomalies were detected at the volcano. Only a degassing steam and gas plume show that the volcano is not completely calm.

Ubinas (Peru): No significant changes have occurred recently. The volcano is mostly emitting a dilute plume of gas and some ash. Discrete explosions occurred last on 29 and 31 July, producing plumes that rose approx. 2.5 km above the crater.

Nyamuragira (DRCongo): It is uncertain whether the eruption at Nyamuragira still continues, i.e. whether the new lava lake detected in July still exists. The thermal signal associated with this lava lake has disappeared during the past days. Only a relatively weak gas plume is still visible on satellite imagery. No recent ground observations seem to be available to tell what is actually occurring at the large brother of Nyiragongo (which continues to have a very large and active lava lake in its summit crater).