Mayon’s eruptive activity has continued to decline in the last 24 hours. Yesterday morning (local time) 3 paroxysmal eruptions with lava fountains were observed feeding lava flows. During the day, the eruption has become more effusive again. Most likely, the lava dome grows again and there are still 2 lava flows active. Collapse events on the fronts of the lava flows caused debris avalanches.. A pyroclastic flow was observed. Seismic and sulfur dioxide emissions are at the level of the previous day.
Month: January 2018
Mayon is still active
The Mayon in the Philippines continues to be active, but activity has slowed in the last few hours. PHILVOLCS reports 5 episodes of sporadic lava fountains. These lasted between 7 minutes and 1.24 hours. Glowing tephra is 600 meters above the crater. The lava fountains increased lava flows which flowed through the gullys. In addition, pyroclastic flows, debris avalanches and rockfalls were observed. Sulfur dioxide emissions increase to 2,466 tonnes. Whether growth of the lava dome continued, was not communicated.
Mayon: strong phreatomagmatic eruption
The larger volcanic eruption of yesterday, was (according to PHILVOLC) of phreatomagmatic origin, took 8 minutes and promoted an ash cloud, which rose 5 km above the summit level. Pyroclastic flows (or pyroclastic density flows, as they are now called) have been created and flowed through various drainage channels. They reached lengths of 4 km. Volcanic ash rained down in several villages. Videos show that it got so dark that cars had to drive with light and barely had visibility. The local airport was closed and flights were canceled. This was the Mayon’s strongest eruption to date in the current eruption phase.
Mayon: eruption increased
At the Philippine volcano Mayon, the eruption has increased significantly in the last few hours. PHILVOLCS upgraded the alarm status from 3 to 4. The exclusion zone has been enlarged to 8 km. A further increase in activity is likely. A brief message states that explosions and lava fountains emanate from the lava dome. The seismic have increased significantly. The VAAC Tokyo reports volcanic ash at 9 km altitude. MIROVA registers a very high thermal radiation of 1019 MW. The biggest danger are pyroclastic flows.