Month: December 2019

Anak Krakatoa: New eruptions

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The Indonesian island volcano Anak Krakatau continues to be explosively active and produces volcanic ash. The VAAC Darwin reports ash at 2400 m altitude. MIROVA recorded a weak thermal anomaly with a power of 3 MW and seismic activity is elevated. Unfortunately, there are no longer any usable LiveCam images, because the ash erupted yesterday has soiled the camera.

The VSI recorded 18 seismic signals caused by explosive eruptions. The longest lasted 62 minutes. Harmonic tremors were also recorded. Already at the beginning of the month the earthquakes increased with a low frequency and indicated that magma was moving underground. Further eruptions can be expected.

The eruptions started on 29 December 2019, and initially the volcano increased its activity and erupted phreatic. In the evening, glowing tephra and volcanic ash was also produced.

Nevados de Chillan: Pyroclastic flow

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The Chilean volcano Nevados de Chillan is very active and produces several explosive ash eruptions daily. The volcanic ash penetrates up to altitudes of 5000 m. At least one of these eruptions produced a small pyroclastic flow yesterday. After an explosion, it rushed down the northern slope of the volcano. The explosion emanated from the lava dome, which is called “Gil-Cruz”. The dome began to grow in January 2018. A few months later it was partially destroyed by a series of eruptions. Meanwhile it seems to have recovered well. SERNAGEOMIN keeps the VONA status on “orange”.

White Island: Dead during eruption

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The New Zealand island volcano White Island lies in the bay of Plenty and erupted explosively. Volcanic ash rose to an altitude of 3600 m. The collapsing eruption cloud caused a pyroclastic flow that reached the sea.

The island volcano is a popular tourist attraction. From the coastal town of Whakatane, curious people take off by boat and helicopter to the volcano to see the numerous hydrothermal phenomena. Today at least 5 tourists died on the island, several people were injured. 23 people have been evacuated from the island so far. Most of them showed burns. Up to 27 people could still be on the volcano. Their fate is uncertain. According to media reports, a rescue team was still on its way in the evening, but was not allowed to enter the island because the danger of another eruption was too high.

There were about 100 people in the catchment area of the island when the eruption occurred at 14:11 local time. On video recordings you can see people covered with ashes waiting at the jetty for their boat. Many people only wore shorts and t-shirts. You can also see a destroyed helicopter that had dropped tourists on the island.

Etna: strombolian eruptions at NSEC

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Last night Etna showed its strombolian side and produced further eruptions from the New South East Crater. Glowing tephra was ejected up to 100 m high, which was quite photogenic. At peak times MIROVA registered thermal radiation with a power of 144 MW.

This morning the activity seems to have decreased, MIROVA only registered a thermal anomaly of 36 MW power. In addition, the Thermalcam shows no more thermal radiation around the last active vent. But there seems to be more activity in the central crater. Possibly the small lava flow is still pouring into Bocca Nouva. It originated at the new intracrater cone of Voragine. The tremor is clearly increased and gives an indication that this activity is continuing. The video shows the status-quo on Friday.

Sabancaya erupts over 10,000 m high

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Today, the Peruvian volcano Sabancaya erupted an ash cloud that rose to an altitude of more than 10,000 m. In the last 24 hours, 5 eruption clouds were detected. In the last days the activity increased significantly. MIROVA only sporadically registers a weak heat signature. Apparently very little glowing tephra is being generated. Nevertheless, volcanologists at INGEMMET have confirmed dome growth. The seismic activity is high.