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.
Eruptions
News about eruptions and volcanoes can be found in this category. It is updated frequently. Volcano expert and journalist Marc Szeglat reports live from his expeditions to volcanoes.
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.
Gunung Agung: the volcano is erupting
Yesterday, Gunung Agung on Bali started the eruption we have been waiting for more than 2 months. The volcano erupts an ash cloud that rises 4 km above the crater. The volcano alert level has been increased to red. The ash cloud obstructs air traffic and flights are canceled.
Video Karangetang 2015
In August 2015 I documented the eruption of the volcano Karangetang on Siau. These time lapse pictures of the glowing lava were taken.
Bardarbunga: activity remains high
During last week, IMO maintained Aviation Colour Code Orange due to continued eruption at Bárdarbunga’s Holuhraun fissure. Subsidence of the Bárdarbunga Caldera continued, and seismicity remained strong. Strongest earthquake under the central-volcano was M 5.4. The lava field was more than 70 square kilometers on 9 November. Local air pollution from gas emissions persisted.
(Source: USGS / IMO)
Sakura-jima: activity elevated
JMA reported that nine explosions from Showa Crater at Sakurajima volcano ejected tephra as far as 1,300 m during last week. An explosive eruption on 7 November generated an ash plume that rose 3.5 km. An eruption later that day from Minami-Dake Crater produced a plume that rose 1.4 km. The Alert Level remained at 3. The Tokyo VAAC reported that during 5-8 November plumes rose to altitudes of 2.1-4.6 km.
Source: USGS / Smithsonian
Kilauea: Lava flow is still active
The June 27th lava flow remains active. The flow front is 14.9 km (9.3 miles) from the vent, and 170 m from the Kaohe Homesteads boundary. The actual length of the flow, measured along the lava tube is 17.1 km. Between September 10 and 12 the advance rate dropped to approximately 250 meters per day. The flow front is still in thick forest, creating smoke, but fires are not spreading away from the flow. (Source: HVO)