Volcano Discovery Saturday Mar 16, 2013 18:44 PM
Lava fountains from Etna's New SE crater
Beginning lava fountains at Etna's New SE crater
SO2 plume from Dukono (NOAA)
Etna (Sicily, Italy): The 8th paroxysm from the New SE crater is occurring at the moment, with lava fountains from the saddle and summit vent of the crater reaching a kilometer in height. A tall ash column has started to rise and drifts eastwards.
Tolbachik (Kamchatka): (15 Mar) Tremor from Tolbachik remains high, although a bit lower today according to KVERT's daily update, and the eruption continues with lava effusion from the now single vent on the southern fissure.
No significant changes were reported for any of the other volcanoes in Kamchatka: Moderate seismicity accompany dome building at both Sheveluch and Kizimen volcanoes. Seismic activity remains weak at Bezymianny, which also has an active dome and at Kliuchevskoi, where mild strombolian activity might still be going on in the summit crater.
Karkar (Northeast of New Guinea): (15 Mar) A larger explosive eruption from Karkar produced an ash plume rising to 28,000 ft (8.5 km). The plume is rapidly drifting NW.
Dukono (Halmahera): (15 Mar) A SO2 plume is visible on today's NOAA satellite data, suggesting a phase of elevated activity at the remote volcano.
Ambrym (Vanuatu): (15 Mar) SO2 emissions remain high.
Colima (Western Mexico): Activity at the volcano continues to increase. The new lava dome in the summit crater has apparently grown enough that incandescent lava could soon start descending into the Lumbre canyon on the western flank and produce pyroclastic flows, scientists from the university of Colima have warned.
In a similar way, the Cordobán and Monte Grande canyons in southwestern and southern flanks are at increased risk, and Civil Protection has advised the population to avoid these valleys.
Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): The rate of emissions has dropped back to less than one per hour. Tremor has dropped as well, but two probably shallow volcanic quakes show up on the recent seismogram.
Fuego (Guatemala): The rhythm of explosions remains similar. A total of 15 weak to moderate events with ash plumes rising 400-900 m were mentioned in INSIVUMEH's latest report for the period 14-15 March.
Galeras (Colombia): (15 Mar) Activity has remained more or less unchanged, with occasional weak ash emissions and degassing observed at the crater.
A magnitude 3.1 earthquake located 5.6 km WNW of the crater was recorded yesterday at 06:12:38 local time. In the past week, there were 2 seismic swarms with a total of 260 weak quakes on 11 and 12 March.
Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia): (15 Mar) During the last few days, INGEOMINAS has been recording weak continuous tremor of low energy and observed increased gas emissions, which produced a plume reaching up to about 1.5 km above the crater. The increased SO2 emission is also visible on NOAA's satellite images.
Earthquakes associated with rock fracturing (caused by intruding magma at depth) remain in the same area as before, to the northeastern sector of Arenas crater, and to a lesser extent under the crater itself at depths between 2 and 6 km.
Reventador (Ecuador): (15 Mar) Activity fluctuates between relatively calm phases and strong ash emissions. In the evening of 13 March, a steam and ash column was seen rising 3 km above the crater.
Tungurahua (Ecuador): Activity remains high, but has become more discontinuous. In its report from yesterday evening, IG reports ash falls and an explosion with an eruption column reaching 4 km yesterday around 14:24.
During the night 14-15 March, rumblings of varied intensity were heard, and weak incandescence at the crater could be seen as well as some glowing ejecta. Ash fall occurred on in the sector Choglontús in the afternoon of 14 March.
...15 Mar:
Yesterday, IG the volcano showed an almost continuous emission of gas and various amounts of ash whose average height was 500 m. Individual explosions, sometimes accompanied by loud cannon-shot noises, produced eruption columns rising up to 3 km, mainly yesterday afternoon.
At night, explosions increased again and incandescent blocks were seen ejected to up to 500 m below the crater rim.
Sacabaya (Northern Chile, Bolivia and Argentina): (15 Mar) INGEMMET reports increased fumarolic gas emissions (but no ash so far) creating a gas column rising 400 to 1000 meters above the crater. The report also mentions that since 28 Feb, there has been an average number of 400 to 500 earthquakes per day, mostly volcano-tectonic quakes related to rock fracturing in return probably related to intruding magma at depth. The volcano remains closely monitored.
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