Volcanic activity worldwide 17 Feb 2013

Source: Volcano Discovery - 2/17/13

Stromboli (Eolian Islands, Italy): The lava overflows have been active on and off and currently stopped. The explosion signals have become weaker, but tremor seems relatively strong. Overall, the volcano remains in a state of elevated activity.

Etna (Sicily, Italy): A strong phase of strombolian activity took place over night at the New SE crater, marked by a peak in tremor. No activity has been observed from Bocca Nuova.

Kizimen (Kamchatka): The lava dome continues to grow at the summit and produces hot avalanches on the western and eastern flanks. Strong gas-steam activity and moderate seismic activity accompany this process. Satellite data showed a thermal anomaly over the volcano. (KVERT)

Shiveluch (Kamchatka): KVERT reports moderate seismicity and a thermal anomaly over the volcano visible on satellite data, indicating that the lava dome remains active.

Tolbachik (Kamchatka): The eruption continues with little changes. Lava flows are erupting from the southern fissure and tremor levels are moderate.
A gas-steam plume containing small amount of ash raises up to 4 km a.s.l. from the active cinder cone and extends to the north-east of the volcano.

Taal (Luzon, Philippines): Earthquake numbers continue to be elevated. During the past 24 hours, PHILVOLCS detected 14 quakes. Other parameters monitored at the volcano show no alarming signs.

Paluweh (off Flores Island, Indonesia): New ash plumes reaching 13,000 ft (4.3 km) altitude and extending 40 nautical miles to the east were observed today. Most likely, more dome collapses and accompanying explosions have occurred.

Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): Activity has remained low, with less than 1 weak steam-gas explosion per hour. Weak incandescence remains visible at the summit crater.

Santa María / Santiaguito (Guatemala): Explosive activity remains at moderate levels with explosions reaching up to about 1 km height above the crater. Effusive activity was weak, no activity was observed at the lava flows on the flanks of the lava dome.

Fuego (Guatemala): A stronger phase of continuous ash emissions has been reported. An ash plume reaching 16,000 ft (4.8 km) was observed extending 10 nautical miles to the NW.
The mild effusive activity on the other hand has not changed much. The lava flow towards the Ceniza canyon continues to be active and was 500 m long this morning.

Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia): Activity, both internal and external, has shown an increase over the past days. Strong SO2 emissions visible on the latest satellite data suggest that a new batch of magma has intruded at shallow depth.
This corresponds to also to a seismic swarm visible on today's seismograms.

Reventador (Ecuador): The eruption at the volcano continues at fluctuating levels, which is reflected by the seismic signal. Yesterday, an ash column rose 2 km above the crater and drifted to the west. No reports of ash fall were received by IG.

Tungurahua (Ecuador): The volcano remains calm. Both internal and external activity have been decreasing, IG reported in its latest special report.
The only surface activity during the past 3 weeks were mild fumarolic activity and small steam emissions from the crater. Meanwhile, the seismic activity has been characterized by an average of 29 long period events and 2 volcano tectonic quakes per day, with numbers diminishing in the recent week. This seismic activity is interpreted as associated with the pressurization and mobilization of fluids and fracturing of rocks within the volcano. No explosions have occurred.

Tahalra Volcanic Field (Algeria): On 14 February, a Magnitude 4.3 earthquake at 2 KM depth occurred near a group of volcanic fields in Algeria (Manzaz, Atakor and Tahalra volcanic field's).
Because the reigon has had no serious tectonic earthquake activity and because the depth of the earthquake is only 2 KM, the EQ is considered to be volcanic in origin.

Barren Island (Indian Ocean): A new eruption seems to have started. An ash plume rising to 20,000 ft (6 km) altitude and drifting 120 nautical miles to the SW was reported last night by VAAC Darwin. The aviation color code was raised to RED.

Volcano Activity Summary for 17 Feb 2013: