Marc Szeglat

Bezymianny (Russia) – Report for 20 February-26 February 2019 – NEW

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On 27 February KVERT reported increased activity at Bezymianny characterized by nighttime crater incandescence, hot avalanches originating from the lava dome, and occasionally strong fumarolic activity. The report noted that the temperature of the thermal anomaly was gradually increasing. The Aviation Color Code was raised to Orange (the second highest level on a four-color scale).
Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)

Karangetang (Indonesia) – Report for 20 February-26 February 2019 – NEW

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PVMBG reported that during 20-26 February dense white plumes rose as high as 500 m above the rims of Karangetang?s Main Crater and Kawah Dua (North Crater). The Alert Level remained at 3 (on a scale of 1-4), and residents were warned to remain outside of the 2.5-km exclusion zone around the N and S craters, and additionally within 3 km WNW and 4 km NW.
Source: Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG, also known as CVGHM)

Karymsky (Russia) – Report for 20 February-26 February 2019 – NEW

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KVERT reported that ash plumes from Karymsky were identified in satellite images drifting 200 km E during 16-20 February, and a thermal anomaly was visible during 16 and 18-20 February. The Aviation Color Code remained at Orange (the second highest level on a four-color scale).
Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)

Piton de la Fournaise (France) – Report for 20 February-26 February 2019 – NEW

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OVPF reported that activity continued during 20-26 February from the fissure that opened on 19 February; the site is at 1,800 m elevation at the foot of Piton Madoré, E of Piton de la Fournaise?s Dolomieu Crater. On 21 February scientists mapped the slowly eastward-advancing flows (and also those that had erupted on 18 February). They noted that the cone at the vent was growing, and hosted a lava lake that ejected spatter from bursting gas bubbles. A channelized lava flow traveled 1 km E and descended 200 m elevation before splitting into two flows near Guyanin Crater. The more northern of the two flows was 50 m wide and had progressed as far as 1,320 m elevation. The second more southerly flow was 200 m wide and itself split into two flows about 300 m SE of Guyanin Crater; one branch went to about 1,350 m elevation and the other to 1,300 m. Overall the longest part of the lava flow had traveled 1.9 km from the vent. During 22-26 February the lava emission rate was variable up to 16 cubic meters per second (based on satellite data), though webcam images from 24 February indicated that the flow had not significantly advanced.
Source: Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise (OVPF)

Poas (Costa Rica) – Report for 20 February-26 February 2019 – NEW

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OVSICORI-UNA reported that during 23-26 February seismicity at Poás was dominated by low-frequency events. Robust gas emissions rose from four fumarolic vents in the area previously covered by a lake, though the most vigorous emissions originated from vent A (Boca Roja). Minor incandescence from vent A was sometimes visible at night. A sulfur odor was reported in areas downwind including Naranjo, Zarcero, and Grecia (16 km SW). Particles of molten sulfur were included in ash deposits collected in Naranjo. Ashfall was reported in Canoas de Alajuela on 26 February.
Source: Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico de Costa Rica-Universidad Nacional (OVSICORI-UNA)

Stromboli: lighthouse of the mediterranean sea

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Stromboli is a small island volcano off the north coast of Sicily in Italy. The visible part of the volcano forms an island of only 12 square kilometers. Stromboli reaches a height of 924 m above sea level, but most of it is underwater. Measured from the sea floor, Stromboli is almost 3000 m high.
Together with 6 other islands, Stromboli forms an archipelago known as the Aeolian Islands (often called the Lipari Islands). It lies north of Sicily and west of Calabria in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Stromboli is a rather young volcano. The current cone is only 40,000 years old. Its morphology has been shaped by at least two major collapse events: about 10,000 years ago the Vancori collapsed and 500 m further north a second stratovolcano erupted in the northeast-opening collapse of the first one. The Cima brought it to a height of 918 meters. It mainly produced andesitic magma.

At the beginning of the post-glacial period, the northwestern part of the Cima also collapsed. This created the “Sciara del Fuoco” slope, on the edge of which a ridge leads to the summit: the Cima. 200 m below and 300 m northwest of the Cima, a new crater was formed, consisting of several sectors. This crater has been erupting strombolian for more than 2000 years. Basalts and trachybasalts are the main components of the present eruptions. Some of the extracted cinders fall on the steep slope and roll down to the sea.
The strombolian activity is occasionally interrupted by phases with stronger eruptions. Paroxysms can occur, but also flake eruptions, in which lava flows are produced that occasionally reach the sea.
In this millennium there have been 3 flank eruptions and several paroxysms. The last of these eruptions led to the closing of the ascent of Cima in June 2018.

Kilauea: Pictures of Leilani eruption in 2018

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In May 2018 a huge eruption of Mount Kilauea on Hawaii started. By the end of the month I visited the site of eruption on Big Island Hawaii. 

The eruption at Kilauea in Hawaii came as no surprise. Already in April the seismic activity increased and the lava lake in the pit crater of Halemaʻumaʻu crater overflowed several times. With a little delay the activity in the Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater also increased. This crater is located in the upper part of the east drift. A larger eruption was thought possible, but what followed was not necessarily expected. At the beginning of May a seismic crisis occurred and the Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater began to collapse. The earthquakes moved along the east rift towards coastal plains and with them the magma that had accumulated under the crater. The magma migrated to the coastal plains and accumulated under the Leilani Estates housing estate, south of the small town of Pahoa. The volcanologists registered a bulge of the ground and cracks formed: a magmatic corridor had formed that ended under the settlement. Whole streets burst open like an overripe tomato. From some cracks it steamed. A little later the first small eruptions took place. In the first days of the volcanic eruption, lava was produced from a residual melt. According to the chemistry, it was the same magma that was responsible for the 1955 eruption. So the magma had lain dormant in the magma reservoir for at least 63 years before it was now displaced by fresh magma from the Puʻu ʻŌʻō crater and erupted as lava at Leilani. On May 20, the eruption intensified: the residual melt had now been ejected and fresh, hotter and thinner lava emerged from the fissures that had formed along the magmatic vein. A few hours later the lava flows reached the ocean. On their way there they destroyed numerous houses and streets. A geothermal power plant was located at the edge of the active fissure along with the lava flows and threatened to explode. A particular danger was posed by the methane gas that was created when the lava buried and charred the vegetation.