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.

Fuego increases activity in September

by
The Fuego in Guatemala has further increased its effusive and explosive activity. INSIVUMEH reports an increase in activity that began on September 5. However, there are significant variations in the intensity of activity. For example, a lava flow flows in the channel of Cenzia, whose length fluctuates between 100 and 650 m. On a recent sentinel satellite photo in the infrared range, the lava flow can be clearly seen. Hot avalanches are ejected from the lava front. Additionally, explosive eruptions occur. The VAAC Darwin issued 2 Vona warnings today, after which volcanic ash was detected at an altitude of 4600 m. Glowing tephra is ejected several hundred meters high and triggers debris avalanches on the flank. On the seismograms one can see numerous vibrations. Sometimes the explosions generate seismic signals with large peak amplitudes. Unfortunately, it is precisely during this phase of increased activity that our LiveCam failed. Our man on site is trying to get it back online quickly.

Irazu: Antennas collapsed

by

Yesterday at the Costa Rican volcano Irazu, 2 telecommunication antennas and a building collapsed and fell into the abyss near the crater. The abyss had been created by a colossal landslide in the summit area of the volcano in late August. Before that, crevasses had formed and there were hundreds of ground tremors.

The Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (Ovsicori) reported that during an overflight it was discovered that the building and two antennas had collapsed towards the cliff. Whether there was another landslide is not clear from the report. But what you can see very nicely on the photos is the sheer size of the landslide in the volcano flank.

 

Fuego erupts 2 lava flows

by

The Guatemalan volcano Fuego again increased its activity and erupted explosively and effusively. INSIVUMEH registers between 11 and 15 explosions per hour. Some of the explosions have a high acoustic pressure and produce clear peaks on the seismogram. Ear witnesses report loud explosion noises that can still be heard in the villages at the foot of the volcano. Volcanic ash rises to an altitude of 4700 m and drifts up to 15 km in an easterly direction. Glowing tephra is ejected and descends on the flanks. There it produces hot debris avalanches. They are in competition with 2 short lava flows: the longer one flows through the gorge La Trinidad and has travelled about 250 meters. The shorter lava flow reaches 100 m and travels through the Cenzia Gorge.

Etna glows

by

Etna in Sicily continues its weak activity. An Italian volcano observer shared in the social media a picture taken from Linguaglossa in the northeast of the volcano. The picture shows red illuminated steam rising from 2 craters. The craters are the Northeast Crater and the New South East Crater. Both vents show thermal anomalies on satellite images. Probably there are also deep seated strombolian eruptions in the New Southeast Crater. However, these are currently so small that the tephra does not rise above the crater rim. But that is not enough: A sentinel image from Sunday also reveals a thermal anomaly in Bocca Nuova. It is even the most distinctive of the 3 anomalies. So it could be that the central crater could soon play a central role in the eruption process again.

The tremor moves sideways in the yellow area and fluctuates occasionally. The quake activity has decreased in the last 3 days and can be considered moderate.

 

Copahue erupts volcanic ash

by

The Chilean volcano Copahue erupted an ash cloud yesterday, which rose to an altitude of 3700 m and drifted in a southeasterly direction. Already last week there was a comparable ash emission

Copahue is located in the Bio Bio region and on the border with Argentina. The complex stratovolcano consists mainly of andesite. El Agrio is currently active from about a dozen craters. An acidic crater lake is bubbling in this crater. The Copahue is covered by a glacier. Larger volcanic eruptions threaten lahars. The alarm status is “yellow”.

Ol Doinyo Lengai: Thermal anomaly

by

In the past weeks the volcano in Tanzania appeared again and again in the news, so also today. The reason for this is a larger thermal anomaly in the crater. It can be seen on sentinel satellite photos and is generated by the coldest lava in the world. It flows over the crater floor. The anomaly is located on the northwestern rim of the crater and a new hornito may have formed there. This year there was mostly a large hornito active in the center of the crater. There you can still see solidified lava.

Sangay: There was a warning about lahars

by

Yesterday, lahars went off at the Ecuadorian volcano Sangay. Around 10.30 am (local time) corresponding seismic signals with a low frequency were registered. The seismologists of the Geophysical Institute in Ecuador issued a warning. Since the start of the activity in May 2019, heavy rainfall has been regularly triggering lahars. The mudslides not only pose a serious danger to people living in the immediate vicinity of the volcano, but also change the hydrology of the area: water is dammed up and river water is contaminated.

The lahars are formed when water mobilizes deposited volcanic ash on the volcanic slope. The material comes not only from explosive eruptions, but also from pyroclastic flows. Currently there is a VONA warning of volcanic ash at an altitude of 6400 m.

Rincon de la Vieja: 3 eruptions

by

The volcano Rincon de la Viejá (Costa Rica) started on Sunday with a series of eruptions. Within 15 hours 3 phreatic eruptions were generated. The last of these eruptions manifested on Monday morning and was the strongest of the series. It not only produced water vapor but also tephra, which rose up to 500 m above crater level. Already in the previous week there were several eruptions.

The volcano is located in the province of Guanacaste. On its slopes a wonderful dry forest spreads out. I climbed the volcano in 1994 and can well remember the species richness of the forest: howler monkeys, sloths, armadillos and coatis met me at every turn. The coati are extremely voracious and at that time they plundered my food supply, which I had attached to a rope between 2 trees. Nevertheless the coati reached the food and I experienced 3 rather hungry days. Unfortunately I did not see the crater, because the summit was covered in clouds during my 3-day stay at the volcano.

Chile: Earthquake Mw 6,8

by

In the Chilean region of Atacama, it shook with a magnitude of 6.8. A second earthquake brought it to 6.5. The earthquake centers were located at 30 km and 10 km depth. The epicenters manifested themselves on the coast, 69 km north of Vallenar. Almost 45,000 people live in the city. There have been several moderate aftershocks with magnitudes in the range of 5. The stronger earthquake occurred at 4:09 UCT. In Chile it was midnight at that time. So people were torn from their beds at night. It is not yet known if there was any major damage. Strong earthquakes are particularly dangerous at night, because most people are in buildings and could be killed by falling parts. Fortunately, the direct surroundings around the epicenters are quite sparsely populated.

Etna: Increase of tremor

by

Update 15:00: Apparently there was an episode of increased activity tonight that also involved the Northeast Crater. A livecam image shows a double lava fountain from New South East Crater and Northeast Crater.

Original message: In the last hours the Etna tremor has increased significantly and is now moving in the red zone. At the same time the LGS upgraded the automatically generated pre-warning level to “orange”. Since yesterday noon, more and more signals in the infrasonic range have been detected. They occasionally have a relatively high acoustic pressure of 3-4 bar and come from the direction of the New South East Crater. On the livecam this morning you can only see steam rising. But it is only moderately windy, so I do not assume that the measured values are falsified by the wind. In fact, yesterday hikers walking on the rim of Bocca Nuova observed the sudden onset of an ash eruption from the saddle vent of New South East Crater. Satellite images show ash emissions from the New South East Crater and a thermal anomaly in the Northeast Crater. I wouldn’t be surprised if we would see some activity here in the next weeks.