Volcanic activity worldwide 9 Jan 2014: Sakurajima, Santa María / Santiaguito, Pacaya, Fuego, Popoc... [1]

VolcanoDiscovery.Com  Jan 9, 2014

Etna (Sicily, Italy) [2]: The activity of the volcano has remained similar to the previous days: so far, relatively weak but more or less steady ash emissions are occurring at the North-East crater, and tremor continues its slow rise. Whether this is a precursor to more vigorous activity (from the New SE crater?) remains to be seen probably in the coming days.

El Hierro (Canary Islands, Spain) [3]: No new significant earthquake activity has occurred over the past week, and deformation has stabilized on all stations: the latest crisis can be regarded as over (but it is probably only a matter of time until the next one).

Shiveluch (Kamchatka) [4]: A series of ash plumes to altitudes around 20,000 ft (6 km) from the volcano were reported by VAAC Tokyo, suggesting that the lava dome is currently in a relatively active phase with frequent explosions and/or rockfalls / pyroclastic flows.

Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan) [5]: Following an unusually long interval with no real explosions, two small to modest vulcanian eruptions have again occurred on 6 January and today, with ash plumes reported to 10,000 ft (3 km) and 6,000 ft (1.8 km) altitude.

Suwanose-jima (Tokara Islands, Japan) [6]: Occasional stronger explosions at the volcano produce dark ash plumes rising up to 1-1.5 km altitude.

Rabaul (Tavurvur) (New Britain, Papua New Guinea) [7]: Rabaul caldera's Tavurvur cone was quiet during 16-31 December. White and occasionally blue vapor plumes rose from the crater. An explosion at 0732 on 22 December generated an ash-poor plume. Weak fluctuating glow was visible at night on 31 December. (Smithsonian/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report)

Ulawun (New Britain, Papua New Guinea) [8]: RVO reported that activity at Ulawun was low during 16-31 December; diffuse ash plumes rose from the crater during 51-21 December, and white vapor emissions were visible during 22-31 December. (Smithsonian/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report)

Marapi (Western Sumatra, Indonesia) [9]: The volcano (not to be confused with MErapi in Central

Java [10]) erupted again yesterday (Thu) morning, producing a series of small (probably phreatic?) ash explosions, with ash plumes that rose to a few 100 m above the crater. According to local newspapers citing PVMBG, the new eruptions were preceded by an increase in seismic activity under the volcano since 1 Januaryt and there were 5 explosions at 05:34, 05:53, 05:59, 06:12 and at 07:14 am local time, as well as some weaker ash emissions at 08:07. The current alert status of Mount Marapi, a popular climbing destination, still stays at level 2 (out of 4), but it is recommended not to approach the crater within a radius of 3 km. Pagan (Mariana Islands) [11]: Low-level unrest continued at Pagan during 27 December 2013-2 January 2014; seismicity remained above background levels. A robust steam-and-gas plume was occasionally visible in web camera images during the reporting [10] period. A small explosion was detected at about 0145 on 28 December. It may have produced a diffuse ash emission, but the webcam was not in operation at the time to verify [10]. The Aviation Color Code remained at Yellow and the Volcano Alert Level remained at Advisory. (Smithsonian/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report)

 

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