Eruptions, explosions, discoveries and a newborn: Current volcano activity around the World

It has been a busy few weeks in the world of volcanoes; with new activity, new discoveries, new formations and off course ongoing activity.

The map below shows the location of all these activities.

                       Source: Global Volcanism Programme (Smithsonian Institution)

Ongoing Activity:

Bagana: Located in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, this lava cone has had ongoing activity since September 2000. On 14^th – 18^th November there has been reports of an ash plume rising 2.7km into the atmosphere and drifting 35-110km west and southwest.

Chirinkotan: Located on the Kuril Islands, Russia, this stratovolcano has had ongoing activity since June 2013. Activity has ranged from thermal anomaly and gas and steam emissions. The aviation code has remained Yellow throughout.

Chirpoi: Located on the Kuril Islands, Russia, this caldera has had ongoing activity since November 2012.  Activity has ranged from thermal anomaly and gas and steam emissions. The aviation code has remained Yellow throughout.

Copahue: Located in Central Chile/Argentinia border, this stratovolcano has had ongoing activity since December 2012. Activity is VEI 2. Activity has ranged from; siesmicity, steam and gas emissions and ash emissions. The highest alert level was raised to Orange on a few occasions when seismic activity and emissions increased. A 25 km evacuation zone was also placed.

Fuego: Located in Guatemala, this stratovolcano has had ongoing activity since January 2002. The most recent activity was reported on 18^th November 2013 when ash plumes reached heights of 450-750 metres and drifted west and south west. Explosions were also created along with shock waves and 600 metres long lava from on the south east flank of the volcano. Panimaché, Morelia, and Sangre de Cristo experienced ashfall and a block avalanch was triggered.

Karymsky: Located in eastern Kamchatka, Russia, this stratovolcano has had ongoing activity since November 2001. Activity between 13^th – 19^th November involved seismic activity, thermal anomaly and an ash plume which drifted 140 km southeast and east from the volcano. According to reports weak Vulcanian and Strombolian activity was suspected. The aviation code is currently Orange.

Kilauea: Located on the Hawaiian Islands, this shield volcano has had ongoing activity since January 1983. Ash deposition and lava flows have been taking place.

Manam: Located in Papua New Guinea, this stratovolcano has had ongoing activity since August 2010.  According to monitoring reports, both the south and main craters have been quiet between 1^st October 2013 to 15^th November 2013. Vapour emissions and light grey ash clouds have been emitted.

Rabaul: Located in New Britian, Papua New Guinea, this pyroclastic shield has had ongoing activity since January 2013. A dense ash cloud reaching heights of 1km was generated after a moderate explosion on 13^th November 2013. The cloud drifted northwest from the crater. Moderate explosions continued to occur irregularly and seismic activity due to these explosions were generated.

Shiveluch: Located in central Kamchatka, Russia, this stratovolcano has had ongoing activity since August 1999. The current VEI level is 4. Ash plumes reaching 7km into the atmosphere were generated after several strong explosions. Viscous lava, pyroclastic density currents, incandescence, ash explosions and fumarolic activity have all been generated by the eruption. Thermal anomaly has also been detected. The aviation code is currently Orange.

Ulawun: Located in New Britain, Papua New Guinea, this stratovolcano has had ongoing activity since July 2013. Current activity includes small volumes of water vapour and an ash plume rising to 100 metres.

 

New Activity:

Colima: The most recent activity began on 6^th January 2013 and is ongoing until now. The activity has had quiet phases when little or no activity has been taking place. Between 13^th November to 19^th November, there were reports of an ash cloud drifting 20km east of the summit crater. Gas and steam emissions, thermal anomaly, ash fall on several villages and communities, tephra ejection, incandescent landslides and spewing lava have all been reported. According to the Washington VAAC; on 22^nd November no activity has been detected at the volcano.

Etna: Eruptions of Strombolian nature started on 26^th October 2013 after 6 months of little or no activity.  The eruption produced lava fountains and pyroclasttic plume which drifted southwest of the summit, affecting several communities around the vicinity. Ash clouds rising 1 km into the atmosphere were generated along with explosions and lava flows.

Strombolian activity continued into early November producing ash emissions, ash puff rings, explosions lava flows and lava fountains. Strombolian activity intensified on 11^th November and lasted for 7.5 hours. Ash and lapalli fell in the north east and east areas around the volcano. Incandescent material were ejected 150 m above the crater. Strombolian activity stopped during the night of 12^th November.

Activity continued on 13^th November when explosion were heard and ejections of incandescent pyroclastics took place. Strombolian activity again intensified on 16^th November 2013. Lava fountains were produced on 17^th November when Strombolian activity intensified. Lava flows were witnessed to travel south, east south and north east. The ash cloud generated travelled north east from the crater.

On 23^rd November intensifying Strombolian activity began and covered nearby towns in ash falls. No evacuations were ordered.

Photos below show the eruptions at Etna.

Merapi: On Monday 18th November at 4:43am a phreatic eruption took place producing an ash cloud which reached heights of 2km. East of the crater ash fell as far as 60km away from the crater covering several towns. Residents in the vicinity of the volcano gathered in evacuation assembly points in fear of further activity. The level of activity since then fell and residents returned to their homes.

(Source: unknown)

Sinabung: Mount Senabung most recent activity began on 15^th November 2013. The volcano was dormant for 100 years before erupting in September 2010 forcing over 12,000 people to flee villages in its vicinity and killing 2 people. Following seismic activity, ash and tephra was ejected over 6km into the atmosphere covering numerous villages in the vicinity. There were no casualties reported.

Over 6000 people were evacuated from the 3km exclusion zone on the day. According to officials, the displaced residents were taken to shelters in public buildings such as churches and mosques as the eruption continues. Flights were also restricted to and from Kualanamu Airport in Medan due to the risk to aviation from the ash.

Activity continued after 15^th September. Ash was being emitted on numerous occasions for the following weeks. On 23^rd October,siesmic activity fluctuated, landslides were observed and explosions were heard followed by ash clouds.

Activity intensified on 3^rd November when an eruption begun at 1:26 local time generating an ash cloud 7km into the atmosphere. Further evacuation of over 1600 residents in the 3km exclusion zone took place. Over 3000 people were displaced due to this eruption. The Alert Level was increased to III.

On 5^th November a further eruption took place. An ash cloud rose 3000m into the atmosphere. The eruption lasted for 20 minutes and generated pyroclastic flows on the southeast flank. These extended 1 km from the source. Eruptions continued to generate ash clouds from than onwards, forcing further evacuations of 5000 people from villages within and around the 3km exclusion zone.

On 14^th November further pyroclastic flows were generated, travelling 1.2km down the south east flank. Ash clouds rising 3.7km into the atmosphere was also generated. A further 7000 people were evacuated from 10 villages around the village in fear of the eruption intensifying.

Further ash clouds were generated on 18^th November and onwards, reaching heights up to 10km. the previous exlusion zone of 3km was extended further to 4-5km.

On 24^th November 2013, ash clouds caused airlines to suspend flights to and from Kuala Namu International Airport. Activity has currently intensified and the Alert Level has been raised from III to IV. This alert level is the highest and represents a dangerous situation. Thousands have been evacuating from the 23 villages in the vicinity of the volcano. There have been 9 eruptions so far in a short period of time. Ash was emitted 8km into the atmosphere. Officials are urging people to evacuate within the 5km exclusion zone as the threat increase. With the rainy season started, lahars are likely to be generated, adding to the threat.

Newborn:

On 21^st November 2013 a new volcano island was formed by an underwater eruption of the coast of Japan. The island measures 660 feet in diameter and has formed near the inhabited island called Nishinoshima. The temperature of the newly formed island could be as high as 1000 degrees Celsius. This is the first volcanic activity to take place in the area since the 1970s. If the island is not eroded away, it will add to the Japanese territory. The island currently remains unnamed.

The photos below show the formation of the new island and the link shows a video footage.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZY6kH_RXSU

Antarctica Discovery:

A new volcano has been discovered under the ice in Antarctica. The active volcano which is currently unnamed was discovered by a group of scientists who had installed seismometers in the area. It is the first volcano discovered under the ice in Antarctica.

After the seismometers were installed in 2010 in the Marie Byrd Land, (west of the continent) two swarms of earthquakes were detected. The earthquakes measured 0.8 and 2.1 with depths of 15 to 25 miles and were a year apart. The shallow earthquakes with low frequency indicated that a volcano was present. These earthquakes are known as Deep Long Period Earthquakes (DPL) which occurs in volcanic areas.

The volcano is believed to have erupted in the past and will erupt in the again future; causing the ice sheet to melt which in turn will result in a small rise in the sea level.