Volcanic activity world-wide 14 December 2012: Batu Tara, Paluweh, Tobachik, Askja, Popocatépetl, Fuego, Tungurahua, Reventador, Sakurajima, Tongariro, Ruapehu, White Island

Friday Dec 14, 2012 19:02 PM | Age: 1 hrs

BY: T

A probably larger than normal explosion today at Batu Tara volcano in Indonesia produced an ash plume spotted on satellite images drifting at 8,000 ft altitude (2,4 km).

The new lava dome of Paluweh volcano produced an ash plume rising to 10,000 ft (3 km) altitude today.

KVERT reports strong volcanic tremor at Plosky Tolbachik volcano in Kamchatka again today. Ash plumes were rising to approx. 10-13,000 ft (about 3-4 km) altitude.

A small swarm of earthquakes has started today about 10 km west of the Askja volcano caldera in Iceland.

Activity of Popocatépetl volcano in Mexico has picked up a bit again. During 13-14 Dec, gas and steam emissions have increased to more than 2 per hour again. The larger ones were at 11:13 h, 11:19 h yesterday and today at 09:23 h and 09:31 local time. These produced plumes rising more than 1 km and drifting NE.
Crater glow was seen at night.

4 weak explosions were observed at Fuego volcano during the past 24 hours; the lava flow was 200 m long this morning.

Activity of Santiaguito has not changed, the strongly degassing dome continues to produce viscous lava flows descending its flanks.

Numerous small volcanic earthquakes have recently been occurring at Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador. According to Earthquake-Report.com, these likely reflect input of new (hotter) volcanic fluids beneath the cone.

A strong pulse of volcanic tremor and volcanic earthquakes occurred at Reventador volcano earlier today, suggesting a possible small emission. Visible observations remain difficult due to cloud cover and there are no other reports of activity.

In Japan, Sakurajima volcano has produced more frequent explosions of small to moderate size, 6 during yesterday and 3 so far (GMT time).

Increased numbers of small earthquakes were visible at Tongariro and Ruapehu volcano in New Zealand.

At White Island volcano, continuous volcanic tremor continues to be visible. We have no news about whether the observed new lava dome has changed. [link to www.volcanodiscovery.com]