Eruption Update: New Etna Eruption, Kilauea Anniversary, Busy Indonesia, Zubair Video and Callaqui in Chile

By Erik Klemetti

A new eruption from Etna in Italy seen on January 5, 2012. Webcam capture by Eruptions reader Mark Burns.

Etna
After taking the holidays off, Italy’s Etna decided to start off 2012 with another paroxysm, this one producing an impressive eruptive plume after some smaller explosions. The eruption itself (see image above) was very similar to the paroxysms of 2011, with a mix of lava fountaining and flows – you can see it all in the timelapses of the eruption (put together by Eruptions readers) but this time we had the added bonus of significant snow on the volcano adding to the explosivity of the eruption. The eruption was vigorous enough to even grow its own small pyroclastic cone as well. As usual, Dr. Boris Behncke’s Flickr stream is full of images and video from the eruption as well. Eruptions readers (and others) caught a lot of the action overnight and into the morning on the many webcams surrounding Etna. UPDATE: Check out this new video of the eruption from Etna Walk as well!

Kilauea
This week marks the 29th anniversary of the start of the eruption at Kilauea. Hard to believe we’ve almost completed 3 decades would of eruptions. The activity is still going strong according to the latest status report of the volcano from the Hawaii Volcano Observatory.

Indonesia
There was a statement from the PVMBG saying that out of Indonesia’s 127 known active volcanoes, 7 are on alert status III (of IV), including Papadayan, Lokon-Empung, Karangetang, Ijen, Anak Krakatau, Gamalama and Lewotolo. The biggest dangers lie in an eruption of Ijen, which has over 9,000 people living close to the volcano, but Indonesian officials are also watching Lewotolo and Gamalama closely.

Red Sea
If you’ve been following the new about the eruption in the Zubair Group off the western coast of Yemen, you’re going to love this new video of the eruption. It shows truly Surtseyan activity where towering black-and-white plumes (sometimes called rooster tails) are erupting from the sea, all indicating an active mixing of water and magma. This is already an island building up around the vent as the volcanic tephra piles up. It is hard to get a good sense of scale, but my guess is the plume is at least a few hundred meters tall over the sea surface.

Chile
I’ve interspersed some of the updates from this week’s USGS/Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program’s Weekly Volcanic Activity Report into the post above, but I wanted to also point out an eruption, or at least a plume, from Callaqui in Chile. This is one of the many volcanoes in central Chile and one that hasn’t made much noise since 1980 (except for an unconfirmed explosion in 2009). However, a pilot noted an “ash plume” from the volcano last week, but nothing was noted on any satellite images of the area. Sounds like another Chilean volcano to watch over the coming months.

Raised alert status: 300 tremors reported over 26 hour period at Chile’s Lascar volcano

Posted by The Extinction Protocol

January 6, 2012 – CHILE – This first came up in the news yesterday, but I thought it deserved its own spot. Lascar, one of the more active volcanoes of northern Chile, was placed on heightened alert status by the ONEMI (Chilean Emergency Management) on advice from the SERNAGEOMIN (Chilean Geologic Survey). The latest report from Lascar says that over 300 small earthquakes have occurred at the volcano in the last 26 hours, leading to an elevation of its status to Yellow – however, there have been no indications of increased fumarolic activity at the volcano. Lascar has the potential to produce a large eruptive column – the 1993 eruption sent ash as fall east as Buenos Aires – with pyroclastic flows that could reach nearby towns such as Talabre. The volcano has been through a number of cycles of significant explosive activity over its 43,000 year history. However, recent activity is mostly lava dome formation in the summit crater followed by crater collapse and vulcanian to plinian explosive eruptions such as the major eruption of April 1993. However, it also have the potential to produce small explosions that will only dust ash on the countryside surrounding the volcano as it has done at least 6 times in the last decade. ONEMI is preparing for possible evacuations for people near the volcano – mostly either miners in the area or tourists at San Pedro de Atacama. If anything does occur, there is a webcam pointed at Lascar to see the action.