Volcano activity of April 17, 2013

This (almost) daily post intends to follow up the activity changes of volcanoes all over the world.
This post is written by geologist Rodger Wilson who specializes in Volcano seismicity and Armand Vervaeck. Please feel free to tell us about new or changed activity if we haven’t written about it. -

April 17, 2013 volcano activity

Strong volcano-tectonic seismicity continues at Nevado Del Ruiz volcano (Colombia) (station OLLZ).  Early today, another magnitude M3.0 earthquake was felt at the volcano.  Volcanic tremor, elevated gas (and some ash) output, and deformation continue to be measured at Ruiz as well.  Tiny volcano-tectonic events continue at both Machin volcano (station CIMA) and Cumbal (station MEVZ) volcanoes.  Two gas (and ash?) emission events are visible on recent seismograms at Galeras volcano, and a sequence of volcanic(?) earthquakes recently commenced at Sotara volcano (station SOSO).

Strong seismicity also continues at Telica volcano (Nicaragua) (station TELN) with event magnitudes to M2.0 at that volcano. Tempo of volcanic earthquakes has once again increased at nearby San Cristobal volcano (station CRIN).  Volcanic tremor also remains unsteady at Masaya volcano (station MASN).  An explosion-type seismic event was recorded at Masaya (at 10:06 UTC) early today.

Elswhere,…

No current report from KVERT pertaining to the eruptive/seismic status of the Kamchatkan volcanoes was available at the time of this writing.

Small earthquakes continue at Mount Hood volcano (Cascade Range) (OR) (station TDH.  Today, a magnitude M1.2 event was located beneath the mountain’s upper slopes.  A shallow (depth = 10 km) magnitude M2.0 event was located late yesterday beneath the epicentral area of an earthquakes sequence which occurred the first week of April in the southern Oregon Cascades.

Small earthquakes continue beneath the south moat of Long Valley Caldera (CA) (station MCS).  A pulse of small, shallow events (maximum magnitude M1.8) began there yesterday.  The staccato series of events at the end of the record are mining-related (blasts).

Pyroclastic flows have diminished at Colima volcano (Mexico) for the time being, but nearly continuous rockfall signals testify to the instability of the growing lava dome at the volcano’s summit.  A recent Colima volcanocam photo shows a possible eruptive plume over the volcano.
Exhalations of gas (and occasionally volcanic ash) at Popocatepetl volcano have returned to their periodic behavior.  Today, their average rate of occurrence is about 1.5 events per hour.  Today’s Popo seismogram shows an earlier period of low-level volcanic tremor, followed by an ongoing volcano-tectonic earthquake swarm.

More energetic strombolian explosions continue at Pacaya volcano (Guatemala) (station PCG) today.  Strombolian explosions, accompanied by jet-like sounds are reported by local inhabitants near Fuego volcano (station FG3).  Activity (in the form of numerous hybrid earthquakes) has remained mostly internal at Santiaguito Dome Complex (Santa Maria volcano) (station STG3) the past few days, although recent signals suggest an increase in larger rockfall/gas emissions at the volcano.

Small seismic events suggestive of a crater lake “heating-event” continue at Poas volcano (Costa Rica) (station POA2) for a third day.

Frequent volcano-tectonic events continue at Tungurahua volcano (Ecuador) (station RETU) today.  Small (volcanic? glacier-quakes?) seismic events also remain frequent at Cotopaxi volcano (station CO1V).  Co-eruptive seismicity remains strong ast Reventador volcano (station CONE).

Volcanic tremor is unstable at White Island volcano (New Zealand).

OMI satellite data were not updated at the time of this writing.  Heat from a single arc volcano (Tolbachik) was detected by MODIS satellite thermal sensors today.