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Satellite images of Popocatepetl volcano (c)Google Earth View

Popocatépetl volcano

Popocatepetl is one of Mexico's most active volcanoes. After almost 50 years of dormancy, "Popo" came back to life in 1994 and has since then been producing powerful explosions at irregular intervals.
In the past centuries befor European invasions, large eruptions produced giant mud flows that have buried Atzteque settlements, even entire pyramids.

Stratovolcano 5426 m / 17,802 ft
Central Mexico, 19.02°N / -98.62°W
Popocatépetl volcano eruptions:
1345-47, 1354, 1363(?), 1488, 1504, 1509(?), 1512, 1518, 1519-23(?), 1528, 1530, 1539-40, 1542, 1548, 1571, 1580, 1590, 1592-94, 1642, 1663-65, 1666-67, 1697, 1720, 1802-04, 1827(?), 1834(?), 1852(?), 1919-22, 1923-24, 1925-27(?), 1933, 1942-43, 1947, 1994-95, 1996-2003, 2004-ongoing
Typical eruption style:
Dominantly explosive, construction of lava domes. Plinian eruptions at intervals of several centuries or few thousands of years, vulcanian and strombolian activity in intermittent phases.
Popocatépetl webcams / live data
Last earthquakes nearby

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Popocatépetl volcano (Central Mexico) activity update: steaming, occasional weak explosions, crater glow

Friday Sep 14, 2012 11:01 AM | BY: T

Popo with glow from the summit seen early on 14 Sep (CENAPRED)

Weak steam and sometimes ash explosions continue about every 2-3 hours. Otherwise, a strong steam plume is being emitted and satellite imagery show that there is still a lot of SO2 production from the volcano. At night, glow from the crater is visible, suggesting that the lava dome continues to grow slowly.

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Popocatépetl volcano (Central Mexico) activity update: strong steaming, weak explosions (about 10 per day)

Wednesday, Sep 12, 2012

A strong SO2 plume could be seen on NOAA's satellite image yesterday. The activity remains stable and at low levels. CENAPRED reports steaming and about 10 small explosions per day. [more]

Popocatépetl volcano (Central Mexico) activity update: weak explosions (1 every 2 hours), tremor pulses

Tuesday, Sep 11, 2012

10 weak explosions were registered during the past 24 hours, but it was not possible to see whether they contained ash. The largest were at 20:01h, 20:42h yesterday and this morning at 10:39h local time. CENAPRED also recorded weak tremor pulses and some small quakes are visible on the current seismogram. [more]

Popocatépetl volcano (Central Mexico) activity update: steaming, weak explosions

Monday, Sep 10, 2012

No change has occurred at Popo. CENAPRED recorded 28 weak explosions during 24 hours. When the volcano is not hidden in clouds, a strong steam plume is visible. [more]

Popocatépetl volcano (Central Mexico) activity update

Sunday, Sep 09, 2012

The number of weak steam explosions has increased to slightly more than one per hour again, but direct observations were not possible due to cloud cover. NOAA's satellite images show a significant SO2 plume from the volcano as usual. [more]

Popocatépetl volcano (Central Mexico) activity update: weak explosions (about 1 per 2-3 hours), crater glow

Saturday, Sep 08, 2012

Over the past 24 hours, weak mostly steam explosions occur at an rate of 1 every 2-3 hours. At night, glowing material ejected during such explosions can be sometimes seen. [more]

Volcán Popocatépetl, whose name is the Aztec word for smoking mountain, towers to 5426 m 70 km SE of Mexico City to form North America's 2nd-highest volcano.  The glacier-clad stratovolcano contains a steep-walled, 250-450 m deep crater.  The generally symmetrical volcano is modified by the sharp-peaked Ventorrillo on the NW, a remnant of an earlier volcano. 
At least three previous major cones were destroyed by gravitational failure during the Pleistocene, producing massive debris-avalanche deposits covering broad areas south of the volcano.  The modern volcano was constructed to the south of the late-Pleistocene to Holocene El Fraile cone.  Three major plinian eruptions, the most recent of which took place about 800 AD, have occurred from Popocatépetl since the mid Holocene, accompanied by pyroclastic flows and voluminous lahars that swept basins below the volcano.  Frequent historical eruptions, first recorded in Aztec codices, have occurred since precolumbian time.

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Source: GVP, Smithsonian Institution - Popocatepetl information