Volcanic activity world-wide 8-9 November 2012: Raung, Popocatépetl, Fuego, Santiaguito, Nevado del Ruiz, Soputan, Sakurajima, Hawaii, Klyuchevskoy, Mammoth Mountain, Tjörnes Fracture Zone

A larger explosion with an ash plume rising 6-7 km from Raung volcano in East Java was reported on 8 Nov, but it seems that the report, based on a pilot observation was actually false.

Popocatépetl in Mexico increased the frequency of emissions/explosions, more than 2 per hour on average during 6-7 Nov and about 3 during 7-8 Nov. Their intensity of most emissions is very weak, and only the strongest ones produce small ash plumes rising up to 1 km above the crater. Glow remains visible at night and SO2 emissions are elevated, suggesting that magma continues to rise within the volcano.

Activity of Fuego volcano and Santiaguito has not changed. Fuego had 13 weak strombolian explosions counted between 7-8 Nov and the lava flow being about 600 m long. Santiaguito's block lava flows were still active on 8 Nov and there are occasional mostly weak explosions from the lava dome.


A seismic swarm began at Nevado del Ruiz volcano around 5 Nov when a 2.2 local magnitude earthquake occurred at 01:38 local time and is continuing with over 2000 small quakes recorded so far. This might suggest that new magma is intruding under the volcano. According to INGEOMINAS, the situation does not merit a change in alert level from yellow (2 on a scale of 4) to orange (3).

Soputan volcano (Indonesia) produces a small SO2 plume visible on today's satellite image for the North Sulawesi region. Increased degassing from the volcano could indicate some new activity there.

Activity at Sakurajima volcano in Japan has increased since 8 November, with at least 6 explosions of moderate size during the past 24 hours. One this morning at 06:27 GMT produced an ash plume that rose to 13,000 ft (4.3 km).

At Kilauea volcano on Hawai'i, deflation continued, but the summit lava lake in Halema'uma'u remained stable. Seismic activity has calmed down compared to last week.
At Pu`u `O`o, small lava flows issued from a south floor source while the rim of the NE perched lava lake collapsed just after midnight. Lava flows southeast of Pu`u `O`o continued to be active on the coastal plain but are still far from the ocean.

USGS has not recorded any significant activity during the past month in the other active Hawaiian volcanoes (Mauna Loa, Lo'ihi Seamount, Hualalai, and Haleakala on Maui).

Glow at night and a thermal anomaly detectable on satellite data suggest that mild strombolian activity in the summit crater of Klyuchevskoy volcano in Kamchatka continues.

The shallow earthquake swarm at Mammoth Mountain west of the Long Valley caldera (California) seems to be ending.
Similarly, the swarm that has been plaguing the Tjörnes Fracture Zone north off Iceland continues to slow down after having been going on for more than 2 weeks.