Satellite images of Popocatepetl volcano (c)Google Earth View
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
Current status:
erupting (4 out of 5)
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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.
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Popocatepetl volcano news & eruption update
Popocatépetl Volcano: sporadic emissions of volcanic ash
Thu, 8 Oct 2020, 18:30
18:30 PM | BY: VN
Mild explosive activity continues from the volcano. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Washington reported intermittent emissions of volcanic ash plumes.
The full report is as follows: INTMT VA EMS..
FVXX22 at 18:27 UTC, 08/10/20 from KNES
VA ADVISORY
DTG: 20201008/1823Z
VAAC: WASHINGTON
VOLCANO: POPOCATEPETL 341090
PSN: N1901 W09837
AREA: MEXICO
SUMMIT ELEV: 17802 FT [5426 M]
ADVISORY NR: 2020/892
INFO SOURCE: GOES-EAST. WEB CAM. NWP MODELS.
ERUPTION DETAILS: INTMT VA EMS.
OBS VA DTG: 08/1756Z
OBS VA CLD: SFC/FL200 N1903 W09840 - N1902 W09838
- N1828 W09852 - N1831 W09859 - N1903 W09840 MOV
SW 10-15KT
FCST VA CLD +6HR: 09/0000Z SFC/FL200 N1904 W09840
- N1903 W09838 - N1814 W09841 - N1816 W09856 -
N1904 W09840
FCST VA CLD +12HR: 09/0600Z SFC/FL200 N1904
W09840 - N1902 W09837 - N1819 W09903 - N1828
W09921 - N1904 W09840
FCST VA CLD +18HR: 09/1200Z SFC/FL200 N1904
W09838 - N1901 W09837 - N1826 W09917 - N1843
W09929 - N1904 W09838
RMK: VA OBSD TO ABT 35 NMI SSW. VERY LGT CONS VA
EMS OBSD IN WEBCAM. NWP MDLS FCST VA TO MOV MORE
S BY T+6, THEN MORE SW BY T+12 AND T+18. ...HOSLEY
NXT ADVISORY: WILL BE ISSUED BY 20201009/0030Z
Previous news
Background:
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
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