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 Volcanic Ash Advisory: NEW VA EMS to 20000 ft (6100 m)
Sat, 10 Oct 2020, 09:30
09:30 AM | BY: VN
Explosive activity continues. Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Washington warned about a volcanic ash plume that rose up to estimated 20000 ft (6100 m) altitude or flight level 200 .
The full report is as follows:
FVXX22 at 09:20 UTC, 10/10/20 from KNES
VA ADVISORY
DTG: 20201010/0917Z
VAAC: WASHINGTON
VOLCANO: POPOCATEPETL 341090
PSN: N1901 W09837
AREA: MEXICO
SUMMIT ELEV: 17802 FT [5426 M]
ADVISORY NR: 2020/894
INFO SOURCE: GOES-EAST. WEB CAM. NWP MODELS.
ERUPTION DETAILS: NEW VA EMS
OBS VA DTG: 10/0901Z
OBS VA CLD: SFC/FL200 N1909 W09901 - N1902 W09836
- N1901 W09837 - N1903 W09902 - N1909 W09901 MOV
W 5-10KT
FCST VA CLD +6HR: 10/1500Z SFC/FL200 N1913 W09900
- N1903 W09837 - N1901 W09837 - N1907 W09902 -
N1913 W09900
FCST VA CLD +12HR: 10/2100Z NO VA EXP
FCST VA CLD +18HR: 11/0300Z NO VA EXP
RMK: VA SEEN ON STLT MOVG WNW OF SUMMIT. WEBCAM
CLRLY SHOW VA EMS. MDL WINDS FCST TO TURN A BIT
MORE FM THE ESE IN NXT 6 HR. ...KONON
NXT ADVISORY: WILL BE ISSUED BY 20201010/1515Z
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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