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  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)
Popocatépetl webcams / live data | ReportsPopocatépetl volcano videosPopocatépetl volcano books | Tours
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.
Last earthquakes nearby
Popocatépetl volcano toursPopocatépetl Volcano Special (tour to see the ongoing eruption of Mexico's most active volcano)
Latest satellite images  Sentinel hub | Landsat 8
Popocatepetl volcano news & eruption update
Popocatépetl volcano (Mexico): elevated activity, 5 explosions during 29-30 June 2019
Monday Jul 01, 2019 15:24 PM | BY: T
 Incandescent material covering Popocatépetl's upper slopes during an explosion yesterday morning (image: CENAPRED)  Gas and steam emission yeterday evening (image: Webcams de Mexico)
It seems that the activity at the volcano continues to gradually increase. During a 24 hours window between 29-30 June, the volcano experienced a particularly intense phase with the comparably large number of 5 explosions and 169 so-called "exhalations", low-energy emissions of steam and ash.
CENAPRED reported that the strongest explosions, vulcanian-style, ejected incandescent fragments to up to 1000 m height and more than 1000 m distance, often covering the upper slopes of the volcano with glowing material. Ash plumes rose up to 8000 m above sea level.
The monitoring network also recorded a small volcano-tectonic earthquake with a magnitude of 2.0 as well as 89 minutes of volcanic tremor.
There are no reports of dome growth at the moment, suggesting that magma rising to the summit is ejected rather quickly by those explosions instead of piling up in a dome.
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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