iton de la Fournaise volcano (La Réunion): new eruption on 2 Jan 2010

Piton de la Fournaise volcano greets the new year with its first eruption in 2010 on 2 January. A fissure vent inside the Dolomieu summit crater erupted lava fountains and a lava flow contained inside the crater, deepened by the large eruption in 2008. The eruption followed a gradual increase inseismic activity since Dec 28. The last, very short-lived eruption happened just about 3 weeks ago, and it seems likely that Piton de la Fournaise has entered a period of frequent but short eruptions, fed by dikes in its highly fractured summit zone, forming of a relatively permeable central plumbing system.