As of May 21st, 2023, there are currently 41 volcanoes which are actively erupting around
the planet.
One of these erupting volcanoes is the large Masaya volcano within Nicaragua, which is
one of only 8 volcanoes worldwide to contain an active lava lake.
Masaya is quite an interesting volcano as although it had almost exclusively produced
small to moderate volume explosive eruptions, the entire volcano is located within a massive
10.7 by 4.5 kilometer wide caldera with obvious caldera walls.
This caldera formed in three massive eruptions which occurred between 6100 and 1800 years
ago.
With this being said, here are this week's major volcano related news stories.
In Washington state, a large landslide occurred at the Mount Saint Helens volcano, blocking
access to the main viewing area of the volcano right before the 43rd anniversary of its climatic
1980 eruption.
Meanwhile, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, fears rose in the town of Goma because
a strong orange glow in addition to lava fountains which became visible at the Nyamuragira volcano.
And, in what is this week's top story, the volcano visible from Mexico City produced
a spectacular paroxysm, hurling bombs of lava into the air and creating numerous audible
explosions.
Before 1994, Popocatepetl had been inactive for 47 years, as it reactivated that year.
Ever since then it has been near continuously erupting, where small plugs above the magma
conduit have intermittently been built via the extrusion of a lava dome within the summit
crater.
This causes pressure to build up which is then eventually released, creating a vulcanian
explosion which ejects bombs of lava and boulders of rock, occasionally generates pyroclastic
flows, and creates a puffy ash cloud.
Such explosions typically occur 1 to 28 times a week.
Yet, beginning on May 17th of 2023, a notable increase in volcanic activity began occurring
at Popocatepetl.
Then, as it erupted the volcano produced a series of strombolian explosions, involving
a sustained several hundred meter high lava fountain that threw bombs of lava up to 850
meters beyond the crater rim, with these rolling down its steep slopes for all to see in a
wide area.
This caused minor ashfall in adjacent areas, but due to the unhealthy levels of particulate
matter the volcano ejected, classes were subsequently canceled on May 18th for 100,000 students.
Then, in the very early morning hours of May 20th, a sustained 474 meter or 1555 ft high
lava fountain was generated which lit the surrounding clouds a bright orange color.
This lava fountain continued for more than 30 minutes before lowering in intensity.
Due to all of these ash emissions, the Mexico City International Airport temporarily closed
at 4:25 am due to volcanic ash.
It subsequently reopened around 8 hours later.
Meanwhile, 5.7 miles north of the summit of Mount Saint Helens, a fairly sizable landslide
occurred.
As this slide advanced at a rate of 50 miles per hour, which I estimated to have a volume
of 195,000 cubic meters or 6.89 million cubic feet of rock and debris, it overran and severely
damaged a bridge 2,000 feet to the west.
By the time the landslide ended, a 350 foot wide stretch of paved road had been buried
by a thick layer of rock, cutting off access to the Johnson Observatory.
This landslide carved away what I estimate to be a 392 foot wide, 578 foot long, and
an up to 20 meter or 66 foot deep scar on the mountainside.
Luckily, the landslide was not caused by volcanic activity at Mount Saint Helens, but rather
due to a heat wave causing rapid snow melt to occur, soaking the ground which had experienced
some hydrothermal alteration and overloading it with weight.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, some people in the city of Goma became worried
as an orange glow became visible to the northwest, with a definite spike in eruptive intensity
occurring on May 19th of 2023.
However, this was not due to the lava lake at the Nyiragongo volcano, but rather due
to a summit eruption at the Nyamuragira shield volcano.
This eruption is primarily effusive and is confined to its summit caldera.
While this could migrate to a flank vent, there is no indication of this occurring anytime
soon.
With this being said, Goma is not at risk from Nyamuragira's lava flows due to the topography
of the town, as only Nyiragongo's lava flows can reach it.
Here is a quick list of all of the world's volcanoes which are currently erupting.
Additionally, here are some volcanoes showing signs of unrest which are not erupting as
of the recording of this video on May 20th of 2023.
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