As of November 14th, 2021, there are 48 volcanoes which are actively erupting.
These include volcanoes such as Mount Erebus, which is actively erupting in Antarctica.
It also includes the volcano known as Yasur, which has been explosively erupting nonstop
since at least 1774, marking it as the world's longest eruption.
With this being said, here are a few of this week's major volcano related news stories.
At the Kadovar volcano, recent analysis raises the possibility that a summit collapse could
occur with little or no warning, generating a devastating tsunami across much of northern
Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
In Alaska, a volcano which hasn't erupted since 1912 continues to eject large amounts
of ash thus disrupting regional air traffic.
Meanwhile, in Iceland, a large earthquake struck underneath one of the nation's most
dangerous volcanoes, Hekla.
On November 11th, at 1:21 pm local time, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake was felt in Reykjavik,
the capital of Iceland.
This earthquake originated in the south central part of the country underneath a vent of the
large Hekla volcano called Vatnafjöll.
Although this vent hadn't erupted since 350 AD, the presence of this earthquake swarm
was a cause for concern as previous earthquake swarms had occurred in the same area right
before the volcano erupted.
Just like Askja to the northeast, Hekla has an unusually shallow magma chamber and can
erupt with little or no warning.
On the last two occasions it erupted, the onset of an explosive eruption occurred only
30 minutes after volcanic earthquakes were detected.
Scientists quickly scrambled to determine if an explosive eruption was about to occur,
as an eruption of Hekla would require diverting air traffic, evacuating residents, and closing
several major roads.
Luckily, this earthquake swarm was soon determined to be not volcanic in origin.
Despite originating at the depth expected to indicate the movement of magma, it was
purely a tectonic earthquake caused by the slow splitting of the country via the mid
ocean ridge spreading center.
Thus, Hekla remains at the lowest alert level despite these ongoing earthquakes.
On the Papua New Guinea Island of Kadovar, attention has been brought to the actively
erupting volcano which goes by the same name.
This volcano was thought to be dormant, as it had produced no volcanic eruptions in recorded
history before unexpectedly erupting on January 5th of 2018.
Since then, Kadovar volcano has continued to erupt, producing large explosions, pyroclastic
flows, and tall ash columns.
As this eruption has continued, the island's main volcanic cone has grown steeper and steeper,
surpassing a slope of 45 degrees as a lava dome grows on its southern edifice.
The fear is that structural instability is now present in the volcano.
According to Australian researcher Chris Firth, the island is now a prime candidate for a
volcanic collapse caused tsunami.
Looking at the volcano, previous landslides have clearly occurred, as a horseshoe shaped
scar is visible on the island's southern flank.
Since this represents a natural weak point on the volcano, the next landslide will occur
in the same direction.
Technically speaking, the risk of a tsunami at Kadovar is no higher or lower than it was
a week or a month ago.
This story's inclusion is to bring attention to a poorly studied volcano which could collapse
and generate a devastating tsunami effecting areas up to 1000 kilometers distant.
A volcano called Oshima Oshima in Japan was witnessed to have a similar characteristic
before it collapsed in 1741, sending a tsunami all the way to the Korean peninsula.
Given the shape of Kadovar, a future collapse is likely to have a volume of 1.5 cubic kilometers,
which is 5 times the size of the 2018 collapse and tsunami of Krakatoa.
In Alaska, a volcano which hasn't erupted since 1912 continues to produce so called
volcanic ash advisories, causing regional flights to be rerouted.
How is this occurring?
For context, the source of this ash is the Novarupta volcano, which produced the largest
volcanic eruption of the 20th century, releasing more than 30 cubic kilometers of volcanic
rock.
Much of this material solidified to the north of its main vent in a thick bed of superheated
ash and pyroclastic flow deposits termed the valley of 10,000 smokes.
Although it has been more than 100 years since this eruption, not all of the ash is solidified.
Thus, whenever a strong series of winds sweeps across the landscape, it resuspends century
old ash, sending it high into the atmosphere.
This is how it continues to disrupt regional air traffic.
Here is a quick list of every volcano which is currently erupting.
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