As of May 28th, 2023, there are currently 42 volcanoes which are actively erupting around
the planet.
One of these erupting volcanoes is the highy unusual Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano in Tanzania,
which is the only volcano in recorded history to erupt a type of carbonatite lava known
as natrocarbonatite.
This lava which is currently largely confined to the summit crater of Ol Doinyo Lengai,
is rare earth element enriched and erupts as a dark black color which then cools as
a type of white rock.
It has an abnormally low viscosity and thus moves much like water.
With this being said, here are this week's major volcano related news stories.
In the United States, the number of actively erupting volcanoes increased from 1 to 2 as
a shallow submarine volcano in the Northern Mariana Islands began to erupt once again.
Meanwhile at the Bulusan volcano in the Philippines, a special alert was issued due to a swarm
of earthquakes which occurred, being the second such instance in the month of May.
And, in what is this week's top story, the Popocatepetl volcano 70 kilometers southeast
of Mexico City is continuing to erupt at a heightened intensity.
This towering stratovolcano typically produces vulcanian explosions which occur at a rate
of 1 to 28 explosions a week during its eruptive sequences, which have been mostly continuous
since this volcano reactivated in 1994.
However, about once every 5 years, the intensity of its primarily vulcanian explosive eruptions
temporarily increases, causing a layer of ash to fall over an area of hundreds to thousands
of square kilometers.
This is what happened during the last few weeks where on May 12th of 2023, the number
of daily minutes of volcanic tremor at the volcano caused by the movement of magma and/or
volcanic gasses began to progressively increase.
This correlated with an increasing number of daily volcanic explosions and their associated
intensity.
A violent strombolian eruption followed on May 20th which distributed a layer of black
ash, which destroyed a basaltic lava dome, being potentially caused by a temporary influx
of a batch of basaltic magma.
The following day, intense andesitic ash emissions occurred via numerous vulcanian explosions,
causing 4 millimeters thick of gray ash to fall as far away as 45 kilometers from its
summit.
Because of all of this, there is some good and bad news at Popocatepetl.
The good news is that a recent overflight of its summit crater did not show any lava
domes, meaning an imminent major eruption was quite unlikely.
However, the bad news is that instead the crater was somewhat filled via a thick layer
of ash and other volcanic debris, which could act just as well as a potential volcanic plug.
Thus, in the next few weeks there is still a possibility that a larger explosion might
occur which ejects the ash and debris in the crater, perhaps even generating a pyroclastic
flow similar in length to the 8 kilometer long pyroclastic flow produced during the
December 2000 eruptive sequence.
Meanwhile, in the Northern Mariana Islands, a new eruption occurred at a volcano inbetween
the unpopulated Farallon de Pajaros and Maug Islands Caldera volcanoes.
There, at a depth of 137 meters or 449 feet below sea level is the summit of the Ahyi
Seamount volcano which on May 21st produced its first eruptive signal in approximately
50 days, beginning at 10:10 pm local time.
The following day, a discolored plume of water likely created by the mostly effusive eruption
of lava was generated, being visible from satellite.
This could mark a continuation of its nearly 6 month long eruption which began in November
of 2022, or it could represent a new eruptive sequence.
In the Philippines, the Bulusan volcano had been at the lowest alert level of zero since
January 18th of 2023, as this followed low earthquake activity and ground subsidence.
Although the alert level of zero still remains as of May 26th of 2023, activity at the volcano
has seemingly increased.
As, during the month of May it was confirmed that short term inflation of its edifice is
now ongoing, still having a 4 kilometer exclusion zone around its summit.
Adding to this, between May 7th and May 9th and on May 23rd, 17 and 37 volcanic earthquakes
respectively occurred at depths of less than 6 kilometers.
This was attributed to the movement of gas, which could indicate that the pressure potentially
exists for another phreatic eruption to eventually occur in my opinion.
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 27th of 2023.
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