As of May 29th, 2022, there are 52 volcanoes actively erupting on the planet.
One of these erupting volcanoes is Ibu in Indonesia, which has been near continuously
erupting at a low intensity since April 8th of 2005.
Its ongoing eruption has produced a mixture of strombolian and vulcanian explosive activity
of which material is largely directed towards the volcano's northern flank.
With this being said, here are this week's major volcano related news stories.
In Hawaii, a moderate magnitude earthquake occurred adjacent to the Hualalai volcano,
leading some to suspect that it was volcanic in origin.
Meanwhile, in Papua New Guinea, signs of magmatic uplift were detected at a volcano which has
not erupted in more than 135 years.
And, in the nation of Tonga, several major revelations were made regarding the size and
scope of the climatic eruption which occurred on January 15th.
One such new piece of information revealed that in fact the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai
volcano is still erupting, as a series of vents were producing a dense column of ash,
and were discovered on the caldera's northwest side.
This is a bit of a surprise as many scientists thought that this volcano stopped erupting
on January 15th, 2022.
On that date, the 3.8 kilometer wide island was almost completely destroyed via a powerful
volcanic explosion, equivalent in energy to the detonation of 23 million tons of TNT.
This explosion generated the world's tallest ever measured eruption column, and a powerful
shockwave which was heard in areas as far away as Lexington Kentucky, a whopping 7,125
miles distant.
Since this eruption did not produce a large volume of sulfur dioxide, many people including
myself thought that what occurred was a mere mid end VEI 4 eruption.
However, a recent survey of the 4 kilometer wide caldera shows that while it was only
150 meters deep before the eruption, it is now 850 meters deep although this includes
a thick layer of ash and sediment which partially filled in the newly deepened caldera.
This means that the volcano lost a whopping 750 meters or 2,460 feet in height.
By taking the volume of the collapsed area, and multiplying by 2.2 to 2.5 you get the
amount of tephra the eruption produced.
This revealed that the 2022 Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai eruption was the largest to occur
on the planet since 1912, having a volcanic explosivity index of a 6 and most likely ejecting
between 13.2 and 16.25 cubic kilometers of volcanic rock.
Eruptions of this size are incredibly rare, occurring about once every 67 years on the
planet.
In Papua New Guinea, a magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck adjacent to the Ulawun volcano on May
24th.
This earthquake subsequently triggered minor amounts of magmatic uplift at both this volcano
and the less prominent Bamus volcano to the south.
Based on satellite datasets, a small magmatic intrusion is inferred to be ongoing which
has uplifted this remote volcano by between 1 to 1.5 centimeters.
Although minor in terms of uplift it is quite interesting because this volcano has not erupted
since 1886.
In Hawaii, the big island contains 4 active volcanoes.
The least well known of these is Hualalai, which last erupted in 1801, sending a lava
flow which covered much of where the international airport is located.
Since then, the flanks of the volcano have become heavily populated as next to no volcanic
activity has occurred.
One exception to this was in 1929 when a shallow magmatic intrusion occurred, producing a series
of intense earthquake swarms.
Thus, when a moderate magnitude earthquake struck just east of Kailua-Kona, some people
thought it might be magmatic in origin.
This earthquake was centered at a depth of 5.8 miles or 9.3 kilometers and had a magnitude
of 4.7.
Despite appearances, this earthquake was not magmatic in origin as it occurred too deep
in the crust.
The vast majority of magmatic earthquakes on the island occur at depths of less than
3 miles.
Instead, this quake can be best explained by representing the crust as a floating sponge
on the earth's mantle.
The thicker the crust is above the mantle, the more it intrudes into it below the surface.
The planet's crust is thus in a balancing act, where it tries to find a sort of equilibrium
in the bobbing up and down.
On the Big Island of Hawaii, new volcanic rock has added to the overall thickness of
the crust which has caused the landmass to slowly sink downwards to compensate at a rate
of 1 tenth of an inch per year.
This quake was caused by that process, which triggered structural adjustments of an underlying
fault line.
Here is a quick list of every volcano which is currently erupting.
Also, here are some volcanoes showing signs of unrest which could erupt in the near future.
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