As a whole, 2021 was a year to remember, especially in the field of volcanology.
This year, millions of people witnessed a volcanic eruption for the first time via in
person visits and livestreams of spectacular eruptions in Iceland and the Spanish Canary
Islands.
However, these two eruptions weren't the only major volcano related news stories this year.
This video will discuss the most memorable volcanic eruptions of 2021.
In the Caribbean, the end of 2020 started with 4 volcanoes on a raised alert status,
as several volcanoes were showing significant signs of unrest.
Then, on December 27th, a volcano with a history of powerful and deadly explosive eruptions
erupted once again.
The volcano in question is known as La Soufriere, which is located on the northern end of the
island of Saint Vincent and had not erupted since 1979.
Over a period of several months, a large lava dome grew inside its main crater, eventually
becoming more than a kilometer wide.
Then, the eruption switched from effusive to explosive.
On April 9th, La Soufriere produced a powerful explosion, sending a plume of ash more than
16 kilometers or 52,500 feet into the atmosphere.
Over the next 13 days, more explosions occurred, causing large quantities of ash to fall across
much of the Caribbean and even drifting into Barbados.
Pyroclastic flows from the eruption traveled all the way to the sea, destroying approximately
100 structures.
The deposits from these eruptions would remain superheated for several months to come.
Not only did this eruption destroy the dome created by the eruption in 1979, but it also
created a new deep 800 meter wide explosion crater in a VEI 4 eruption, the largest on
the planet since 2014.
Luckily, due to the incredible work of scientists and the citizens on the island, no lives were
lost.
Although the year seemingly started with a bang, it was followed by one of the most peaceful
and gentle eruptions I had ever seen in my career.
On the evening of March 19th, 2021, after more than 20,000 earthquakes in the region,
the Krysuvik Volcano in Iceland erupted.
This new eruption represented the first from this volcano since 1340 AD.
Because lava erupted in an unpopulated area of Iceland and its proximity to the airport
and Reykjavik, it quickly became a major tourist attraction.
For the next 6 months, hundreds of thousands of tourists came to the country to see this
gentle fissure eruption from the newly named Geldingadalir volcano, while even more viewed
the eruption in its entirety through a series of livestreams.
On May 22nd, 2021, the most dangerous volcano in Africa produced a very damaging flank eruption.
Since 2002, the Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo had contained
an active lava lake, which slowly grew larger and larger over time.
Then, after a series of moderate magnitude earthquakes, the vast majority of this lake
rapidly drained to the south.
Prior eruptions of this nature in 1977 and 2002 resulted in lavas with water like low
viscosity moving at more than 100 kilometers per hour, causing people to be unable to escape.
Luckily, this year's eruption resulted in far slower 1 kilometer per hour flows.
Emerging from three fissures, these lava flows slowly crept into the densely populated city
of Goma but stopped short of the airport.
On July 1st, the most dangerous volcano on the planet erupted, the Taal volcano.
As a volume of magma intruded into its crater lake, it caused the water to flash to steam
and subsequently explode.
This created a series of phreatomagmatic explosions, one of which created a kilometer long pyroclastic
flow.
Approximately a dozen more explosions occurred over the next 8 days after which this eruption
ended.
The volcano then erupted again later in the year, producing another sequence of explosions
from November 15th to November 22nd.
Luckily, since very few if any people live on its central island, no one was harmed by
these eruptions.
On August 16th, a little-known volcano is Japan erupted south of the island of Iwo Jima.
Over the span of several days, Fukutoku Okanoba produced a large eruption column, which over
time built the world's newest island.
However, it is unlikely that this island will remain for very long.
Temporary islands from this same volcano were also created in 1904, 1914, and 1986 but they
all quickly washed away.
Although this year's island has lasted for longer than its counterparts, its days are
numbered.
During this year, the United States has at times contained four actively erupting volcanoes.
The Aleutian island chain was particularly active, as the volcanoes Great Sitkin, Semisopochnoi,
and Pavlof all produced simultaneous eruptions.
Meanwhile, in Hawaii, the Kilauea volcano produced two distinct eruptions which were
confined to its summit crater.
The first eruption lasted from December 20th of 2020 to May 23rd of 2021 while the second
started on September 29th and has continued albeit intermittently to the present.
The second of these two eruptions caused lava to overflow onto the first of two ridges created
by Kilauea's 2018 caldera collapse.
In mid September, a series of intense earthquakes began at the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island
of La Palma.
Then, on September 19th, a new eruption began on the densely populated western half of the
island.
Soon, fountains of lava shot an impressive 600 meters or 1,968 feet into the sky.
As molten rock fell back to the ground, it slowly expanded to the west, destroying numerous
homes, roads, and commercial buildings.
This eruption continued for a whopping 86 days, breaking the record for all time eruption
duration on this Spanish Canary Island.
It was also the most explosive on record, being rated on the volcanic explosivity index
as a 3.
In total, 1,237.3 hectares of land was covered by more than 200 million cubic meters of rock,
and more than 3,000 structures were destroyed.
However, these flows also added 50 hectares of new land to the overall island.
On November 30th, something unexpected occurred.
A powerful explosion rocked the crater lake of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, sending
a plume of ash more than 14,300 meters or 44,000 feet into the atmosphere.
Although this phreatic eruption was small and only lasted for four minutes, it was surprising
in that no early warning signs of an eruption occurred beforehand.
Luckily, this explosion harmed no one and was an isolated event.
On December 4th, after several days of heavy rainfall, the Semeru volcano in Indonesia
produced a deadly eruption.
As its primary lava dome partially collapsed, it released one of this century's longest
pyroclastic flows.
This dangerous mixture of superheated gas traveled for more than 11 kilometers towards
the southeast, destroying bridges and causing other major damage.
Since this major explosion, smaller collapses have also occurred, generating more pyroclastic
flows which have traveled up to 4.5 kilometers distant.
As of the writing of this video, Semeru is still erupting.
On a final note, I want to thank everyone who has watched my videos in the past year.
Your support has allowed me to pursue my passion, and have YouTube become my fulltime job.
It will not be long until I get the 100,000 subscriber YouTube plaque!
In 2022, I hope to physically travel to several eruptions, and output more quality geology
and volcano videos!
I hope that everyone who is watching has an even better 2022.
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