As of March 26th, 2023, there are currently 45 volcanoes which are actively erupting around
the planet.
One of these volcanoes which should honestly hold the title as the world's most active
volcano in recent times is Mount Yasur in Vanuatu which has been continuously erupting
for approximately 800 years straight at a low to moderate intensity without ever pausing.
Yasur's eruptive activity could best be described as generally strombolian to vulcanian and
is today one of only 8 volcanoes in the world with an active lava lake.
With this being said, here are this week's major volcano related news stories.
In Alaska, the Semisopochnoi volcano erupted once again, ending a 2 month long period without
an eruptive event occurring at this highly active volcanic complex.
Meanwhile, in Indonesia, the Soputan volcano also produced a new eruption, causing minor
lava avalanches to crumble down its slopes more than a dozen times in the last 48 hours.
And, in Japan, the alert level was raised at one of the nations most active volcanoes
which has not erupted since 2019, Mount Asama.
Mount Asama began to show minor signs of unrest beginning on March 15th of 2023 as the western
central section of its edifice began to slowly inflate.
In my opinion, this suggested that either a change in its hydrothermal system was occurring,
or more likely, that a new intrusion of magma was moving underneath the volcano at a depth
of probably several kilometers.
Then, the number of presumably volcano tectonic earthquakes underneath Asama began to increase
from 20 or less a day in the prior several days to 39 on March 21st.
The following day, this increased to 60 earthquakes and as a result Asama's alert level was raised
to yellow and a 2 kilometer exclusion zone was implemented around its active crater.
This rate of earthquakes has continued to increase and on March 24th a total of 109
quakes occurred underneath the volcano.
Thus, an eruption at this highly active volcano of a likely vulcanian nature which ejects
occasional bombs of lava is possible but not certain while this seismic unrest and inflation
continue.
In Indonesia, a new volcanic eruption began at the Soputan volcano on the Indonesian island
of Sulawesi.
This new eruption began at a low intensity on March 19 2023, and caused the prexisting
lava dome to be pushed upwards due to fresh material, resulting in fragments of the dome
to fall off and travel downhill in what are termed lava avalanches.
However, these lava avalanches were infrequent as the lava dome in question is currently
growing at an incredibly slow rate.
Generally speaking, lava domes at volcanoes tend to grow at a rate of at least 0.1 cubic
meters per second, totaling at least 8,640 cubic meters per day.
In contrast, Soputan's lava dome is expanding at a mere rate of 200 cubic meters a day.
Despite the seeming insignificance of this ongoing eruption at the present, an exclusion
zone around the volcano of 2.5 kilometers to the west and northwest and 1.5 kilometers
in all other sectors is in place.
In Alaska, the remote Semisopochnoi volcano is best known for producing one of two VEI
7 explosive eruptions during the Holocene epoch in Alaska.
This massive ancient eruption occurred in 8000 BCE, forming the massive 8.9 mile wide
and 850 foot deep caldera which encompasses the center third of the island.
Ever since this large scale eruption, far less explosive eruptions have occurred at
a high rate, building the three Cerberus cones.
Since 2018, the north crater has been frequently but not always erupting, ejecting minor amounts
of ash which coated the landscape up to 2.5 miles distant via infrequent vulcanian explosions.
Semisopochnoi began one such new small scale explosive eruption on March 19th as minor
explosions occurred along with seismic unrest.
Another explosion subsequently occurred two days later and a minor ash deposit on the
snow was spotted on the webcam on March 22nd.
This minor eruption is quite likely to continue intermittently at a low intensity for several
more weeks.
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 March 25th of 2023.
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