As of September 11th, 2022, there are 49 volcanoes actively erupting on the planet.
One of these erupting volcanoes is Villarica in Chile, which has been continuously erupting
since December 2nd of 2014.
While this volcano has produced some truly large plinian eruptions in recent geologic
times, including two caldera forming eruptions, its recent eruptions have been much smaller.
Villarica frequently has a lava lake present, which aids in the generation of its frequent
strombolian eruptions.
With this being said, here are this week's major volcano related news stories.
In Russia, a new explosive eruption occurred at the Alaid volcano in the Kuril islands,
sending a plume of ash to a height of 3,000 meters or 10,000 feet.
Meanwhile, in New Zealand, a change in sensor readings at the White Island volcano caused
it's alert level to be raised.
And, in Iceland, although there is no longer an active eruption, there is an intense earthquake
swarm ongoing to the north of the country.
This earthquake swarm is occurring along a known large strike slip fault zone which has
generated quakes in the magnitude 6 range in 1885, 1910, and 1976.
For context, a strike slip fault is a boundary that moves horizontally, with one famous example
being the San Andreas fault.
Known as the Grimsey Lineament, this fault line connects with the northern volcanic zone
to the south and a section of mid ocean ridge to the north.
Strike slip faults are common spots for volcanic complexes, and this fault is no exception
as they often act as a path of least resistance for molten rock.
Part of the fault runs through or adjacent to two volcanoes which have each produced
eruptions since the country has been settled.
One eruption occurred in 1372 to the northwest of Grimsey while a second eruption occurred
between December of 1867 and January of 1868 north of the island of Manareyjar.
Its latest earthquake swarm began in the early morning hours of September 8th, culminating
in a magnitude 5.2 earthquake.
Since then, more than 500 quakes have struck along the fault line, largely being centered
at between 1 and 17 kilometers in depth.
While some people have speculated that these quakes could be magmatic, I see no evidence
as of yet that these are anything except tectonic in origin.
Aftershocks will continue in the upcoming weeks albeit at a decreased rate unless another
major earthquake occurs.
Of the 49 volcanoes which are currently erupting, two nations stand out as having the largest
among this group.
Indonesia has 7 actively erupting volcanoes, while Russia has 6.
During the last few months, two new eruptions began in the Kuril island chain in far eastern
Russia.
Both of these eruptions began on the populated Paramushir Island and were mildly explosive
in nature.
Then, on September 10th, a third volcano known as Alaid in close proximity to the erupting
Ebeko and Chikurachki volcanoes but on a separate island also unexpectedly erupted, sending
a plume of ash to a height of 10,000 feet or 3,000 meters.
Alaid has historically produced some smaller eruptions but it also has a record of highly
explosive sub-plinian or plinian eruptions.
For example, its eruption in 1981 had a volcanic explosivity index of a 4.
However, such a large eruption is not to be expected for the time being.
What likely occurred was a medium sized phreatic eruption with a probable volcanic explosivity
index of a 1.
Within New Zealand there are more than a dozen active volcanoes.
Of these, the second most active volcano since 1950 has been the scenic White Island volcano,
with 24 distinct eruptions since then.
These have largely consisted of phreatic eruptions which are difficult to predict, meaning real-time
monitoring of the volcano is crucial.
For several months the White Island volcano has been at an alert level of 1 on the 0 to
5 scale.
Then, due to a change in sensor readings, its alert level was raised from 1 to 2 on
September 7th of 2022.
This change in alert level was made not due to an increasing amount of volcanic activity
but rather due to the fact that it had been unsafe since 2019 to repair or replace decaying
real-time equipment at the volcano due to a persistent threat of another phreatic eruption.
On August 5th, the single remaining seismo-acoustic station on the volcano stopped working.
Since scientists no longer have sufficient data to distinguish between activity which
would be best suited via an alert level of 1 or an alert level of 2, it was raised to
2 as a precaution.
Here is a quick list of every volcano which is currently erupting.
Also, here are some volcanoes showing signs of unrest which are not erupting but could
erupt in the near future.
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