As of December 11th, 2022, there are 48 volcanoes actively erupting on the planet across 7 continents.
One of these erupting volcanoes is Kilauea in the U.S. state of Hawaii, which has been
continually producing a low intensity effusive eruption since September 29th of 2021.
This now more than 14 month long eruption is not as spectacular as the waning Mauna
Loa eruption, but during this long timespan has greatly increased the level of the caldera
lava lake and erupted 111 million cubic meters of molten rock.
With this being said, here are this week's major volcano related news stories.
In the Philippines, the Taal volcano unexpectedly produced a new but small volcanic eruption
on December 7th.
Meanwhile, in Indonesia, the Karangetang volcano produced a change in activity meaning that
now both of its main peaks are actively erupting simultaneously.
And, in Hawaii, Mauna Loa's eruption continued, and as of December 9th per the U.S. Geological
Survey lava has covered an area of 16.5 square miles or 42.7 square kilometers.
In the last week, Mauna Loa produced a number of towering lava fountains which per the U.S.
Geological Survey were measured with bursts up to 500 feet in height.
Much of this erupted lava flowed downslope via a series of channels, and largely fed
a single long lava lobe which continually advanced towards Route 200, a major road which
connects Hilo with the western side of Hawaii's Big Island.
For many days, it seemed like this road getting partially inundated by lava was inevitable
as molten rock continually advanced at a slow speed northwards.
Whereas on December 5th this lava flow was 2.16 miles or 3.5 kilometers from the road,
by December 8th it was 1.7 miles or 2.8 kilometers away.
However, on December 8th the flow became inactive and stopped significantly advancing as a major
lava breakout occurred 2.8 miles upslope.
This caused molten rock to partially divert away from the main lobe.
Within the next 48 hours, the flow of molten rock further decreased at the only active
vent known as fissure 3 until lava was only active within 1.7 miles of the erupting vent.
For comparison, the lava flow which had threatened the major road at one point attained a length
of 12.1 miles.
As of December 10th, the eruption of Mauna Loa has almost completely stopped, indicating
that the end of the eruption either may already have arrived or will arrive in the next several
days.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the Taal volcano had shown little signs of life for several
months despite producing what would be a large amount of sulfur dioxide each day for a typical
volcano and occasionally producing volcanic earthquakes.
However, beginning on December 2nd, the volcano began producing occasional volcanic tremor,
indicating a potential movement of magma.
This tremor continued to occur in periods day after day until December 7th.
On that day Taal produced a small phreatomagmatic eruption in its crater lake.
Afterwards, the volcanic tremor ceased.
Although Taal is one of the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet, it represents a geographic
oddity.
It has an island within its central crater lake which itself is located on an island
within a lake which is located on an island.
During the sequence of explosive eruptions which have occurred at Taal since January
of 2020, many of my viewers were concerned that the island within Taal's crater lake
might have been destroyed.
Luckily, this island has not been destroyed, at least as of July of 2021 per Google Earth
imagery, although, eruptive activity has cut away at the size of the island.
In Indonesia, the Karangetang volcano is one of 7 complexes to be actively erupting.
In recent months, this has largely consisted of lava dome growth interspersed with occasional
lava avalanches on its southern peak.
However, on December 7th, a new lava dome emerged on the northern peak, meaning that
now both of Karangetang's primary peaks are erupting.
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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