As of May 14th, 2023, there are currently 42 volcanoes which are actively erupting around
the planet.
One of these erupting volcanoes is the towering Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador that is 56 kilometers
southeast of Quito, which with its summit glaciers towers to a height of 5,897 meters
or 19,347 feet above sea level.
Although Cotopaxi has been one of the most consistently explosive volcanoes during the
Holocene epoch with 19 VEI 4 and 6 VEI 5 eruptions, it has not produced a major eruption since
1877.
Recent activity since then has instead consisted of much less significant small to moderate
volume phreatic eruptions with associated moderate ash emissions.
With this being said, here are this week's major volcano related news stories.
In Japan, volcanic tremor was detected at the Azumayama volcano, which has not erupted
in 46 years.
Meanwhile in Indonesia, the Krakatau volcano erupted once again, but this time produced
something unusual, a 1,000 meter high lava fountain which was intermittently active at
various heights for more than 30 minutes.
And, in what is this week's top story, Italy's second most active volcano aka Mount Etna
produced a brief eruption via an explosion which ejected a plume of ash and volcanic
gasses to a height of 300 meters above one of its crater rims.
Mount Etna, which is located on the eastern section of the island of Sicily is Italy's
tallest active volcano as it towers to a height of 3,350 meters or 10,990 feet, being so tall
that in the winter it is often covered in snow.
While Mount Stromboli is more active, Mount Etna also has produced numerous recent eruptions,
seemingly actively erupting in various forms more than half of the time.
Etna's eruptions are characterized by most of the time having low level activity characterized
by minor ash emissions only to be interrupted by paroxysms which consist of either towering
lava fountains, flank lava flows, or vulcanian explosions with occasional pyroclastic flows.
Yet, Etna last erupted in early February of 2023.
That was until without much warning, Etna produced a phreatic explosion on May 6th at
11:25 PM loval time, which originated from the southeast crater which has been the site
of the last few years of eruptions, creating a small plume of ash and scattering some volcanic
boulders around the crater.
As a result, Etna's alert level was temporarily raised to yellow before being lowered back
to green the following day.
The eruption which lasted 90 seconds thereafter ended and no other eruptive activity has occurred
at Etna since.
In Japan, suspicious activity was detected underneath the Azumayama volcano which is
located 20 kilometers west-southwest of the city of Fukushima.
This volcanic complex which has been erupting intermittently for 300,000 years consists
of a series of volcanic cones but most prominently, explosion craters of which there are more
than a dozen.
Eruptions have recently occurred about once every 250 years, with 2 in 3 eruptions being
phreatic and the other 1 in 3 being magmatic and the last eruption occurring in 1977.
4 of its last 5 eruptions have originated at the Oana Crater, marking it as the most
likely vent to erupt next.
In terms of the recent suspicious activity, Azumayama has been the site of low frequency
earthquakes which have been increasing in abundance ever since February of 2023.
However, On May 11th of 2023 at 2:19 pm local time, volcanic tremor was detected.
My interpretation is that this tremor which was seemingly an isolated event was caused
by a short burst of low frequency quakes that were so numerous that they could not be distinguished
from one another, probably being caused by the movement of gas from its active at depth
magma chamber.
An eruption does not appear imminent in my opinion, as ground deformation or any signs
that an intrusion of magma is getting shallower have not been detected.
In Indonesia, the Krakatau volcano between the islands of Sumatra and Java is well known
for producing destructive eruptions in 540, 1883, and 2018.
Since its 2018 collapse, Krakatau has been erupting at a high rate, typically consisting
of either vulcanian explosions with high ash plumes or lava flows with slowly expand the
island's size.
One such new eruption began on May 10th 2023, where vulcanian explosions created a 1200
meter high ash plume.
The following day, a larger explosion occurred, generating a 10,000 foot high plume.
Then, on Friday night, a 1,000 meter high lava fountain was generated, probably due
to a batch of low silica basaltic andesite magma being released which was high in gas
content, allowing for a spectacular eruption to occur.
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 May 13th of 2023.
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