As of June 11th, 2023, there are currently 45 volcanoes which are actively erupting around
the planet.
One of these erupting volcanoes is the Popocatepetl volcano in Mexico which after a several week
long period of increased ash emissions finally dropped back to a lower alert level of yellow
phase 2.
With this being said, here are this week's major volcano related news stories.
In Alaska, the alert level of the Iliamna volcano which had not erupted in 90 years
was temporarily raised from green to yellow due to a suspicious series of earthquakes
which quickly became more and more frequent.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, the potentially dangerous Mount Mayon volcano produced a brand
new eruption, causing lava avalanches and pyroclastic flows to descend up to 2.8 kilometers
or 1.74 miles down its flanks.
And, in what is this week's top story, the Hawaiian island chain once again became the
site of a volcanic eruption as after a 93 day long period of not erupting, the Kilauea
volcano erupted anew.
For some context, the Kilauea volcano is the youngest of 4 active volcanoes which make
up the big island of Hawaii, having been erupting intermittently for 250,000 years.
These eruptions have in recent years largely occurred within Kilauea's large caldera which
is known as Halemaumau, and the eruption which started is no different.
As, on the morning of June 7th, 2023, at 4:44 am local time, a body of lava burst through
the caldera floor of Halemaumau, starting a new eruption.
Since the initial burst had a moderate amount of associated gas, it temporarily created
a lava fountain which reached up to a height of 216.77 meters or 711.19 feet.
However, as the volatile content in the erupting lava decreased, so did the height of generated
lava fountains.
Additional fissures thereafter opened up on the caldera floor, dividing the supply of
erupting molten rock.
By an hour later, 1.5 square kilometers had been covered in a layer of fresh lava.
Lava effusion during this period averaged approximately 150 cubic meters per second,
although this value has decreased over time.
One vent even opened up on the wall of the caldera's down dropped block which formed
in 2018, slowly building a new spatter cone, courtesy in this footage of the Two Pineapples
YouTube channel!
This eruption in my opinion is likely to continue for several more weeks at a minimum.
In Alaska, an unusual earthquake swarm began at the Iliamna volcano which is 136 miles
southwest of the city of Anchorage.
Iliamna has not erupted since 1933, but due to its proximity to Anchorage and Homer, any
eruption from it would likely generate ashfall in those cities.
Around noon local time on June 5th, an increase in seismic activity was observed beneath the
volcano.
Earthquakes occurred in one minute intervals and over time became more closely spaced.
As a result, Iliamna's alert level was temporarily raised from green to yellow, the same day
at 4:53 pm local time as these quakes could be caused by either the movement of magma,
hydrothermal fluids, a slow moving landslide, or a large avalanche.
However, further analysis 170 minutes later revealed that the signal which stopped around
5:14 pm local time was caused by a fairly large ice-rock avalanche that occurred on
Iliamna's Red Glacier, and its alert level was lowered back to green as seismic activity
returned to background levels.
This avalanche is not all that surprising considering that the eastern summit region
of Iliamna is highly altered and contains several fumaroles.
And, in the Philippines, the situation at the Mayon volcano which has produced more
distinct eruptions than any other volcano in the country since 1900 has rapidly escalated.
A new cycle of summit ground uplift began on May 4th of 2023, and beginning on June
4th, section's of the volcanoes lava dome emplaced in 2018 began tumbling down its steep
slopes, as it was being pushed upwards by shallow magma.
This caused Mayon's alert level to be raised from 1 to 2 on the 0 to 5 alert level scale
at 10:00 am local time on June 5th.
Yet, only 2 days later, 4 larger scale rockfalls occurred, causing fresh volcanic gas to be
released from the volcano, alongside pyroclastic flows which traveled up to a distance of 2
kilometers.
This seemingly marks the exact time Mayon officially began a new volcanic eruption as
soon after on noon of June 8th its alert level was raised from 2 to 3.
Numerous reports followed as fresh lava and a distinct orange glow became visible on Mayon's
summit.
This material then occasionally tumbled down slope, creating lava avalanches.
As of June 10th, much of Mayon's 2018 lava dome has been removed and scattered around
the summit region via rockfalls which have already occurred, and a new 440 foot wide
and 100,000 cubic meter lava dome has been constructed.
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 June 10th of 2023.
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