Right now, there are 52 volcanoes actively erupting on the planet.
One of these erupting volcanoes is Santa Maria in Guatemala, which produced the 3rd largest
volcanic eruption of the entire 20th century in 1902.
Ever since 1922, it has been producing intermittent explosive eruptions via a series of ever growing
lava domes on its southern flank, which is known as Santiaguito.
With this being said, here are a few of this week's major volcano related news stories.
Southeast of Jakarta in Indonesia, the Tangkuban Parahu volcano is displaying elevated levels
of activity and could produce a phreatic eruption with little warning.
Also, in Italy the Vulcano volcano off the island of Sicily is still showing significant
signs of unrest, as a recent dataset showed the highest fumarole temperatures during this
latest period of activity.
And, in New Zealand, the White Island volcano began a new volcanic eruption on February
15th.
For context, White Island is one of New Zealand's most active volcanoes, and is located 50 kilometers
north-northeast of Whakatane.
It is most famous for producing a deadly volcanic eruption in 2019, which marked one of its
many phreatic eruptions.
Phreatic eruptions do not eject any lava, but are instead large volcanic steam explosions
which eject ash and volcanic gasses that occur after being heated from underlying magma.
In the case of this week's eruption, the White Island volcano once again produced a series
of small phreatic explosions.
The results of these can be best observed via the web-camera which GNS Science has of
the main fumarole rich area, where on occasion the gasses produced by these vents change
in color from white to gray.
While the white represents primarily water vapor, the gray represents fine particles
of ash.
Since no large explosions were visible in the main crater, it can be assumed that the
phreatic explosions were completely confined within the magma conduit below the crater
surface.
The ash created by these minor explosions were then released onto the surface over a
period of 5 to 25 minutes, after which the gas turned white once again.
Over the next several days to weeks, these minor phreatic emissions are likely to continue,
and as a result, the White Island volcano remains at an alert level of 2 on a 0 to 5
scale.
At the island of Vulcano in Italy, volcanic unrest has been ongoing since October 1st
of 2021.
This period of unrest is caused by a shallow intrusion of magma, which has caused the ground
to uplift by several centimeters, earthquake activity to increase, and most visibly caused
a near constant and strong plume from its summit fumaroles.
These fumaroles have released large amounts of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide into
the landscape, which resulted in two partial evacuations of the island.
While these emissions peaked between November and December of 2021, the period of unrest
is not yet over.
While carbon dioxide emissions and earthquakes have either decreased or remained constant
since then, they are still quite elevated.
However, the most notable piece of data arrived on the 11th of February, when a fumarole at
Vulcano's main cone jumped in temperature from 150 to 430 degrees celsius.
This jump is a warning sign which suggests that while magma may no longer be intruding
shallower into the crust, it is still effecting the underlying hydrothermal system.
In other words, a surprise phreatic explosion at Vulcano's crater is now quite possible.
In Indonesia, the Tangkuban Parahu stratovolcano is showing signs of unrest, as since January
30th it has produced intermittent but strong gas emissions visible as white plumes from
its crater fumaroles.
These non eruptive plumes intensified on February 12th at 11:43 am local time, creating a 100
meter high plume which originated from the middle of its three craters known as Ratu.
The next day, similar episodes of intense activity occurred, resulting in 20 to 60 meter
high plumes.
My interpretation of these emissions is that something has changed in the underlying hydrothermal
system, which is being heated to higher than normal temperatures.
As a result, a surprise phreatic eruption could occur without warning over the next
several weeks.
While the volcano's alert level remains at green, tourists have been advised to not go
into any of the craters at this time.
Here is a quick list of every volcano which is currently erupting.
Also, here are some volcanoes showing signs of unrest which could erupt in the near future.
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