All times are local unless otherwise stated.

Piton de la Fournaise | 2 January-8 January 2002 | New Activity / Unrest Cite this Report

Piton de la Fournaise Reunion Island (France)

Following several months of precursory activity an eruption began at Piton de la Fournaise on 5 January at 2300. Increased seismicity was recorded about a week before the start of the eruption; there were 17, 49, 62, and 70 earthquakes recorded on 26, 27, 29, and 30 December, respectively. The earthquakes were mainly located N of Dolomieu Crater at depths of 0.5-1.5 km with a maximum magnitude of 2.2. Inflation was recorded on 28 December and extensometers at Magnes and Châeau Fort recorded 0.28-mm-wide cracks on 31 December. The eruption that began on 5 January consisted of fire fountaining and lava flowing from four cracks that opened in the NE part of l'Enclos Fouqué caldera. By 6 January only two cracks remained active and lava flows reached ~1,100 m elevation. On 7 and 8 January tremor strongly decreased, but other seismicity persisted. Source: Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise (OVPF)

Bezymianny | 2 January-8 January 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Bezymianny Central Kamchatka (Russia)	During 28 December- 4 January the Color Concern Code at Bezymianny was reduced from Yellow ("volcano is restless") to Green ("volcano is dormant"). During the report period seismicity was at background levels, small gas-and-steam plumes were produced, weak fumarolic activity occurred, and a faint thermal anomaly was visible on satellite imagery. Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)
Etna | 2 January-8 January 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Etna Sicily (Italy)	Volcanic activity has been low at Etna since the voluminous lava outburst during the July-August 2001 eruptive event. On 6 January low-level fumarolic activity occurred from the western rim of Southeast Crater at intervals of a few minutes. In addition, a dense gas plume was emitted from Bocca Nuova crater. The activity at both craters continued through at least 7 January. Source: Italy's Volcanoes
Karangetang | 2 January-8 January 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Karangetang Sangihe Islands	During 30 December-6 January multiphase earthquakes continued to be recorded at Karangetang, reflecting the continued growth of the 2001 lava dome. Heavy rain throughout the report period generated a cold 40,000-cubic-meter lahar on 3 January around 1200 that traveled down the Kahetang River. The lahar destroyed two buildings and damaged several homes in Tarurane and Bebali villages. The volcano remained at Alert Level 2 (on a scale of 1-4). Source: Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG, also known as CVGHM)
Karymsky | 2 January-8 January 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Karymsky Eastern Kamchatka (Russia)	During 28 December-4 January seismicity was mostly above background levels at Karymsky, with 40-80 weak, local earthquakes per day. Several shallow seismic events indicated possible gas-and-ash explosions. The Color Concern Code remained at Yellow ("volcano is restless"). Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)
Kerinci | 2 January-8 January 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Kerinci Central Sumatra	Seismicity decreased during 30 December-6 January at Kerinci, with 341 small explosions occurring. In addition, plumes only reached 50-100 m above the summit in comparison to 100-800 m the previous week. The volcano remained at Alert Level 2 (on a scale of 1-4). Source: Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG, also known as CVGHM)
Kilauea | 2 January-8 January 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Kilauea Hawaiian Islands (USA)	During the week lava continued to flow into the ocean at the Kamoamoa ocean entry. Surface lava was visible on the coastal flat and lava that began to flow on the W side of Kamoamoa caused the lava bench to grow. Slow deflation at the summit (up to 2.3 microradians) occurred on 1 December during noon to around 2300. The next day during 1210-1950 the summit inflated 1.6 microradians. The deformation was not accompanied by a change in seismicity. Generally, volcanic tremor was moderate at Pu`u `O`o and the ongoing swarm of small long-period earthquakes continued at Kilauea's summit. After the period of deflation and inflation no significant deformation was recorded. Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)
Popocatepetl | 2 January-8 January 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Popocatepetl Mexico	During the week, Popocatépetl emitted small clouds of steam, gas, and generally minor amounts of ash. In addition, episodes of harmonic tremor were recorded. On 7 January at 1330 a small ash emission was visible on satellite imagery at a height of 7.6 km a.s.l. Sources: Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), Centro Nacional de Prevencion de Desastres (CENAPRED)
Sheveluch | 2 January-8 January 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Sheveluch Central Kamchatka (Russia)	During 28 December-4 January seismicity increased at Shiveluch; about 70 earthquakes with magnitudes greater than or equal to 1.7 occurred in comparison to 20 the previous week. Shallow, weak seismic signals (possible collapses and avalanches) were also registered. Small explosions produced low-rising gas-and-steam plumes, but no ash was visible on satellite imagery. Thermal anomalies were visible on satellite imagery. The Color Concern Code remained at Yellow ("volcano is restless"). Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)
Soufriere Hills | 2 January-8 January 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Soufriere Hills Montserrat	During 28 December-4 January volcanic activity at Soufrière Hills remained high, with vigorous rockfalls travelling down the volcano's E flank. The most notable event during the week was the collapse of several million cubic meters of volcanic material down the volcano's NE flank on 28 December. The collapse, during about 1330-1500, continuously generated pyroclastic flows down the Tar River Valley to the sea. A dense W-drifting ash plume was generated that deposited up to a centimeter of ash in the vicinity of the town of Plymouth. The average flux of SO2 in the volcanic plume was ~460 metric tons on 3 January, in comparison to 851 metric tons measured on 27 December. A 30-minute-long sustained event began on 5 January around 1640 and produced an ash cloud to a height of ~2.4 km a.s.l. Sources: Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO)
Tungurahua | 2 January-8 January 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Tungurahua Ecuador	According to the Washington VAAC, there were several reports of ash emissions during the week. The highest reported ash cloud reached a height of ~10 km a.s.l. on 4 December at 1719. Sources: Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC), Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN)

Weekly Reports Archive

Since the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report began in November 2000, there have been 19,386 individual reports over 1,186 weeks (average of 16 per week) on 331 different volcanoes.

Use the dropdowns to choose the year and week for archived Weekly Reports.

 News Feeds and Google Placemarks

 Criteria & Disclaimers

The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report does not necessarily include all volcanic activity that occurred on Earth during the week. More than a dozen volcanoes globally have displayed more-or-less continuous eruptive activity for decades or longer, and such routine activity is typically not reported here. Moreover, Earth's sea-floor volcanism is seldom reported even though in theory it represents the single most prolific source of erupted material. The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report summarizes volcanic activity that meets one or more of the following criteria:

- A volcano observatory raises or lowers the alert level at the volcano.
- A volcanic ash advisory has been released by a volcanic ash advisory center (VAAC) stating that an ash cloud has been produced from the volcano.
- A verifiable news report of new activity or a change in activity at the volcano has been issued.
- Observers have reported a significant change in volcanic activity. Such activity can include, but is not restricted to, pyroclastic flows, lahars, lava flows, dome collapse, or increased unrest.

Volcanoes are included in the "New Activity/Unrest" section of the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report if the activity occurs after at least 3 months of quiescence. Once a volcano is included in the "New Activity/Unrest" section, updates will remain in that section unless the activity continues for more than 1 month without escalating, after which time updates will be listed in the "Continuing Activity" section. Volcanoes are also included in the "New Activity/Unrest" section if the volcano is undergoing a period of relatively high unrest, or increasing unrest. This is commonly equal to Alert Level Orange on a scale of Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, where Red is the highest alert. Or alert level 3 on a scale of 1-4 or 1-5.

It is important to note that volcanic activity meeting one or more of these criteria may occur during the week, but may not be included in the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report because we did not receive a report.

1. The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is intended to provide timely information about global volcanism on a weekly basis. Consequently, the report is generated rapidly by summarizing volcanic reports from various sources, with little time for fact checking. The accuracy of the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is dependent upon the quality of the volcanic activity reports we receive. Reports published in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network are cover longer time periods and are more carefully reviewed, although all of the volcanoes discussed in the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report are not necessarily reported in the Bulletin. Because of our emphasis on rapid reporting on the web we have avoided diacritical marks. Reports are updated on the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report web page as they are received, therefore information may be included regarding events that occurred before the current report period.

2. Rapidly developing events lead to coverage that is often fragmentary. Volcanoes, their eruptions, and their plumes and associated atmospheric effects are complex phenomena that may require months to years of data analysis in order to create a comprehensive summary and interpretation of events.

3. Preliminary accounts sometimes contain exaggerations and "false alarms," and accordingly, this report may include some events ultimately found to be erroneous or misleading.

4. Many news agencies do not archive the articles they post on the Internet, and therefore the links to some sources may not be active. To obtain information about the cited articles that are no longer available on the Internet contact the source.

5. USGS Disclaimer Statement for this Website:

Information presented on this website is considered public information and may be distributed or copied. Use of appropriate byline/photo/image credit is requested. We strongly recommend that USGS data be acquired directly from a USGS server and not through other sources that may change the data in some way. While USGS makes every effort to provide accurate and complete information, various data such as names, telephone numbers, etc. may change prior to updating. USGS welcomes suggestions on how to improve our home page and correct errors. USGS provides no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of furnished data.

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U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, USA
URL: https://volcano.si.edu/reports_weekly.cfm

 Acronyms and Abbreviations

a.s.l. - above sea level

AVO - Alaska Volcano Observatory

AVHRR - Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer

CENAPRED - Centro Nacionale de Prevencion de Desastres (México)

CONRED - Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres

COSPEC - Correlation Spectrometer

CVGHM (formerly VSI) - Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation

CVO - Cascades Volcano Observatory (USGS)

GMS - Geostationary Meteorological Satellite

GOES - Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

GVO - Goma Volcano Observatory

GVP - Global Volcanism Program (Smithsonian Institution)

HVO - Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (USGS)

ICE - Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (Costa Rica)

IG - Instituto Geofísico (Ecuador)

IGNS - Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences (New Zealand) - now GNS Science

INETER - Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (Nicaragua)

INGEMMET - Instituto Geológical Minero y Metalúrgico (Peru)

INGEOMINAS - Instituto Colombiano de Geología y Minería (Colombia)

INGV-CT - Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia - Sezione di Catania (Italy)

INSIVUMEH - Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia e Hidrologia (Guatemala)

IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (France)

JMA - Japanese Meteorological Agency

KEMSD - Kamchatkan Experimental and Methodical Seismilogical Department

KVERT - Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team

M - magnitude

METEOSAT - Meteorological Satellite

MEVO - Mount Erebus Volcano Observatory

MODIS - Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

MVO - Montserrat Volcano Observatory

MWO - Meteorological Watch Office

NEIC - National Earthquake Information Center

NIED - National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (Japan)

NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

NOTAM - Notice to Airmen

OVDAS - Observatorio Volcanologico de los Andes del Sur (Chile)

OFDA - Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance

ONEMI - Oficina Nacional de Emergencia - Ministerio del Interior (Chile)

OVPDLF - Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise (France)

OVSICORI-UNA - Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico de Costa Rica, Universidad Nacional (Costa Rica)

PHIVOLCS - Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philippines)

RSAM - Real-time Seismic Amplitude Measurement

RVO - Rabaul Volcano Observatory

SERNAGEOMIN - Servicio Nacional de Geologia y Mineria (Chile)

SIGMET - Significant Meteorological Information

SNET - Servicio Nacional de Estudios Territoriales (El Salvador)

SVERT - Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (Russia)

USAID - US Agency for International Development

USGS - United States Geological Survey

UTC - Coordinated Universal Time

VAAC - Volcanic Ash Advisory Center

VAFTAD - Volcanic Ash Forecast Transport And Dispersion

VDAP - Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (USGS)

VHP - Volcano Hazards Program (USGS)

VRC - Volcano Research Center (Japan)