All times are local unless otherwise stated.

Santa Maria | 13 March-19 March 2002 | New Activity / Unrest Cite this Report

Santa Maria Southwestern Guatemala

According to a news article, INSIVUMEH staff stated that beginning on 11 March volcanic activity increased at Santa María's lava-dome complex, Santiaguito. Until at least 14 March, ash was emitted from nearly constant explosions and fractures opened on the volcano. Ash rose 600-900 m above the volcano and fell in the towns of Retalhuleu (25 km SSE of the volcano) and San Marcos, and in areas that border México. Source: Prensa Libre

Chikurachki | 13 March-19 March 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Chikurachki Paramushir Island (Russia)	Based on reports received from the town of Severo-Kurilsk, KVERT reported a continuation through 16 March of volcanism that began at Chikurachki on 25 January. On the 16th during 0700 to late evening ash fell in Podgorny settlement, ~20 km SE of the volcano. On a reconnaissance helicopter flight during 1100-1300, observers saw constant gas emissions and sustained ash explosions that rose 200 m above the volcano and extended more than 100 km SE. Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)
Colima | 13 March-19 March 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Colima Mexico	During 6-13 March, avalanches of incandescent volcanic material continued to flow 2-3 km down Colima's S, SW, and W flanks. Most activity occurred on the S and W flanks, while activity slightly diminished on the SW flank. Block-lava flows extended 320 m down the SW flank and had an estimated volume of 720,000 m3. Block-lava flows reached a distance of 2 km down the W flank, and sporadic avalanches occurred on the E flank. Source: Centro Universitario de Estudios Vulcanológicos (CUEV) - Universidad de Colima
Etna | 13 March-19 March 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Etna Sicily (Italy)	Beginning around 9 March, near continuous, pulsating emissions of lithic ash were erupted from the NW vent of Bocca Nuova crater and an ash plume drifted dozens of km. The source vent of this activity was also the site of deep-seated explosions during the past 6 months. According to the Italy's Volcanoes website, the emissions might be caused by collapses within the conduit, which are thought to have occurred repeatedly following the July-August 2001 eruption. Source: Italy's Volcanoes
Karymsky | 13 March-19 March 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Karymsky Eastern Kamchatka (Russia)	Monitoring data showed no signs of volcanism at Karymsky during 8-15 March. No seismic data were available due to seismic station malfunction. No thermal anomalies or volcanic plumes were observed on satellite images. The last assigned Concern Color Code (until 8 March) was Yellow ("volcano is restless"). Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)
Kilauea | 13 March-19 March 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Kilauea Hawaiian Islands (USA)	During 12-19 March, bright glow was visible over Kilauea emanating from Pu`u `O`o crater and the rootless shield near 665-m elevation. The glow was widely visible in the Puna district. The most intense surface activity at the volcano occurred at the rootless shield. At Pu`u `O`o crater, HVO staff saw several incandescent vents mostly in the crater's S wall. By 18 March a lava flow had flooded the floor of Pu`u `O`o crater. During the week, lava flowed through lava tubes down the Pulama pali scarp, surfacing on the coastal flat below. Surface lava flows, which have been active for more than a month, spread on the lower fan and adjacent coastal flat. The fronts of the lava flows were ~2.3 km away from the coast. Generally, volcanic tremor remained at moderate levels at Pu`u `O`o. Long-period earthquakes and weak tremor continued below Kilauea's caldera. Tiltmeters across the volcano showed no evidence of significant deformation. Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)
Popocatepetl | 13 March-19 March 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Popocatepetl Mexico	During 6-11 March, Popocatépetl emitted small clouds of steam, gas, and generally minor amounts of ash. In addition, episodes of harmonic tremor were recorded. Source: Centro Nacional de Prevencion de Desastres (CENAPRED)
Sheveluch | 13 March-19 March 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Sheveluch Central Kamchatka (Russia)	During 8-15 March, volcanic activity at Shiveluch continued and seismicity decreased, but remained above background levels. The highest rising observed gas-and-steam plume reached a height of 2.5 km above the volcano on the 13th. Seismicity included earthquakes with magnitudes less than or equal to 2.1 at depths of 0-9 km, many local shallow seismic signals (from possible avalanches or weak gas-ash explosions), and episodes of weak intermittent volcanic tremor. Thermal anomalies that were 2-4 pixels large were visible on satellite imagery. The volcano remained at Concern Color Code Orange ("volcano is in eruption or eruption may occur at any time"). Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)
Soufriere Hills | 13 March-19 March 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Soufriere Hills Montserrat	During 8-15 March, the level of volcanic activity at Soufrière Hills was higher than during the previous week. Activity began to increase on the 8th, remaining at elevated levels for the remainder of the report period. Lava-dome growth continued to be concentrated towards the E, sending rockfalls and small pyroclastic flows to the upper portions of the Tar River Valley. The summit of the dome had a generally spiny appearance and minor episodes of ash venting occurred from it. Incandescence was visible at the summit during the night. SO2 emission rates were higher than average during the week (430 to 860 metric tons per day). Sources: Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO), Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)
Tungurahua | 13 March-19 March 2002 | Continuing ActivityCite this Report
Tungurahua Ecuador	According to IRD-IG, during 4-6 March Strombolian activity at Tungurahua was accompanied by gas emissions that reached 1-2 km above the volcano. Incandescent ejecta rose 50-200 m above the western crater rim, tephra fell around the crater, and blocks rolled down the volcano's upper flanks. On the 5th and 6th small amounts of fine ash fell to the NW in Patate Valley and in Ambato Valley. An explosion on the 6th at 1524 produced an ash cloud that rose 4 km above the crater and drifted to the N. During 7-9 March, volcanism was less intense. On the 10th volcanism increased; small amounts of ash fell on the volcano's W flank, and incandescent projections reached ~100 m above the crater. IG reported that on 12 March a gas plume, with little ash content, rose 2 km above the volcano and drifted to the W. Sources: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), 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 19,584 individual reports over 1,195 weeks (average of 16 per week) on 332 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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For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this website are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act. Information may also be used for authorized law enforcement investigations. (Last modified September 21, 1999.)

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)