Activity for the week of 1 October-7 October 2003
The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is a cooperative project between the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological Survey's Volcano Hazards Program. Updated by 2300 UTC every Wednesday, notices of volcanic activity posted on these pages are preliminary and subject to change as events are studied in more detail. This is not a comprehensive list of all of Earth's volcanoes erupting during the week, but rather a summary of activity at volcanoes that meet criteria discussed in detail in the "Criteria and Disclaimers" section. Carefully reviewed, detailed reports on various volcanoes are published monthly in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network.
New Activity / Unrest
Karymsky
| Eastern Kamchatka (Russia)
| 54.049°N, 159.443°E
| Elevation 1513 m
During 26 September to 3 October, seismicity was above background levels at Karymsky and the Concern Color Code was raised from Yellow to Orange. During 25-29 September, 200-270 shallow earthquakes occurred that indicated possible ash-and-gas explosions to heights of 1-1.5 km above the volcano. Interpretations of seismic data suggested that on 2 October at 0633 an ash explosion began that produced a plume to 3.5 km above the volcano. A seismic pause was recorded on 2 October.
Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)
Masaya
| Nicaragua
| 11.985°N, 86.165°W
| Elevation 594 m
A pilot reported seeing an eruption cloud from Masaya on 4 October at 0731 at a height of ~4.6 km a.s.l. Satellite imagery showed a white plume emanating from the volcano, but there were no indications of ash, suggesting that the plume was composed mainly of gas and steam.
Source: Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)
Ongoing Activity
Dukono
| Halmahera (Indonesia)
| 1.693°N, 127.894°E
| Elevation 1229 m
During 1-7 October, ash plumes emitted from Dukono were sometimes visible on satellite imagery rising to ~3 km a.s.l. and extending to a maximum distance of ~130 km from the summit.
Source: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC)
Kilauea
| Hawaiian Islands (USA)
| 19.421°N, 155.287°W
| Elevation 1222 m
During 1-7 October, surface lava flows were sometimes visible on Kilauea's coastal flat and upslope areas. On 2 October lava began to flow westward after filling West Gap Pit on the W flank of Pu`u `O`o cone. Fairly vigorous spattering was visible in the pit, but died to only sporadic bursts later in the day. The flow appeared to have stopped by 4 October when no glow was observed coming from the pit. Generally, seismicity at Kilauea's summit continued at moderate levels, with 1-2 small low-frequency earthquakes per minute occurring at shallow depths beneath the summit caldera. There were some larger earthquakes at depths of a few kilometers. Also, there were small inflation and deflation events during the report week.
Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)
Klyuchevskoy
| Central Kamchatka (Russia)
| 56.056°N, 160.642°E
| Elevation 4754 m
Seismicity was above background levels at Kliuchevskoi during 26 September to 3 October. Each day, 2-6 earthquakes (M 1.7-2) occurred at depths around 30 km. During the report period, ash-and-gas plumes rose to ~1 km above the volcano and extended as far as 100 km. During the evenings of 25 and 30 September, and 2 October, Strombolian activity was visible in the volcano's central crater. Kliuchevskoi remained at Concern Color Code Orange.
Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)
Piton de la Fournaise
| Reunion Island (France)
| 21.244°S, 55.708°E
| Elevation 2632 m
A seismic swarm began at Piton de la Fournaise on 30 September at 2225 about 2 km beneath the SW area of Dolomieu crater. At 2330 eruption tremor began beneath the volcano's SSW flank. Then, a 400-m-long fissure opened at an elevation of ~2,350 m. Eruption tremor peaked on 1 October at 0100, began to decline at 0200, and ceased at 1300.
Source: Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise (OVPF)
Soufriere Hills
| Montserrat
| 16.72°N, 62.18°W
| Elevation 915 m
Volcanic activity at Soufrière Hills during 26 September to 3 October was slightly higher than during the previous week. During 30 September to 1 October, tremor coincided with vigorous ash venting that produced clouds to between 2 and 2.5 km a.s.l. The ash clouds drifted W over the town of Plymouth. No new lava-dome growth was seen during the report week and sulfur-dioxide emission rates were generally at moderate-to-high levels.
Sources: Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO), Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)
Tungurahua
| Ecuador
| 1.467°S, 78.442°W
| Elevation 5023 m
Moderate-to-large ash emissions continued at Tungurahua during 1-7 October. On 1 October gas-and-ash emissions reached a height of ~4 km and drifted NE and NW, depositing ash in San Juan, Pillate, and Valle del Patate. Seismicity was dominated by long-period earthquakes and explosions.
Sources: Instituto GeofÃsico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG), Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)
Ulawun
| New Britain (Papua New Guinea)
| 5.05°S, 151.33°E
| Elevation 2334 m
On 5 October a faint ash plume was visible on satellite imagery at a height of ~4.3 km a.s.l., extending 55 km WSW of the summit.
Source: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC)
News Feeds and Google Placemarks
The RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed is identical to the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report minus some features including the header information (latitude and longitude and summit elevation), the Geologic Summary, and a link to the volcano's page from the Global Volcanism Program. Each volcano report includes a link from the volcano's name back to the more complete information in the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report on the Smithsonian website.
The CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) feeds are XML files specifically formatted for disaster management. They are similar in content to the RSS feed, but contain no active links.
A Google Earth network link for the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report can be loaded into the free Google Earth software, and in turn will load placemarks for volcanoes in the current weekly report. Placemark balloons include the volcano name, report date, report text, sources, and links back to the GVP volcano page for that volcano and to the complete Weekly Report for that week.
Criteria & Disclaimers
Criteria
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.
Disclaimers
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 monthly, and 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.
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RSS and CAP Feeds
An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed for the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report first made available on 5 March 2008 can be utilized with the aid of various free downloadable readers. The report content of the news feed is identical to the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report minus some features including the header information (latitude and longitude and summit elevation), the Geologic Summary, and a link to the volcano's page from the Global Volcanism Program. Each volcano report includes a link from the volcano's name back to the more complete information in the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report on the Smithsonian website. On 12 March 2009, GeoRSS tags were added so that the latitude and longitude for each volcano could be included with the feed.
At the end of each individual report is a list of the sources used. We would like to emphasize that the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) website (http://www.wovo.org/) lists the regional volcano observatories that have the most authoritative data for many of these events.
CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) feeds are XML files specifically formatted for disaster management.
Google Earth Placemarks
A Google Earth network link for the Weekly Volcanic Activity Report was first made available on 1 April 2009. This file can be loaded into the free Google Earth software, and in turn will load placemarks for volcanoes in the current weekly report. Placemark balloons include the volcano name, report date, report text, sources, and links back to the GVP volcano page for that volcano and to the complete Weekly Report for that week.
