Global Volcanism Program | Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report

Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report

You are currently viewing Archived reports for the week of 19 November-25 November 2003.

Activity for the week of 19 November-25 November 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.

Name	Location	Activity
Kavachi	Solomon Islands	New

Colima	Mexico	Ongoing
Dukono	Halmahera (Indonesia)	Ongoing
Fuego	Guatemala	Ongoing
Karymsky	Eastern Kamchatka (Russia)	Ongoing
Kilauea	Hawaiian Islands (USA)	Ongoing
Klyuchevskoy	Central Kamchatka (Russia)	Ongoing
Popocatepetl	Mexico	Ongoing
Santa Maria	Guatemala	Ongoing
Tungurahua	Ecuador	Ongoing

New Activity / Unrest

Volcano index photo Kavachi | Solomon Islands | 8.991°S, 157.979°E | Elevation -20 m

An observer from The Wilderness Lodge reported that a 15-m-high island formed at Kavachi during an eruptive cycle 3 months prior to a visit on 16 November. By 16 November the summit had reduced to ~32 m below sea level. No evidence of volcanic activity was observed during the 3 previous months, which is the first time this has occurred in 4 years of observation.

Source: The Wilderness Lodge

Ongoing Activity

Volcano index photo Colima | Mexico | 19.514°N, 103.62°W | Elevation 3850 m

A subtle ash plume, visible in satellite imagery, was emitted from Colima on 18 November at 1900 and rose to ~5.5 km a.s.l.

Source: Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)

Volcano index photo Dukono | Halmahera (Indonesia) | 1.693°N, 127.894°E | Elevation 1229 m

Satellite imagery showed ash plumes emitted from Dukono on 19 November at 1403, 20 November at 0713, and 21 November at 1428, extending ~185 km NE, ~170 km NE, and ~150 km ESE, respectively. A possible ash plume was observed on 22 November at 1349. All plumes were below ~3 km a.s.l.

Source: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC)

Volcano index photo Fuego | Guatemala | 14.473°N, 90.88°W | Elevation 3763 m

Small explosive eruptions at Fuego produced gas-and-ash plumes up to 1.2 km above the crater. During the night of 18-19 November moderate-sized avalanches were observed in the upper Santa Teresa and Trinidad ravines. Night-time incandescence at the summit was common during the week. Periods of harmonic tremor, lasting between 0.5-3 hours, were recorded on 23 November, and almost continuous harmonic tremor was recorded for a period of 21 hours on 24 November.

Source: Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia (INSIVUMEH)

Volcano index photo Karymsky | Eastern Kamchatka (Russia) | 54.049°N, 159.443°E | Elevation 1513 m

During 15-21 November, intermittent explosive eruptions at Karymsky produced gas-and-ash plumes that rose to 1.5-2 km above the crater. Karymsky remained at Concern Color Orange.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)

Volcano index photo Kilauea | Hawaiian Islands (USA) | 19.421°N, 155.287°W | Elevation 1222 m

Minor surface lava flows were observed upslope of Kilauea's coastal plain the week of 19-25 November. Small amounts of inflation and deflation were recorded through the week with sharp deflation beginning at both Uwekahuna and Pu`u O`o early on the morning of 25 November. Moderate, shallow seismicity was recorded beneath the summit, and moderate-to-high seismicity occurred beneath Pu`u O`o.

Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO)

Volcano index photo Klyuchevskoy | Central Kamchatka (Russia) | 56.056°N, 160.642°E | Elevation 4754 m

Strombolian activity was observed at Kliuchevskoi on 14-15 November. During 14-15 and 18 November, gas-and-ash plumes rose to ~2.5 km above the crater and extended more than 10 km W, E, and NE. During 15-20 November, seismic activity continued to be above background levels with 75 shallow M 1.9-2.5 earthquakes and many small, shallow earthquakes recorded. Kliuchevskoi remained at Concern Color Code Orange.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT)

Volcano index photo Popocatepetl | Mexico | 19.023°N, 98.622°W | Elevation 5393 m

Activity at Popocatépetl remained stable during the week with numerous gas-and-steam emissions. Based on information from the Mexico City MWO, the Washington VAAC reported that an ash plume was emitted on 22 November that rose to ~9.5 km a.s.l. and extended ~19 km NE.

Sources: Centro Nacional de Prevencion de Desastres (CENAPRED), Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)

Volcano index photo Santa Maria | Guatemala | 14.757°N, 91.552°W | Elevation 3745 m

Small eruptions on 18 and 23 November at Santa María's Santiaguito lava dome produced localized tephra fall. Small avalanches from the SW portion of the dome occurred on 18 November. On 24 November at 0745, five explosions occurred at 1-minute intervals, producing a gas-and-ash plume that rose to 2 km above the crater and was dispersed up to 12 km SSW.

Source: Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia (INSIVUMEH)

Volcano index photo Tungurahua | Ecuador | 1.467°S, 78.442°W | Elevation 5023 m

During 19-25 November, activity at Tungurahua remained high, with numerous moderate explosions producing plumes that were frequently visible on satellite imagery and rose up to 2 km above the crater. Ash was dispersed to the SSW and SW on 19 and 20 November and WNW and NW on 23 and 24 November, respectively. Throughout the week Strombolian activity was visible at night.

Sources: Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG), Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC)

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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.

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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.