According to DVGHM, an eruption at Soputan on 12 December around 0050 produced an E-drifting ash cloud to ~1 km above the volcano. It was followed by a "hot cloud" that traveled about 200 m E and a lava flow that traveled SW. The eruption was preceded by an increase in tremor on 11 December and incandescence that was visible in the crater. DVGHM increased the Alert Level at Soputan to 2 (on a scale of 1-4). According to the Darwin VAAC an eruption cloud was visible on satellite imagery on 12 December at 0925 at a height of ~10.7 km a.s.l.

Geological Summary. The Soputan stratovolcano on the southern rim of the Quaternary Tondano caldera on the northern arm of Sulawesi Island is one of Sulawesi's most active volcanoes. The youthful, largely unvegetated volcano is the only active cone in the Sempu-Soputan volcanic complex, which includes the Soputan caldera, Rindengan, and Manimporok (3.5 km ESE). Kawah Masem maar was formed in the W part of the caldera and contains a crater lake; sulfur has been extracted from fumarolic areas in the maar since 1938. Recent eruptions have originated at both the summit crater and Aeseput, a prominent NE-flank vent that formed in 1906 and was the source of intermittent major lava flows until 1924.

Sources: The Jakarta Post, Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi (PVMBG, also known as CVGHM), Associated Press, Agence France-Presse (AFP)