Report on Sangay (Ecuador) — 22 January-28 January 2025
Smithsonian Institution / US Geological Survey
Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 22 January-28 January 2025
Managing Editor: Sally Sennert.
Written by JoAnna G. Marlow.
Please cite this report as:
Global Volcanism Program, 2025. Report on Sangay (Ecuador) (Marlow, J G, and Sennert, S, eds.). Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 22 January-28 January 2025. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Sangay
Ecuador
2.005°S, 78.341°W; summit elev. 5286 m
All times are local (unless otherwise noted)
The Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN) reported that eruptive activity continued at Sangay during 22-28 January. The seismic network recorded 52-165 daily explosions. During 22-24 and 27 January, gas-and-ash emissions observed in webcam and/or satellite images rose as high as 1.8 km above the summit and drifted multiple directions. The Washington VAAC also issued alerts for ash and gas emissions on those dates. Weather clouds obscured views of summit activity on 25-26 and 28 January. The surveillance camera network recorded multiple instances of incandescence in the crater area during the nights of 22 and 23 January. Secretaría de Gestión de Riesgos (SGR) maintained the Alert Level at Yellow (the second highest level on a four-color scale).
Geological Summary. The isolated Sangay volcano, located east of the Andean crest, is the southernmost of Ecuador's volcanoes and its most active. The steep-sided, glacier-covered, dominantly andesitic volcano grew within the open calderas of two previous edifices which were destroyed by collapse to the east, producing large debris avalanches that reached the Amazonian lowlands. The modern edifice dates back to at least 14,000 years ago. It towers above the tropical jungle on the east side; on the other sides flat plains of ash have been eroded by heavy rains into steep-walled canyons up to 600 m deep. The earliest report of an eruption was in 1628. Almost continuous eruptions were reported from 1728 until 1916, and again from 1934 to the present. The almost constant activity has caused frequent changes to the morphology of the summit crater complex.
Source: Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN)