Volcano activity of July 23, 2012 – Nabro or Mallahla, Mt. Tongariro, Nevado del Ruiz, Popocatepetl, Harras of Dhamar, Kilauea, Manam and Batu Tara

This (almost) daily post intends to follow up the activity changes of volcanoes all over the world.
This post is written by geologist Richard Wilson who specializes in Volcano seismicity and Armand Vervaeck. Please feel free to tell us about new or changed activity if we haven’t written about it. -

July 23, 2012 volcano activity

A strong activity cloud in the greater Nabro volcano area. The plume seems to be coming from the Ethiopian part of the border and in this case it may be coming from the Mallahle volcano, which is hard to believe as there were no reports of eruptions in the past. On the images below one can clearly see a plume originating in the area, but as we can’t see the direction of the wind, the origin is unclear. The cloud was however not noticed on the SO2 satellite images and has disappeared today on the weather satellites. The mystery remains unless Aqua or Terra or another satellite can show us more proof of what happened. We do not count on any local reports as the volcanoes in the area are located in a high risk military area (border between Eritrea and Ethiopia).

Seismicity at Mt Tongariro New Zealand looks to have decreased a lot yesterday and today. GNS science reported however today that : “Provisional analysis of the gas samples collected at the weekend indicates the presence of volcanic gas. Our historic sampling has shown there is a mix of volcanic and hydrothermal gases and fluids at Tongariro. However the sampling on Saturday has shown a marked increase in the volcanic gas component. These results are showing the volcanic unrest indicated by the seismic data is confirmed by the gas data. We are working to complete the analysis of the gases and water samples and planning further visits later in the week when the weather improves. GNS Science volcanologists are monitoring the unrest and further information will be released as necessary. ”
The alert level remains at 1 (see our earlier report)

Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) shows his activity again (both on the Seismogram and the NOAA satellite image)

Activity observed by satellites

VAAC Darwin reports a volcanic ash plume to the NW of Batu Tara volcano.  The ash cloud reached 7000 ft (2100 m)

SO2 satellite imagery shows strong SO2 activity at Kilauea volcano, Hawaii

In Yemen we detected a SO2 cloud at the location of the Harras of Dhamar volcanic field. After further in-depth searches an eruption of this volcano can be excluded (no other satellite image evidence)

Manam volcano (Papua New Guinea) shows continued activity

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