USGS/SI Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for May 12-18, 2010

The latest Weekly Volcanic Activity Report from our friends at the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program and the USGS.

Highlights (not including Eyjafjallajökull - you can check the latest IMO update on that eruption and the latest VAAC ash advisories.):

  • Villarrica in Chile was raised from Alert Level 1 to 2 by the Chilean SERNAGEOMIN after an increase in seismicity, a rise in the lava lake levels at the summit and more vigorous fumarolic activity.
  • In the first update in a while, a small ash plume was noticed at Chaiten in Chile, rising to ~1.8 km (8,000 feet) from the new domes.
  • Karymsky in Russia continues to produce ash plumes that reach as high as 4.6 km (15,000 feet) along with a thermal anomaly at the summit for several days.
  • Costa Rica's Turrialba continues to emit volcanic gases from the fissures that opened at the beginning of 2010.

More like this

Since the volcano tremor started to drop I have been recording a series of pules. I don't know at the moment if they are long period volcano type earthquakes or not.

But these events are not human made I think and they appears to be increasing in frequency it seems.

@Jón FrÃmann: that seems interesting. I wonder what's going on.
Would you mind posting again some samples in SAC format? Just for personal curiosity, even knowing the limitations of the instrument you're using compared to a more expensive seismometer.

@Jón F - did you mean to post#2&3 on the Eyja page instead of here? I found the second video and your comment on tremor by accident...please share if that was your intent! Ditto Mr. Moho.

By birdseyeUSA (not verified) on 20 May 2010 #permalink

@Mr. Moho, you can find the files at www.jonfr.com/sac , no rar file this time around.

@birdseyeUSA, No I planned to place it here. Maybe it was a mistake. But the other thread has gone quite long. But I am going to put the link there now. :)

What link are people using for THEY? The link I bookmarked doesn't take me to the page I remember, which was a stack of line graphs for each of four or five GPS locations, including GOD. (That's the only one I remember.) Now I can only seem to find individual pages for two of the locations. Anyone? Thanks.

By Carla - Seattle (not verified) on 20 May 2010 #permalink

@6: thanks for sharing!

frir showing renewed activity

flir sorry for fat fingers

I find it amazing how much the ash in the air is a effective IR filter in many ways better than a bit of fog
a nice north wind in desirable

@Gina, @Henrik - thanks. I've got those already. I forgot that the dashboard page has a THEY chart, though. Appreciate the links.

By Carla - Seattle (not verified) on 21 May 2010 #permalink

The USGSSI Weekly has always seemed to me like a poor way to monitor new and ongoing volcanic activity. Something like the old expression about things being 'a day late and a dollar short' comes to mind. Would really appreciate knowning if there isn't a better, 'official' (or university) website that gives volcanic activity reports as they occure. If we can monitor worldwide seismic activity by the minute, where's the worlwide volcanic activity monitoring 'by the minute'?