International News
Santorini, Greece
El Hierro, Canary Islands**
Undersea Volcano
Photo credits:
*Marlon Rouse Photography
**Tenerife News
Cotopaxi Volcano, Ecuador
Ecuador declares a national state of emergency over increasing activity at Cotopaxi Volcano.
Colima Volcano, Mexico Erupts on 21 January 2015
Watch BBC News video capturing the moment of the eruption on 21 January
EC Press Release 22 Sept 2014
"Volcanic eruptions are notoriously difficult to predict. Ground-breaking research by EU-funded scientists on the signs of volcanic unrest aims to improve eruption forecasts. Their work on the best ways to communicate such alerts could also help save lives."
Campi Flegrei Caldera Unrest Scientific Simulation
9-13 February 2014
For information and images of this event please follow this link.
Work Package 8 Meeting, Communication Protocols
13-15 January 2014
Barcelona, Spain
Watch a video of the work package 8 meeting on establishing communication protocols for use in the event of volcanic crisis.
2nd VUELCO Workshop
November 7 and 8 2013
Rome, Italy
Scientific assessment, decision-making, risk communication.
VUELCO team take part in simulated evacuation event in Mexico
The VUELCO project co-organised and participated in an unrest simulation exercise during the Cities on Volcanoes 7 conference in Colima, Mexico. The simulation was based on a unrest scenario for the Fuego de Colima volcano and included five scientific committee meetings between November 17 and 23 during which the presented volcanic unrest data was discussed and evaluated. The exercise included the probabilistic assessment of different volcanic scenarios which were defined based on the available data to the committee, which then formed part of the decision-making process of participating civil protection authorities of the states of Colima and Jalisco.
Based on the scientific advice given to the authorities after a marked increase of the simulated volcanic activity and the probabilistic scenario forecasts for the next day (Nov. 24), the evacuation of the village of La Becerrera at the foothills of Fuego de Colima was ordered by the authorities for the following morning.
The event was held under the World Congress on Cities on Volcanoes 7. Further details on the simulation as well as participating organisations and project partners can be found in the exercise planning document. EXERCISE PLANNING DOCUMENT (pdf)
Six Scientists Convicted of Multiple Manslaughter
Six scientists and and ex-official were convicted of multiple manslaughter for giving a falsely reassuring statement about the 6.3 magnitude earthquake in L'Aquila in 2009. 309 people died in the quake and the city was left in ruins. The head of Italy's disaster body, Luciano Maiani has resigned in protest. (Photo credit: LiveScience.com) Read more ...
Streva Project, Montserrat September 2012
VUELCO was present at a recent Streva meeting in Montserrat in the West Indies. Streva is a UK initiative led by the University of East Anglia and stands for strengthening resilience in volcanic areas. Jo Gottsmann gave a talk outlining the common goals between the two projects. Read more ...
Fuego, Guatemala
Date: September 2012
Source: Gobierno de Guatemala
Fuego volcano has been spewing lava and ash and catapulting rocks up to 1000 metres above the crater in its biggest volcanic activity since 1999. Watch this news video by the BBC. The volcano is situated just over 30 miles south west of Guatemala city. Thousands of people were evacuated from their homes.
Santorini: new volcanic activity
Date: September 2012
Source: BloombergBusinessweek
Santorini volcano, whose eruption 3,600 years ago wiped out Minoan settlements on the Greek island and in Crete, has begun to fill with molten rock and expand the most since its last eruption from 1939 to 1941.
The chamber of liquid rock, or magma, beneath the volcano expanded by 10 million to 20 million cubic meters from January 2011 to this April, a University of Oxford-led team wrote in the journal Nature Geoscience. That’s as much as 15 times the size of London’s Olympic Stadium, the university said separately. Read more ...
24 Hour monitoring of Popocatepetl
Date: September 2012
Source: CENAPRED
Ongoing unrest at Popocatépetl, Mexico is being closely monitored, and the alert level is now 2.
Popocatépetl is 5,426 m high and 70 km SE of Mexico City and is North America's second-highest volcano. Frequent historical eruptions have been recorded since the beginning of the Spanish colonial era. A small eruption on 21 December 1994 ended five decades of quiescence. Since 1996 small lava domes have incrementally been constructed within the summit crater and destroyed by explosive eruptions. Intermittent small-to-moderate gas-and-ash eruptions have continued, occasionally producing ashfall in neighboring towns and villages. CENAPRED reports, read more ...
Montserrat: volcanic activity update
Date: September 2012
Source: MVO
Seismicity remains slightly elevated, although activity at the volcano is low. Some clear views of the dome this week showed continued instability of the steep eastern face of the dome. Rockfall activity is undercutting the vertical face and it is overhanging in places. Further rockfall and pyroclastic flow activity is likely in the coming days and weeks. Read more ...
Tongariro, North Island, New Zealand
Date: July 2012
Source: Geonet
Four portable seismographs recorders have been installed on Mount Tongariro to establish whether the recent sequence of low magnitude volcanic earthquakes are evidence of volcanic unrest. Local residents of the island have reported noticing gas odours. Volcano alert level remains at 1. Read more ...
Minor Earthquake hits Katla, Iceland
Date: July 2012
Source: Iceland Review
An earthquake of magnitude 2.7 was recorded on Wednesday evening by the Icelandic Meteorological Office’s sensors. The epicenter was underneath the Mýrdalsjökull icecap in southern Iceland where the volcano Katla lies. Read more ...
Mount Etna, February 2012
Mount Etna's eruption this month led to temporary cancellation of flights. Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily. It is the tallest active volcano in Europe. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. See video
Katla Volcano, December 2011
An eruption may be imminent of the Icelandic volcano, Katla. Katla is a subglacial volcano, in southern Iceland, located underneath Mýrdalsjökull (Mýrdals Glacier). Katla is one of Iceland’s most active volcanoes, having erupted at least 20 times since the year 1100. Some of these eruptions have been preceded by or occurred simultaneously with eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull volcano, located some 15.5 miles (25 km) to the west. Read more ...
Volcano photo credits: National Geographic