GVP Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for March 23-29, 2011

I am running behind schedule today, so only a brief post – but luckily it is packed with plenty of good volcano info: the latest Global Volcanism Program Weekly Volcanic Activity Report.

Thanks again to Sally Kuhn Sennert for putting together the report.

Some highlights from this week’s update:

Hawai`i: Many of you have been watching the Kilauea webcams as lava has now returned to the summit and Pu`u O`o craters. It appears that the magmatic system under Kilauea is slowly returning to its pre-Kamoamoa orientation, but well worth keeping an eye on for more developments.

Central America:San Miguel in El Salvador has been showing signs of increasing activity, including gas pulses rising a few hundred meters above the crater and increasing seismicity at the volcano. This activity appears to wax and wane, so it is unclear whether it will lead to a new eruptive period one of the most active Central American volcanoes. Meanwhile, Santa Maria in Guatemala produced a number of pyroclastic flows from the Santiaguito domes with very small ash plumes (

Japan: Kirishima’s Shinmoedake Crater continues to puff away, producing some 2.1-2.4 km (7,000-8,000 foot) ash plumes, but overall, much less activity than we saw earlier in 2011. The same could be said for Kirishima’s neighbor, Sakurajima, that produced small, 1.2-2.4 km (4-8,000 foot) ash plumes, although one was seen to reach as high as 3.4 km (11,000 feet).

Montserrat: In has been a while since I’ve mentioned Soufriere Hills, but this week the volcano produced a few large pyroclastic flows that traveled more than 2 km from the summit dome complex. This is all part of the continuing activity at Soufriere Hills that started in 1995.

Top left: An undated image of El Salvador’s San Miguel.