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Paroxysm at Popocatépetl volcano yesterday morning
A large summit eruption (a paroxysm) occurred during yesterday night at the volcano. The eruption began around 02:15 local time on 18 April, when ash emissions and individual explosions in the summit crater increased, followed by a strong eruptive phase with continuous lava fountains that lasted over 2 hours.
During its peak around 3 am local time, a rain of incandescent material fell over the upper part of the volcano, to up to 1.6 km distance, and an ash plume rose several kilometers and drifted SE. Moderate ash fall occurred in areas such as Puebla city, whose airport was of course shut down.
The eruption came after several days of very low and actually decreasing activity. It had no apparent precursor. One cause might be that it was caused by rapid degassing of a batch of fresh – and gas-rich – magma that had slowly been rising towards the surface (effect of popping a champagne bottle). In this scenario, a period of more violent activity in the near future could be expected.
Another explanation, which holds better if the eruption remains an isolated event, could be that the upper conduit had previously become effectively blocked during the week before, until pressure suddenly overcame it yesterday. This would also explain the low activity and near absence of explosions during this time.
Courtesy of volcanodiscovery.com
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