Mayon’s alert status raised to level 2
MANILA, Philippines — State volcanologists raised Monday the status of Mayon Volcano in Albay to Alert Level 2, saying it has been exhibiting “increasing unrest.”
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the raising of the alert level means “there is current unrest driven by shallow magmatic processes that could eventually lead to phreatic eruptions or even precede hazardous magmatic eruption.”
Phreatic eruptions are steam-driven explosions. Meanwhile, lava or tephra is ejected from a magma source within the earth in magmatic eruptions.
What to do?
Phivolcs advised the public to be vigilant and refrain from entering the six kilometer-radius Permanent Danger Zone to minimize the risks from sudden explosions, rockfall and landslides.
“In case of ash fall events that may affect communities downwind of Mayon’s crater, people should cover their nose with a damp, clean cloth or dust mask,” it said.
Pilots are also advised to avoid flying close to the summit as ash from any sudden eruption can be hazardous to aircraft.
What happened?
According to Phivolcs, monitoring of the summit crater since the last week of April showed an increase in rockfall events from Mayon’s summit lava dome. The number of rockfall events recently increased to 49 per day from only five events in a day.
A total of 318 rockfall events have been recorded since April 1, while 26 volcanic earthquakes have been logged in the same period.
Phivolcs said the lava dome has increased in volume by around 83,000 cubic meters since February 3 and nearly 164,000 cubic meters since August 20, 2022.
It added the highest sulfur dioxide emission measured on April 29 averaged 576 tons per day, and the last measurement on May 23 averaged 162 tons per day.
“These low-level volcanic earthquakes, ground deformation, and volcanic gas parameters are overshadowed by recent steep increases in rockfall events which may possibly lead to further dome activity,” the institute said.
The raising of the alert level comes nearly three months after Phivolcs downgraded the status of Mayon to Alert Level 1.
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