Mayon volcano (Philippines): volcanic unrest, alert level raised

There are signs that the volcano could be heading towards a new eruption in the medium term future (weeks to months). PHILVOLCS issued a warning and raised the alert level from Level 0 (normal) to Alert Level 1 (abnormal).


Recently, several of the monitored parameters of the volcano's internal state have changed significantly: since July, SO2 emissions have increased from 500 tonnes/day to over 1,000 tonnes/day on some days, suggesting magma has been rising from deeper reservoirs to shallow levels.

Ground deformation measurements by GPS and tilt meters have also shown an inflation of the edifice, possibly due to magma movements at depth.

Seismic activity has increased as well a bit. A total of 146 earthquakes were recorded between 3-6 August, mostly located on the southeast side 10 km away from the volcano.

Other observations include that 4 of the 14 monitored water wells located on the southeastern side of Mayon showed a decrease in water discharge while one well has dried-up. Steaming activity from the crater has ranged from weak to moderate. No crater glow has been observed so far.
 [volcanodiscovery.com]
8/9/16
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