Volcanic Eruption - Ecuador, Reventador 2014

[Bob]

Reventador Ecuador Volcano - activity 6 May 14

Yesterday evening about 1720 it looked like the seismometer network developed recording difficulties for this channel. Shortly before 0600 am it appeared that activity was present, recording massive activity from the Volcano which continued until shortly after 0700 am local time (1 hour period of eruption).

1030 marked another 1 hour period of eruption, followed by some massive magmatic explosions (about 1 minute apiece) close to 1230 local time. Roaring and roiling continued up until after about 1830. Another period of events started up with an eruption about an hour later and was still continuing as of the time of this post.

[Bob]

Reventador Ecuador Volcano - activity - 7 May 2014

5 hours of continuous activity calming down about 0600..

then a brief break, and another almost continual period of 7 more hours of eruption

followed by 3 more hours with some brief interlude rest periods, and currently as of the time of this post a very intense roaring is happening.

[Bob]

Reventador Ecuador Volcano - activity 8 May 14

The volcano continues its high period of activity, but during the eruption period at Tungurahua, the activity at Reventador diminished substantially.

[Bob]

Reventador Ecuador Volcano - activity 9 May 14

Activity diminished slightly during the night, picking up strongly during the morning.

[Bob]

Reventador Ecuador Volcano - activity 10 May 14

The seismic sensor appeared to go off-line yesterday about 1300 hours and appears to be offline. If the volcano actually damaged the sensor, that is possible, emission could be still happening, the IR sensor camera is shown after the graphics, if any activity is present such would show up here, unless the whole monitoring station is down. If the volcano actually stopped emission that would be a serious matter. We will watch this to see what is happening.

[Bob]

Reventador Ecuador Volcano 11 May 14

Still no seismic activity from the Volcano. The IR Camera appears to be showing images, but there is zero eruption being seen. This is extremely unusual. The mountain/cone is showing as COLD in the IR.

[Bob]

Reventador Volcano Ecuador - activity - 12 May 14

It looks like the seismographic connection was restored shortly after 0900

periods of activity were limited to 2 hour eruption windows.

it looks like the seismometer connection dropped out shortly before 1900 hours local time, and noticing that the IR camera is still off-line. There may be a power problem or radio link problem on the volcano or something else happening with monitoring. No notices have been put up on the website at the institute explaining the difficulty.

[Bob]

Reventador Ecuador Volcano - activity 13 May 14

The seismographic system appeared to come back on line about 1020 this morning, after a long period of intermittent activity.

At the time of reactivation, very large rumbling roaring was indicated but no appreciable seismic events indicating active magma.

The IR camera trained on the cone/volcano is not showing any thermal activity at the cone, which does then match the no eruption activity showing up in the seismic sensor readouts.

When the volcano stops its eruption for long periods of time, that pressure builds up and has to be relieved somewhere. There are numerous volcanoes in the region with activity appearing in volcanoes which normally are quite docile. Following the underground magma is interesting, watching and following the earthquakes up and down the ring of fire is very informative.

The CHILES thread in NEWS and UPDATES has a discussion about new activity in the region.

There was a recent large earthquake in PANAMA, also along the ring of fire, and this does correspond with activity being seen with the oscillating pulse train up and down the ring of fire.

(Note UPDATE - the IR camera is now showing lava flow on the sides of the cone)

[Bob]

Reventador Ecuador volcano 14 May 14 activity

The seismic system sending unit has still been having difficulty from the volcano. I did a capture of a very interesting event from the IR camera where one can see a large fireball being thrown out of the volcano.

The roaring surging is present currently with the emission from Reventador, but it has been reduced slightly from couple days. This volcano acts like a pressure relief, so it's emission is essential to prevent other volcanoes from erupting within close proximity. Tungurahua to the south is totally quiet, plugged up possibly. The other volcanoes to the north have been picking up activity, and Reventador has been diminishing activity.. Where is the magma? Chiles volcano up north towards the border is showing intense spikey quakey activity, and low and short wave seismic events of long duration (same is Cotopaxi showing periods of slow )(long) and short duration seismic sustained activity).

[Bob]

Reventador Volcano Ecuador events 15 May 14

Starting with a period of roaring, events have been taking a big of a subsiding, as before, slowing down throughout the day, early evening and nite.

[Bob]

Reventador Ecuador Volcano - activity 18 May 14

Activity seems a bit less with Reventador, the "safety valve" for the region, and the other active erupting status volcano Tungurahua seems nil in output. Overall, GuaGua Pichincha, and CotoPaxi volcanoes which haven't had significant activity appear to be increasing in rumbling, seismic events, all indicative of magma movement underground. Will the magma break thu is yet to be determined.

[Bob]

Reventador Ecuador Volcano - activity - 19 May 14

Activity appeared to be more roaring-like with the eruptive period, gaseous as opposed to magma/lava - the IR camera was showing more cloud/smoke emission.

[Bob]

Reventador - Ecuador Volcano - weekly update 24 May 14

Here is the progression of activity:











The 21st marked the strongest period of activity - we can see the cyclic slow wave showing up in the activity surging and waning.

[Bob]

Reventador Ecuador Volcano 25 May 14 activity report

Although still erupting, there is a period of diminishment in output compared to early prior to the April 1 2014 8.2m Chilean quake. There still remains a 1 1/2 day slow wave oscillation, that should be showing up in the magma channels, and quite possibly is traveling up and down the ring of fire zone. This volcano thankfully remains as a safety relief valve keeping output up to release the underground stresses. When this volcano stops activity, the magma builds somewhere, depending on the pulse circulation, the solar particle influx, we could see additional eruptions or quakes. This dynamic pattern being watched sufficiently over a long enough period of time is showing these patterns, and could help with predictability.

[Bob]

Reventador Volcano Ecuador - seismic and eruptive activity - 27 May 14

The morning of the 26th was very quiet proportionately to the other days. The 1 1/2 day activity cycle appears to be present, but output still is reduced, so the question is, where has the magma moved to in the region?