Volcanic activity worldwide 25 Dec 2020: Fuego volcano, Klyuchevskoy, Popocatépetl, Shiveluch, Duko…

Map of today’s active volcanoes

La Palma (Canary Islands (Spain)): A relatively strong earthquake swarm occurred under the La Cumbre volcano on La Palma Island yesterday (24 Dec 2020).
A total of 79 small quakes of magnitudes between 1-2.2 were detected during yesterday, most of them at depths around 25-30 km under the southwestern part of the island, 15 km southeast of Los Llanos de Aridane. Many are located under the mostly submerged volcanic ridge of Cumbre Vieja, which last erupted in 1971. It seems that the swarm has already ended (unless more data will be released by the Spanish Geophysical Insitute later on).
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While many might worry that such quakes could be signs of new volcanic activity, this is not very likely in the current case: The depths of the quakes place them in an area of the upper mantle layer, the so-called asthenosphere, where it behaves as ductile, soft material and contains a partial melt as magma. Above it lies the oceanic crust, on top of which the Canary island volcanoes sit.
The recent quakes, if they are volcanic in origin (which is not necessarily the case), might reflect a deep intrusion of magma in a lower storage area beneath the crust. This is a normal process for any volcano, and occurs at irregular intervals during its lifetime. They do not likely mean that an eruption is to be expected any time soon.

Klyuchevskoy (Kamchatka): Volcanic Ash Advisory Center Anchorage (VAAC) issued the following report:

Shiveluch (Kamchatka): Explosive activity continues. Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Anchorage warned about a volcanic ash plume that rose up to estimated 20000 ft (6100 m) altitude or flight level 200 and is moving at 15 kts in E direction.
The full report is as follows: VA LEFT OVER FM 20201224/13Z ERUPTION. to 20000 ft (6100 m)

Ebeko (Paramushir Island): (24 Dec) Volcanic Ash Advisory Center Tokyo (VAAC) issued the following report: ERUPTION AT 20201224/2151Z FL070 EXTD SE REPORTED OBS VA DTG:24/2150Z

Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): Explosive activity continues. Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Tokyo warned about a volcanic ash plume that rose up to estimated 5000 ft (1500 m) altitude or flight level 050 and is moving at 20 kts in S direction.
The full report is as follows: VA AT 20201225/1240Z FL050 EXTD S OBS VA DTG:25/1240Z to 5000 ft (1500 m)

Suwanose-jima (Ryukyu Islands): Explosive activity continues. Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Tokyo warned about a volcanic ash plume that rose up to estimated 5000 ft (1500 m) altitude or flight level 050 and is moving at 15 kts in S direction.
The full report is as follows: VA AT 20201225/1410Z FL050 EXTD S OBS VA DTG:25/1410Z to 5000 ft (1500 m)

Dukono (Halmahera): Volcanic Ash Advisory Center Darwin (VAAC) issued the following report: VONA STATE ERUPTION TO FL060 EXT TO N AT 25/0800Z

Kilauea (Hawai’i): The new eruption of the world’s most active volcano continues with no significant change, but at breathtaking speed as the new lava lake grows and is about to inundate its vents.
According to the USGS‘ Hawaiian volcano observatory (HVO), the lava lake 176 m (577 ft) deep at 7 am local time this morning. The lake inside Halema’uma’u crater is being fed by two vents on the north and northwest sides of the crater. The fresh magma rising to the surface is carrying with it a lot of SO2 gas, being released into the atmosphere as a dense plume.
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We compiled a video of the lava lake as recorded by the thermal camera on the western rim, summarizing 4 days in one minute, showing the impressive speed the lava lake has been growing:

Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): Explosive activity continues. Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Washington warned about a volcanic ash plume that rose up to estimated 20000 ft (6100 m) altitude or flight level 200 .
The full report is as follows: OCNL VA EMS. to 20000 ft (6100 m)

Fuego (Guatemala): Mild explosive activity continues from the volcano. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Washington reported intermittent emissions of volcanic ash plumes.
The full report is as follows: sporadic emissions of volcanic ash

Sangay (Ecuador): Explosive activity continues. Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Washington warned about a volcanic ash plume that rose up to estimated 22000 ft (6700 m) altitude or flight level 220 .
The full report is as follows: CONS VA EMS. to 22000 ft (6700 m)

Reventador (Ecuador): Explosive activity continues. Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) Washington warned about a volcanic ash plume that rose up to estimated 15000 ft (4600 m) altitude or flight level 150 .
The full report is as follows: DISCRETE VA CLD EM. to 15000 ft (4600 m)

Sabancaya (Peru): Volcanic Ash Advisory Center Buenos Aires (VAAC) issued the following report: SPORADIC PUFF EMISSION

Hudson (Southern Chile and Argentina): Volcanic alert level for the volcano was raised to „yellow“, as an increase of seismicity has been recorded on 22 December characterized by 2 swarms of volcano-tectonic earthquakes with the largest magnitude M 2.9 located 4.7 km ESE of the caldera’s center at depth 4.6 km.
In category of hybrid volcano-tectonic earthquakes seismic instruments recorded five events of which the largest event reached magnitude M 3.1 located 4 km ESE at depth 4.3 km.
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The earthquake locations suggested a relatively shallow source SE of the caldera.
No ground deformation was observed.

Mayotte Island (France, Western Indian Ocean): In May 2019, a new volcano was discovered 50 km off the East coast of Mayotte by temporal comparison of bathymetric data. It lies on the seafloor at a depth of 3500 m. It is 820 m tall and the estimated erupted volume is over 5 km3.
Actually, since May 2018, seismic activity affects Mayotte. Earthquakes off Mayotte are grouped in two main areas: the main one is between 5 and 15 km to the East of Petite Terre and appeared later, in late August 2018, while the secondary one, that appeared in early May, is about 25 km to the East of Petite Terre and 25 to 50 km deep. The largest earthquakes are found in the secondary swarm area, including a Mw5.9 earthquake that occurred on the 15 May 2018. Since July 2018, the number of earthquakes decreased slightly, but seismicity continues regularly at low to moderate magnitudes.
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The discovery of the submarine volcano explains the earthquake swarms that have been occurring since the 10 May 2018 and, although this seismic activity is not directly below the new volcano, which is further East, the two swarm regions are linked to the volcano by magma pathways. Indeed, during the MAYOBS-1 campaign, scientists observed plumes (that do not reach the surface) by acoustic imagery of the water column above the volcano’s summit (the plume was 2 km tall) and above the swarm region about 10 km off Petite Terre, which shows that there are thermal anomalies in the swarm region 10km off Petite Terre as well.
Geodetic observations can also be explained by volcanic activity. Since May 2018, GPS stations on Mayotte are moving eastwards and subsiding. These displacements can indeed be explained by the deflation of a deep magma reservoir to the East of Mayotte. The displacements were the strongest at the beginning of the crisis, which probably means that the deflation speed of the reservoir, and thus the magma flow rate, was at its strongest at the beginning of the eruption.

Volcano Activity Summary for 25 Dec 2020:

Locations and depth vs time plot of yesterday’s quakes under La Palma