Activity resumed last night, after having paused almost completely during most of the day, and a new intense phase of the eruption with voluminous lava fountains and flows is in progress now.
Around 7 p.m. local time last evening, we noticed that intermittent explosions and ash emissions started, followed by pulsating lava spattering from the main vent in the crater.
This activity gradually increased, and several vents aligned E-W cutting the main cone’s crater became active, ejecting jets of gas mixed with ash and some lava spatter.
At around 8 p.m. the lower effusive fissure vent at the NW base of the cone, which had been feeding the new lava flow during the previous few days, was reactivated, producing a sustained small lava fountain and feeding a new flow, which traveled on the same path as the previous one, branching into two main parallel lobes. The lava fountaining from this vent rapidly increased from this vent, to reach about 100 m and lava effusion quickly increased. As a consequence, the new lava flow gained significantly in width, branched more and began to descend quickly. By early morning, it had reached at least 1-2 km length, and several structures and trees were burned and covered by it. Thick smoke is now filling the valley.
The lava fountain at the lower vent has been continuous and consists almost entirely of liquid lava, reaching the same height as the summit vents, which eject gas and ash jets, sometimes some glowing material. An ash plume was rising to several kilometer height and drifting mainly north and northeast.
