Yesterday’s eruption of Yasur (image: Geohazards webcam)
Yesterday around 3 p.m. local time, the activity at the volcano experienced a strong surge. Details are not known at the moment, but a series of strong ash emissions produced a dense column that rose approx. 1,500 m above the crater and was also visible on satellite imagery.
It is possible that there was a brief phase of lava fountaining or paroxysm that caused it, but it can for now only be speculated on the exact nature of the eruptive events.
Video of activity 22-23 Oct:
The alert level of the volcano remains unchanged at 2 („Major unrest“, on Vanuatu’s volcano activity scale from 0 (Normal) to 5 (Very large eruption).
View of the ash column rising from Yasur (image: Sylvain Malsungai / facebook)