BJ Deming

Nevado del Ruiz: June 10, 1723 UTC

  • Status: Orange, but —

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    The take-away here: Ruiz might wind up steadily, if that’s on its agenda, or it might just give them a few minutes’ notice before the “big one.”

  • Interactive official hazard map (autotranslated), via Relief Web; En español
  • USAID April 4th map (autotranslated) posted on May 18 at Relief Web.
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  • Update archive.

Update, June 10, 10:23 a.m., Pacific: There was a VAAC advisory overnight but none is in effect right now.

Morning views of the summit were fairly clear, and both a strong steam plume and snow are seen in Jhon/VIDJCB’s video:

He is reading today’s SGC bulletin. Here it is in English via Google Translate (emphasis by SGC):

Manizales, June 10, 2023 09:45 a.m.

Regarding the monitoring of the activity of the NEVADO DEL RUIZ VOLCANO, the MINISTRY OF MINES AND ENERGY through the COLOMBIAN GEOLOGICAL SERVICE (SGC) informs that:

From 9:00 a.m. from yesterday (June 9) until the time of publication of this bulletin, the seismic activity, in general, continues to show low levels. The seismicity associated with the movement of fluids inside the volcanic conduits maintained similar levels in the number of earthquakes and showed a slight increase in seismic energy in relation to June 8. Some of the seismic signs were associated with pulsatile ash emissions confirmed through the website cameras used for volcanic monitoring.

The seismicity related to rock fracturing inside the volcanic structure decreased in the number of earthquakes and in seismic energy, compared to June 8. The earthquakes were of low energy and were located, in a dispersed way, in various sectors of the volcano, at distances between 2 and 5 km from the Arenas crater and with depths that varied between 3 and 5 km with respect to the top of the volcano.

On the other hand, the maximum height of the gas and/or ash column was 1200 m measured from the top of the volcano It continued to show a preferential direction of dispersal towards the northwest of the volcanic edifice. Additionally, variations in degassing continue of sulfur dioxide and the release of water vapor from the crater into the atmosphere continued.

So far, the activity of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano continues to be very unstable. Although several days have passed in which the seismic activity, in general, has decreased with respect to previous weeks, it is important to remember that this does not imply that the volcano has returned to its normal levels of activity, so it is recommended not to get used to these changes/oscillatory activity and think that it is a normal behavior of the volcano.

Satellite detection of significant thermal anomalies at the bottom of the crater indicates the presence of very hot material near the surface. It is very important to note that the recurrence of ash output, sometimes pulsatile and sometimes more continuous, the persistence of a slight deformation of the terrain, as well as variations in the output of sulfur dioxide, indicate that the volcano could still make a major eruption in days or weeks. As we have mentioned on previous occasions, after presenting important changes in its activity, the Nevado del Ruiz volcano has shown a decrease in its activity before an important eruption. That is, first it registers a strong increase in its activity, then a decrease considerable and, subsequently, makes a major eruption.

Therefore, we reiterate that the activity of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano continues at ORANGE LEVEL, which indicates that there is a probability that in days or weeks there will be a larger eruption than the volcano has done in the last 10 years. To change levels and return to Yellow level requires a prudential time where trends and patterns can be observed that allow inferring the possible decrease in activity, aspects that the current activity of the volcano still does not show, reason for which warns that the level of activity of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano will remain at LEVEL ORANGE for several weeks. During this time, in the event of an acceleration of processes that suggest an imminent eruption or the eruption itself, the level of activity will be changed to Red.

We recommend that the community remain calm, follow all the instructions of the Unit National for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD) and local authorities, and be attentive to the information provided by the Colombian Geological Service on the evolution of the state of the volcano.

The COLOMBIAN GEOLOGICAL SERVICE will continue to monitor the evolution of the volcanic phenomenon and will inform in a timely manner about the changes that may occur.

For more information visit the following link:
https://www2.sgc.gov.co/Noticias/boletinesDocumentos/Forms/AllItems.aspx

Featured image: Ric Photography/Shutterstock

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