BJ Deming

Nevado del Ruiz: June 11-12, (1846 UTC, June 12th)

  • 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.
  • Links to webcams, public data, and other information.
  • Update archive.

Update, June 12, 11:46 a.m., Pacific: Yesterday was busy, and when I checked to make sure there were no major changes, all was still restless but not immediately threatening, so I did no update separately for the 11th.

There was a VAAC advisory issued around midday, local time, yesterday, but that has expired and no new ones are up at this time.

The mountain was clear on the morning of June 11th, and Jhon/VIDJCB got some nice images for yesterday’s video:

https://youtu.be/spnW0nKuEYU&rel=0

He is reading the SGC’s bulletin from yesterday; here is today’s bulletin (June 12) in English with the help of Google Translate (emphasis added by SGC or me):

Manizales, June 12, 2023 10:15 a.m.

From 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 11) until the time of publication of this bulletin, the seismic activity continues to show low levels and some minor variations. The seismicity associated with the movement of fluids inside the volcanic conduits presented a slight increase in the number of earthquakes and similar levels in seismic energy, compared to June 10. Some of seismic signals were associated with pulsatile ash emissions confirmed through the web cameras used for volcanic monitoring.

The seismicity related to rock fracturing inside the volcanic structure showed a decrease in the number of earthquakes and in seismic energy, compared to June 10. The earthquakes were of low energy and were located in the Arenas crater and the eastern sectors and northeast of the volcano, at distances between 1 and 4 km from the crater, and with depths that varied between 1 and 6 km with respect to the top of the volcano.

On the other hand, the variations in the degassing of sulfur dioxide and the output of water vapor and ash from the crater to the atmosphere. The maximum observed height of the column of gases, steam and/or ash emission was 1000 m measured from the top of the volcano and the direction of dispersion was to the northwest and southwest of the volcanic edifice. At dawn today, through satellite monitoring platforms, new reports were received of thermal anomalies at the bottom of the crater, of low energy.

As we have warned, 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 compared to previous weeks, it is important to remember that this does not imply that the volcano has returned to their normal levels of activity, so it is recommended not to get used to these oscillatory changes of 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 ofactivity will be changed to Red.

We recommend that the community remain calm, follow all the instructions of the Unit National for Disas ter 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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