Alert Status Raised at Mexico’s Popocatépetl
- By Erik Klemetti
- April 17, 2012 |
Three webcam views of Popocatépetl as seen on April 16, 2012. Images courtesy of Eruptions reader Kirby.
I mentioned yesterday that Mexico’s famous Popocatépetl experienced one of its largest explosions in years, covering some 30 communities with ash up to 7 cm thick (but highly dependent on wind direction, so that value has a wide range from dusting to the maximum 7 cm). Combine that with continued elevated seismicity and a healthy steam-and-ash plume from the volcano (see above), and CENAPRED has raised the alert status at Popo to Yellow Phase 3, the third highest threat level (of 7). Overnight on April 16th, the volcano was throwing incandescent material over 300 meter above the crater and it has produced at least 14 small steam-and-ash plumes over the last day or so, some reaching as high as ~1 km / ~3,200 feet. The raised alert level means that local authorities are preparing for potential evacuations if the volcano has a major eruption – the last time major evacuations were needed, in 2000, over 50,000 people had to leave their homes. An eruption will also likely cause significant air traffic issues in/around Mexico City, so authorities need to be prepared for this as well.
The major hazards from Popo are going to be ash fall on the area around the volcano, lahars generated by mixing water and volcanic debris (Popo does have several summit glaciers) and even the potential for pyroclastic flows, although they have been relatively rare in the recent (last few hundred years) at Popocatepetl. You can get a sense of the area that could be effected by a new eruption of Popo fromthis map prepared by volcanologists at University of Buffalo.
When conditions are good, you can get a view of Popocatépetl from webcams near the volcano, so keep your eyes open for continued activity.