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Guest Thinkers —

SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Activity Report for 7/15-21/2009

Thermal images of the dome at Shiveluch, things quieting down at some volcanoes in Indonesia and the alert level is raised at Sakurajima – all this and more in this week’s GVP update.
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Your volcano news!

Thanks, as always, to the USGS/SI Global Volcanism Program.

Highlights include:

  • The alert level at Sakurajima was raised from 2 to 3 by the Japanese Meteorological Agency. This was due to the increasing frequency of explosions at the volcano, some of which produced ash plumes up to 1.8-2.7 km / 6-9,000 feet.
  • Ash was reported up to 3 km away from Ibu in Indonesia. However, officials in Indonesia lowered the alert from 3 to 2, but tourists are still restricted from going with 2 km of the volcano.
  • Lots of activity at Shiveluch in Kamchatka. You can see some of the activity in an image recently released by the NASA Earth Observatory. Overall, a new dome continues to be extruded, with accompanying steam-and-ash plumes reaching as high as ~6.5 km / 21,000 feet.
  • The alert levels at both Egon and Makian in Indonesia were lowered to 1 (lowest).
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