The launch of a new GVP website is scheduled for Monday, May 20, 2013.
Following a period of explosive eruptions and lava-dome growth beginning in October 1955, a major explosive eruption took place on March 30, 1956 from Bezymianny volcano in Kamchatka. The plinian eruption, seen here from 100 km to the west, produced a 45-km-high ash column that followed a lateral blast and a debris avalanche created when the summit of the volcano collapsed. A lava dome subsequently grew in the newly formed horseshoe-shaped crater. The lava dome has been intermittently active for more than four decades. Photo by I. Erova, 1956 (courtesy of G.S. Gorshkov, published in Green and Short, 1971).
The new website is getting closer! Here's a screenshot.
AVO reported that on 13 May seismicity at Pavlof increased at 0800 commensurate with the presence of an intense thermal anomaly at the summit observed in satellite imagery. On 14 May pilot reports and satellite images confirmed activity; a spatter-fed lava flow advanced about 0.5 km down the N flank.
IG reported that although cloud cover often prevented observations of Tungurahua during 8-14 May, ash plumes were observed almost daily. Strombolian activity was observed on most nights ejecting blocks sometimes 500 m above the crater; blocks that fell onto the flanks rolled as far as 1 km. During 9-10 May lava fountains rose 700 m above the crater.
The Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program seeks better understanding of all volcanoes through documenting their eruptions — small as well as large — during the past 10,000 years.
