Satellite imagery acquired on 15 January from the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA's EO-1 satellite showed that the eruption in the northern part of the Zubair Group appeared to have stopped. The S end of the new island is about 500 m NNW of Rugged Island.

All times are local (= UTC - 9 hours [or 8 hours early April-late October])

2012: January |
2011: December |

11 January 2012              Back to Top

Satellite imagery acquired on 15 January from the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA's EO-1 satellite showed that the eruption in the northern part of the Zubair Group appeared to have stopped. The S end of the new island is about 500 m NNW of Rugged Island.

Sources: NASA Earth Observatory

---

4 January 2012              Back to Top

A satellite image acquired on 7 January showed the newly-formed island in the northern part of the Zubair Group. The island had grown to about 530 x 710 m, and a gas-and-steam plume containing ash rose from a distinct cone.

Sources: NASA Earth Observatory

---

21 December 2011              Back to Top

An eruption from the northern part of the Zubair Group continued during 21-27 December. MODIS imagery from NASA's satellites on 22 December showed a plume, possibly containing ash, rising from what was thought to be a submarine eruption. Imagery acquired on 23 December from the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA's EO-1 satellite showed a new island at the location with a plume rising from it, roughly 500 m N of Rugged Island and more than 500 m in diameter. The island was not present in a similar image acquired on 24 October 2007.

Sources: NASA Earth Observatory

---

14 December 2011              Back to Top

According to local news, fishermen from the port city of Salif on the western Red Sea coast of Yemen reported an off shore eruption from the island of Jebel Zubair, about 60 km SW, with lava fountains rising 20-30 m above the summit on 19 December. On 19 December a SO2 cloud was detected in an OMI satellite image. MODIS imagery from 20 December shows a plume rising from a submarine eruption about 1.5 km SW of Haycock and N of Rugged (near the N end of the Az-Zubair island group), and about 12 km NE of Jebel Zubair island. A bathymetric sketch map made in 1973 indicates a water depth of about 100 m in that area.

Sources: Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) , Yemen Observer , NASA Global Sulfur Dioxide Monitoring , NASA Land Atmosphere Near Real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE)

---

Below is a summary of eruption dates and Volcanic Explosivity Indices (VEI).

The following references are the sources used for data regarding this volcano. References are linked directly to our volcano data file. Discussion of another volcano or eruption (sometimes far from the one that is the subject of the manuscript) may produce a citation that is not at all apparent from the title. Additional discussion of data sources can be found under Volcano Data Criteria.

Gass I G, Mallick D I J, Cox K G, 1973. Volcanic islands of the Red Sea. {J Geol Soc London}, 129: 275-310

IAVCEI, 1973-80. Post-Miocene Volcanoes of the World. {IAVCEI Data Sheets, Rome: Internatl Assoc Volc Chemistry Earth's Interior}.

Katsui Y (ed), 1971. List of the World Active Volcanoes. {Volc Soc Japan draft ms}, (limited circulation), 160 p

Richard J J, Neumann van Padang M, 1957. Africa and the Red Sea. {Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World and Solfatara Fields}, Rome: IAVCEI 4: 1-118

The 5-km-long Jebel Zubair Island is the largest of a group of 10 small islands and submerged shoals that rise from a shallow platform in the Red Sea rift. The platform and eruptive vents forming the islands and shoals of the Zubair Group are oriented NNW-SSE, parallel to the rift. An early explosive phase was followed by a brief period of marine erosion, and then by renewed explosive activity accompanied by the extrusion of basaltic pahoehoe lava flows. This latest phase of activity occurred on the morphologically youngest islands of Zubair, Centre Peak, Saba, and Haycock. Historical explosive activity was reported from Saddle Island in the 19th century. Spatter cones and pyroclastic cones were erupted along fissures that form the low spine of Zubair Island.