Going, going, gone.
The past 15 months at Volcan de Colima in Mexico has seen a lot of change to the lava dome at the top of the volcano. In this post, I have gathered a chronological collection of images and videos to illustrate how much activity the volcano has experienced in that time.
We begin in May 2014, with one of my own photos from a flight over the volcano. Here you can see a mostly intact dome with a very small collapse scar on the south flank.
The volcano was also producing a small lava flow to the west, and experiencing several explosions a day.
Now we jump forward to November 2014, when the volcano experienced pyroclastic flows accompanying a large explosion.
In December, the number of daily explosions had accelerated to at least ten a day. This video was recorded by Derek Field, a volunteer at CIIV at the time. In January 2015, the volcano is rocked by more large explosions which are recorded by the new webcam pointing at the volcano.
In February, the explosions were becoming more frequent and the volcano was attracting more attention with it's increase in activity. Here I have linked three videos recorded during the month:
From photos taken on overflights, we can see the effects of the explosions on the summit dome. The first picture is from the first week of February. The second is from a few weeks later.
Skipping forward to May, reports and photos appear of a new lava dome growing inside the summit crater.
However, the new dome didn't last very long. On July 10th, a huge chunk of the summit suddenly collapsed and produced 10 km long pyroclastic flows. Immediately after the collapse a new lava flow is extruded from the summit crater.
Now we fast forward to 25th August, when photos were taken an overflight over the volcano. Here we can see how dramatically the summit has changed.
Daily explosions are still occurring at the volcano, so there is still a high level of hazard around the volcano. I will be keeping a close eye on developments in Mexico for the next few months.
If you want to keep an eye on developments at Colima, you can watch the webcam.
We begin in May 2014, with one of my own photos from a flight over the volcano. Here you can see a mostly intact dome with a very small collapse scar on the south flank.
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| The south-east side of the summit lava dome at Colima in May 2014. |
The volcano was also producing a small lava flow to the west, and experiencing several explosions a day.
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| A small ash plume rises from the summit of the volcano in June 2014. |
Now we jump forward to November 2014, when the volcano experienced pyroclastic flows accompanying a large explosion.
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| A large explosion plume and a pyroclastic flow emanate from the volcano in November 2014. View from the south. Source: @MikeVolc |
In December, the number of daily explosions had accelerated to at least ten a day. This video was recorded by Derek Field, a volunteer at CIIV at the time. In January 2015, the volcano is rocked by more large explosions which are recorded by the new webcam pointing at the volcano.
In February, the explosions were becoming more frequent and the volcano was attracting more attention with it's increase in activity. Here I have linked three videos recorded during the month:
From photos taken on overflights, we can see the effects of the explosions on the summit dome. The first picture is from the first week of February. The second is from a few weeks later.
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| A view of the summit dome in early February, looking north. Source: NaturePlus blog |
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| Another view of the summit dome, this time on February 27th 2015, looking north-east. Source: Protection Civile de Jalisco |
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| A new lava dome appears in the summit crater in May 2015. View from north-east. Source: Protection Civile de Colima |
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| The new lava flow extruding south from the summit crater after the July 10th collapse. Source: Protection Civile de Colima. |
Now we fast forward to 25th August, when photos were taken an overflight over the volcano. Here we can see how dramatically the summit has changed.
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| The summit crater on 25th August. Source: Universidad de Colima. |
If you want to keep an eye on developments at Colima, you can watch the webcam.
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