Kanlaon Volcano emitted ash 15 times for a combined total of 16 hours and 16 minutes from Friday night to Sunday, March 22, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported.
The ash emissions mean the magma within the volcano has been able to degas, Ma. Antonia Bornas, chief of the Phivolcs Volcano Monitoring and Eruption Prediction Division, said on Saturday.
It means the pathways of the volcanic gas are not blocked, which reduces the pressure that could trigger an explosion, Bornas said.
But that does not mean the unrest at Kanlaon has lowered, it is still under Alert Level 2. They are still expecting a major eruption from Kanlaon but they do not know when, she added.
The ash emissions occurred at 9 p.m. and lasted for 98 minutes and 11:23 p.m. for 109 minutes on Friday.
The ash emissions on Saturday started at 5:14 a.m. and lasted for 43 minutes, 5:58 a.m. for 184 minutes, 12:16 p.m. for 56 minutes, 1:17 p.m. for 109 minutes, 3:13 p.m. for 117 minutes, 5:40 p.m. for 78 minutes, 6:44 p.m. for 32 minutes, 10:41 p.m. for 36 minutes and 11:20 p.m. for 20 minutes.
It also spewed ash four times on Sunday at 12:17 a.m. that lasted for 12 minutes, 12:35 a.m. for 36 minutes, 2:57 a.m. for 18 minutes and at 11:47 p.m., Phivolcs said.
The volcano had three moderately explosive eruptions on Feb. 19 and 26 and March 15 this year.
If there are more moderately explosive eruptions we will have to raise the alert level to three because there will be high chance that it will accelerate, Bornas said.
But one thing that they noticed is that before the March 15 explosion happened the volcano’s edifice deflated, which is good, she said.
If the sulfur level of the volcano is very low or very high that’s dangerous but now it is near the long-term average of about 2,000 tons a day, which is good news, she added.*
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