Kanlaon Volcano that is in a state of unrest was emitting gray ash during the weekend, a Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology volcanologist reported on Sunday, Nov. 3.
Gray ash was being entrained or brought out by continuous degassing from the Kanlaon Volcano summit crater, Mari-Andylene Quintia, Phivolcs resident volcanologist at the Mt. Kanlaon Observatory, said.
The “ashing” event was observed at 4:36 p.m. Sunday, she said.
She said they had not received reports of ash fall in residential areas yet.
“It is not an eruption event, our concern is the ash fall,” she said.
“No detectable seismic or infrasound signals were recorded. The events generated gray plumes that rose 300 meters above the crater before drifting southwest, as recorded by the Canlaon City Observation station IP Camera”, a Phivolcs report said
Phivolcs also recorded from 12 a.m. Saturday to 12 a.m. Sunday 14 volcanic earthquakes at Kanlaon and six ashing events on Saturday, Quintia said.
Kanlaon also emitted 4,171 tons of sulfur dioxide on Saturday, she said.
Kanlaon remains under Alert Level 1 (increased unrest) and sudden steam-driven or phreatic eruptions could occur, Phivolcs warned.
Meanwhile, the Office of Civil Defense reported that the first flag marking the 4-kilometer Permanent Danger Zone around Kanlaon Volcano has been installed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
The initiative is part of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council;s efforts to enhance community safety in the event of Mt. Kanlaon’s volcanic alert escalation.*