The ‘Piton de la Fournaise’ – a shield volcano on the eastern side of Réunion island in the Indian Ocean – is erupting again.
After sustained seismic activity under the eastern flank of the volcano at 15h local time, a volcanic tremor, corresponding to the arrival of magma near the surface, was recorded at 17:00 local time.
At first very weak, the intensity gradually increased until 17:50, time of the first degassing observations below yesterday’s and below the ‘Signal de l’Enclos’.
Images from today’s eruption:
Les images de l’éruption sont visibles sur les webcams de l'OVPF accessibles depuis notre site : https://t.co/0f6rwWNKy1. pic.twitter.com/FhLeyxr9r4
— Observatoire Volcanologique Piton de la Fournaise (@ObsFournaise) February 19, 2019
Soil CO2 concentrations in the volcano deposit area and in the region of the ‘Plaine des Cafres’ are in sharp decline, consistent with ongoing magma transfer to the surface.
This amazing video by Ben Celui Ci, shows the eruption of February 18, 2019, on the slopes of the Dolomieu Crater:
The second video was captured today:
No deformation was recorded during this phase of magmatic injection to the surface meaning that the dyke that fed the new cracks is the same as the one that fed the eruption of 18/02/2019.
