GRINDAVIK, Iceland—Lava from a volcanic eruption in Iceland flowed Sunday toward defenses around the town of Grindavik, which have so far held the molten rock back from the evacuated community. Scientists said the eruption appeared to be weakening and would probably peter out within hours. A volcanic system on the Reykjanes Peninsula in the country’s […]
QUITO, Ecuador—A volcano on an uninhabited island in the Galapagos has begun erupting, lighting up the nighttime sky as lava tumbled down its sides toward the sea. The La Cumbre volcano on Fernandina island began erupting Saturday around midnight in what officials with Ecuador’s Geophysical Institute said could be its largest eruption since 2017. The […]
REYKJAVIK—Lava flows from a volcano in Iceland were slowing on Wednesday, the Icelandic Metrological Office said on Wednesday, as the eruption looked set to spare a nearby town that was evacuated following weeks of earthquakes. The eruption late on Monday on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwest Iceland spewed lava and smoke more than 100 metres […]
BATU PALANO, Indonesia—Rescuers searching the hazardous slopes of Indonesia’s Mount Marapi volcano found 11 more bodies of climbers who were caught by a surprise weekend eruption, raising the number of confirmed dead to 22, officials said Tuesday. One person remained missing. More than 50 climbers were rescued after the initial eruption Sunday, and 11 others […]
PADANG, Indonesia—Indonesian authorities halted the search for 12 climbers after Mount Marapi volcano erupted again Monday, spewing a new burst of hot ash as high as 800 meters (2,620 feet) into the air, officials said. The bodies of 11 climbers were recovered earlier in the day but attempts to move them were hindered by the […]
COPENHAGEN—Seismic activity in southwestern Iceland decreased in size and intensity on Monday, but the risk of a volcanic eruption remained significant, authorities said, after earthquakes and evidence of magma spreading underground in recent weeks. Almost 4,000 people were evacuated over the weekend as authorities feared that molten rock would rise to the surface of the […]
Iceland has declared a state of emergency, with police officials urging residents to evacuate the coastal town of Grindavík following an intense wave of earthquakes in the southwest of the country linked to a possible volcanic eruption. Nearly 800 quakes were recorded between midnight and 2 p.m. on Friday, with the shallowest at a depth […]
MOSCOW—Huge ash columns erupted from Eurasia’s tallest active volcano Wednesday, forcing authorities to close schools in two towns on Russia’s sparsely populated Kamchatka Peninsula. The eruptions from the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano sent ash as high as 13 kilometers (8 miles) above sea level, officials said. There were no reports of injuries, but officials ordered schools […]
HONOLULU—The latest eruption at Kilauea’s summit on Hawaii’s has paused after 61 days of volcanic activity. U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists said Tuesday lava was no longer flowing on the crater floor of Halemaumau, where all recent volcanic activity had been confined, Hawaii News Now reported. No significant changes have been observed along […]
HONOLULU—The eruption of the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island continues to ease, scientists said Sunday, reinforcing an earlier pronouncement that the mountain’s first flare-up in nearly 40 years might soon end. “We have good news to report,” Ken Hon, the scientist in charge of the U.S. Geological Survey at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory, […]
JAKARTA—Thousands of residents in Indonesia’s East Java were on high alert on Monday after a violent eruption at the island’s tallest volcano prompted authorities to impose an 8-kilometer no-go zone and forced evacuations of entire villages. The provincial search and rescue agency deployed teams to the worst-affected areas near Mount Semeru to assess damage, with […]
KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii—The world’s largest volcano oozed rivers of glowing lava Wednesday, drawing thousands of awestruck viewers who jammed a Hawaii highway that could soon be covered by the flow. Mauna Loa awoke from its 38-year slumber Sunday, causing volcanic ash and debris to drift down from the sky. A main highway linking towns on the […]
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador—Authorities in El Salvador on Monday warned residents near the Chaparrastique volcano in the country’s east to be alert after it began to erupt. The Environmental Ministry’s observatory reported explosions in the central crater of the volcano located about 83 miles (135 kilometers) east of the capital. It said the eruption’s intensity […]
WASHINGTON—The powerful Jan. 15 underwater eruption of Tonga’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano in the South Pacific produced a plume that soared higher into Earth’s atmosphere than any other on record—about 35 miles (57 km)—as it extended more than halfway to space, researchers said on Thursday. The white-grayish plume unleashed by the eruption in the Polynesian […]
The red supergiant Betelgeuse, a colossal star in the Orion constellation, experienced a massive stellar eruption—the likes of which have never been seen before, according to astronomers. Betelgeuse first drew attention in late 2019 when the star, which glitters like a red gem in the upper-right shoulder of Orion, experienced an unexpected darkening. The supergiant […]
ROME —Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s highest and most active volcano, erupted in spectacular fashion late on Thursday, lighting up the night sky with explosions and bright red molten lava. The eruption centered on the volcano’s southeastern crater, at a height of around 2,900 meters, sent ash and plumes of smoke 8 km into the sky, […]
MADRID—Authorities on one of Spain’s Canary Islands declared a volcanic eruption that started in September officially finished Saturday following 10 days of no lava flows, seismic activity, or significant sulfur dioxide emissions. But the emergency in La Palma, the most northwest island in the Atlantic Ocean archipelago, is not over due to the widespread damage […]
LA PALMA, Spain—Red hot lava from a volcano that devastated the Spanish island of La Palma reached the Atlantic Ocean late on Tuesday evening, nine days after it started to flow down the mountain, wrecking buildings and destroying crops. Big clouds of white steam billowed up from the Playa Nueva area as the lava made […]
YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia—Indonesia’s most active volcano erupted Monday with its biggest lava flow in months, sending a river of lava and searing gas clouds flowing 3.5 kilometers (more than 2 miles) down its slopes on the densely populated island of Java. The rumbling sound could be heard several miles away as Mount Merapi erupted, sending hot […]
