Eruption Update for February 5, 2014: Indonesia, Ubinas, Tungurahua, Kavachi

The eruption plume from Tungurahua, seen on February 2, 2014 from Banos, only ~7 km from the volcano. Image: Alan Uster / YouTube. Some volcano news for an snow and ice covered Wednesday: Indonesia I'm not sure I agree with the rationale, but after the 15 deaths due to a pyroclastic flow from Sinabung, the Indonesian government has raised the alert status at 19 active volcanoes across the country (UPDATE: It looks like most of these volcanoes were on yellow status before this news article in theJakarta Post if you check some of the information on the PVMBG website. This appears to be a classic case of the newspaper misinterpreting the fact that these volcanoes have been on alert for some time). I assume this is meant to remind its citizens that these volcanoes present a real danger and heightened alert status allow them to enforce the exclusion zones around these volcanoes. Many of the volcanoes put on elevated alert are those that have been rumbling for some time, like Bromo, Dukono and Anak Krakatau -- but now they are officially in the yellow (alert) status. Only three volcanoes are in orange (high alert) status: Rokatenda (Paluweh), Karangetang and Lokon, with Sinabing at red (danger) status. This change in status doesn't come with new evacuation orders. The PVMBG recently raised the alert status at Kelut and following the events at Sinabung, it appears that this change may have caused some panic with local residents -- again, a danger when trying to convey what the real danger is when a volcano becomes restless. CNN posted some video of villages just outside the exclusion zone at Sinabung and they really bring home the level of destruction caused by that eruption. Perú In South America, Perú's Ubinas is again showing signs of new activity. Since the end of January, seismicity has increased at the volcano, with 100+ earthquakes under the volcano per day. Small steam and ash plumes have been noted at Ubinas as well, but all the activity over the last few months has been attributed to water seeping into the heated interior of the volcano (i.e., no new magma involved so far). EcuadorTungurahua remains on high alert after the weekend's large explosive eruption. The volcano remains restless, with earthquakes are continuing at the volcano along with small explosions. The eruption over the weekend did dust the capital of Quito and a large swath of Ecuador with ash. Work has been started to reopen the roads around the volcano that were blocked after the eruption as they are some of the few escape routes for people who live near Tungurahua. If you've ever wondered what it might look like to be directly under a large volcano plume (see above), check out this video taken from Baños during the February 2 eruption. Be sure to check out this time-lapse of the eruption as well. Solomon Islands The NASA Earth Observatory posted an image of a new submarine eruption that has started at Kavachi. This western Pacific volcano produced a number of small submarine eruptions between 2000-2007, some of which briefly breached the surface. This new activity appears to be the first in 7 years.