Eruption Update for October 9, 2012: Lokon in Indonesia, Costa Rican Volcanoes and Drilling at Newberry

The eruption of Lokon-Empung in Indonesia on October 7, 2012. Well, my laptop is officially in the shop, but I have a loaner and a bit of time, so I thought I'd put together a brief Eruption Update with some volcano news over the last week. Indonesia As usual, the island nation has been busy with volcanic eruptions. The most newsworthy (in the sense that it got the most coverage) is another eruption at Lokon-Empung. The volcano has been quite active during 2012, but it appears that the eruption on Sunday was one of the largest so far. The eruption itself produced a 1.5 km / ~5,000 foot ash plume (video) and booms that could be heard for miles from the volcano - and some reports even mention a new lava flow, but it appears to be unconfirmed. National Disaster Mitigation Agency continued with a 2.5 km exclusion zone around the volcano during this heightened activity. Costa Rica The RSN in Costa Rica released a report about changes at some of the most active volcanoes in the country after the M7.6 earthquake that struck the country last month. Although the direct connection between large earthquakes and eruptions is not settled, the RSN has noted that some Costa Rican volcanoes have experience heightened activity after large earthquakes (> M6.5), so they felt it was important to check to see what changes the active volcanoes of Costa Rica may have experienced since the earthquake. Overall, it looks like Turrialba, Poas and Rincon de la Vieja saw an increase in fumarolic activity (degassing) and Poas may have even had a small phreatic eruption in the days after the earthquake. Arenal and Irazu seem to not had any changes since the earthquake - however, one should take this cautiously as only a month has passed since the earthquake occurred. Oregon We've talked about this before, but it looks like fluid injection testing that may lead to drilling will commence soon near Newberry volcano as geothermal exploration begins in earnest at the Oregon caldera. The PNSN has said they expect an increase in small earthquakes as the drilling starts - however, they is little-to-no evidence that anything volcanic will follow this drilling. However, expect the usual DOOM-related media coverage as the project proceeds.