TAAL Volcano in Batangas had a phreatic eruption yesterday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.
Phivolcs said the “minor” eruption occurred at 2:02 a.m., producing a 2,500-meter-high eruption plume that drifted northeast.
The thermal camera at Taal Volcano Observatory and IP camera at the Main Crater Observation station captured footage of the eruption, Phivolcs said.
“Alert Level 1 (low-level unrest) prevails over Taal Volcano,” Phivolcs said.
Phivolcs defines phreatic eruption as “steam-driven explosions that occur when water beneath the ground or on the surface is directly heated by hot rocks or new volcanic deposits or indirectly by magma or magmatic gas.”
The volcano had many other phreatic eruptions in the past.
In August, Phivolcs warned of a possible phreatic eruption of Taal due to the volcano’s increased seismic activity.
It said the sharp increase in real-time seismic amplitude measurements and “vigorous steaming from the main crater may lead to a phreatic or even a minor phreatomagmatic eruption.”
Under Alert Level 1, entry to the Taal Volcano Island is prohibited. The island is classified as a permanent danger zone.
Flying aircraft close to the volcano is discouraged.
The potential hazards that can occur at the volcano are steam-driven or phreatic or gas-driven explosions, volcanic earthquakes, minor ashfall, and lethal accumulations or expulsions of volcanic gas.
Phivolcs said it recorded zero volcanic earthquakes in Taal on Tuesday.
The volcano’s sulfur dioxide emission was measured at 1,892 tons also on Tuesday. It also observed a 900-meter-tall plume on the same day.
