QCOSTARICA – A strong eruption of the Turrialba volcano occurred at 1:19am this Thursday, spewing gases, aerosols, hot rocks and ash covering many areas of the Central Valley.
Falling ash was reported in areas of San Jose, Coronado, Ipis, San Pedro Montes de Oca, San Isidro Heredia, San Pablo Heredia, TibAs, Pavas, La Uruca, La Sabana, Santa Ana and Alajuela.
In addition to the ash, many reported a strong sulfur smell.
On Monday the colossus has shown a decrease in activity.
According to the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica ( Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica – OVSICORI), the early morning eruption lasted eight minutes.
Videos of the May 12, 2016 Turrialba eruption.
Click here for the live camera aimed at the Turrialba volcano, some 600 metres east of the volcano’s crater.
OVSICORI volcanologist, Javier Pacheco, described the eruption as strong, very explosive, of short duration and reaching three kilometers above the volcano’s summit.
“It was a single explosion and quite strong. This means that there was a lot of pressure inside the volcano,” added Pacheco.
The eruption this morning was the strongest since October 2014. The Turrialba has presented eruptive episodes since 2010.
The OVISCORI says the volcano is showing a relative calm with low seismicity and low outgassing, but do not discard more eruptions.
For the time being the ash cloud did not affect the operations of the San Jose international airport, as it did last year, when airport operations were suspended on several occasions.
