Q COSTA RICA – The Rincón de la Vieja Volcano, located in Guanacaste, erupted again early this Sunday, with a plume that rose to 3,500 meters above the crater level.
According to reports, the plume of water vapor and gases that rose above three kilometers. The weak wind meant that there was no significant impact due to ash fall in the area.
This marks the third big eruption in the past five days from the andesitic volcano in north-western Costa Rica, near Liberia in Guanacaste, which is 1,916 meters above sea level.
The Observation Vulcanology and Seismology of Costa Rica (Ovsicori) from the National University (UNA) is keeping an eye on the seismic and volcanic activity in the country.
According to the Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (Ovsicori) de la Universidad Nacional (UNA), not only Rincón de la Vieja registered activity this week, but now also the Arenal volcano, as the OVSICORI remains vigilant of the seismic and volcanic activity in the country.
Javier Pacheco, an Oviscori expert, says that since Thursday there have been low-magnitude earthquakes to the south of the Pailas sector of the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park and some low-frequency and very low-amplitude volcanic earthquakes too.
“Since Thursday, very low-magnitude volcano-tectonic earthquakes have been being recorded to the south of the Pailas sector of the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park. Small low-frequency and very low-amplitude volcanic earthquakes are also being recorded with less frequency. The flows of SO2 gas remain with average values of less than 300 tons/day. Yesterday, during the passage of the Sentinel satellite, 36 tons of SO2 were measured. The deformation shows a slight extension of the volcanic edifice,” said Javier Pacheco.
As for the Arenal Volcano, in the last two days, the colossus has spewed out a plume of water vapor that rose to more than 500 meters high.
“There is no seismic activity recorded and the last measurement of the flow of magmatic gases, carried out at the end of May, does not show gas emissions at the top of the volcano. Therefore, the plume that can be seen is due to the perforation of water meteorite to a depth where it interacts with the rock that is still hot (over 100 ºC) and its subsequent exit in the form of steam through the fumaroles at the top of Arenal,” explained Pacheco.
The level of activity of the main volcanoes in Costa Rica can be found here.
