Guide to understand the recent activity of Popocatépetl volcano

The Popocatépetl volcano has recorded new colorful activities. This Thursday, a column of 2.5 kilometers of steam, gas and ash was seen from several states bordering the slopes of the volcano. Due to the high activity recorded in recent days, the Volcano Scientific Advisory Committee has recommended to move from Phase 2 to Phase 3 Yellow Volcanic Warning Light.

According to data from the National Center for Natural Disaster Reduction, 61 exhalations were identified during the 24 hours preceding this recommendation, as well as two volcanic earthquakes of 2 degrees on the Richter scale.

Despite the change of recommendation, the volcano has not increased its activity, as confirmed Verne Hugo Delgado Granados, volcanologist and director of the Institute of Geophysics of UNAM. "There is a change in the behavior of the volcano and its eruptive style, but the energy released does not exceed the magnitude recorded in previous periods," he explains by phone. .

Popocatépetl is one of the most active volcanoes in the country. The 25 million inhabitants who live within 100 km of the crater make it one of the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet. This colossus resumed business on 21 December 1994 and since then has been under constant surveillance. "In March 1996, he issued for the first time a lava body," recalls the investigator. "Since then, he has maintained a steady pace of building lava bodies on the crater, which were then destroyed and thrown into the environment by the buildup of gas," he says.

According to data from the Institute of Geophysics, Popocatépetl reportedly threw 82 bodies of lava that were thrown through various explosions. However, the way these eruptions occur has changed in recent weeks. "We see that they occur along the volcanic system of the volcano and not in the crater," Delgado said. "It's the same process, but with a material [magma] Warmer, the eruptive column is much higher when it hits the cold air of the atmosphere, "explains the volcanologist.

Delgado, who is part of the volcano's scientific advisory committee, ensures that changing the level of alert does not mean that the population is changing activity, but that it's all about it. a call for increased vigilance on the part of the civil protection authorities. "Some may be worried about the amount of images generated in social networks, but it's about a review of the activities of municipal, state and federal authorities," he said. he declares. (click on the image to enlarge).

The researcher recommends to become aware of the activities of the volcano through the communiqués published by the authorities, without however falling into alarmism, because until now, it speaks only of a modification of the behavior of the explosions.

The last time Popocatépetl recorded an activity that forced the authorities to evacuate, it was in December 2000, when 41,000 people had left an area of ​​13 kilometers around the crater. Since then, only constant explosions have been recorded that did not necessitate the evacuation of people.

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