Kanlaon emit ash Sunday morning amid volcanic unrest

The Mount Kanlaon in Negros Island released ash on Sunday morning, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) reported.

“This event generated grayish plumes that rose 300 meters above the crater before drifting southwest”, the institute said in their state monitoring update.

In an interview with the Daily Tribune, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) resident volcanologist at the Kanlaon Volcano Observatory (KVO), Mari-Andylene Quintia, confirmed that Kanlaon Volcano recorded two separate emissions early Sunday morning.

“So far, two ash emissions [have been recorded at Kanlaon] from 12:00 A.M. The first event occurred at 4:25 A.M. lasted 33 minutes, [while] the second event at 6:59 a.m. lasted 18 minutes”, she said in a Viber message Sunday afternoon.

Quintia also pointed out that the Kanlaon Volcano only recorded low-energy ash emissions, which are significantly different from pyroclastic density current (PDC) events.

“Only ash emissions [were recorded]. [This is] only at low energy. We have no recorded PDCs”, she said.

“For the Kanlaon [Volcano], pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) usually occur during explosive eruptions,” the resident volcanologist added.

In the latest PHIVOLCS 24-hour monitoring from 23 to 24 of May 12AM, volcanic activities of Kanlaon include seven ash emissions with 7 to 19 minutes duration, 11 volcanic earthquakes and 7 tremors lasting 3 to 21 minutes.

Kanlaon remained under a “moderate level” of volcanic unrest, with Alert Level 2 still in effect.