Possible Resumption of Eruptive Activity at Nabro volcano, Eritrea

Nabro volcano, who's last eruption was the first ever recorded in historical time, is possibly showing signs of activity again. A blurb on Earthquake-report.com shows a picture which may or may not be a volcanic plume over Nabro (there are no other clouds in the area from what the picture shows), but from the picture it is hard to tell if the plume is from Nabro or neighboring (to the SW) volcano Mallahle, which has not had any historical eruptions (last known eruption was probably holocene but like many volcanoes in this violent region of the world, studying them is a tough prospect), so it is more likely that Nabro is showing some degassing rather than Mallahle.


                             

The image could also just be high elevation clouds, which do occur frequently at mountain peaks during periods of lower barometric pressure and higher relative humidity at that elevation. It is impossible to say at this time whether or not this is actually an eruption plume, or just clouds. Satellites did not detect any CO2, so my guess is that this is just water vapor, but I will keep my eye on Nabro as its last eruption was spectacular, producing an over 14km lava flow and producing large clouds of ash that impacted Ethiopia and Eritrea heavily.

Reports from this region are rare, as both nations are not safe to travel to given the political and military situations over there. Any reports about this volcano will likely come from satellite observations, and nothing more as the region is not equipped with great communications, nor do they have any well funded volcano monitoring programs.

Nabro Volcano, Eritrea, Has Seismicity In The Region

Nabro volcano, which had until recently been dormant (or considered by some to be extinct), erupted last year on July 12th, 2011, with a rather large ash cloud followed by a massive lava flow that covered several square kilometers. This eruption was preceded by a 5.1 magnitude earthquake. While reports out of the area are scant, the volcano was widely considered to have ended its latest period of activity many months ago, however there have been no real follow up reports detailing the eruption from start to finish, at least to international media online.

Earthquake-report.com is reporting renewed seismicity in the area as of today, with a 4.8 magnitude tremblor taking place SE of the crater/caldera area. This is not an insignificant quake for a volcano, however this could be purely tectonic, given that there have been no follow up quakes, harmonic tremor, or other signs that this might be volcanic at this time. This could also be yet another sign of the volcano awakening again, which could cause some problems for neighboring countries.

The volcano is situated in Eritrea, but borders Ethiopia, and Djibouti is the nearest science station that can record seismic signals from the war torn region. Most expeditions to the area are difficult and hamper direct scientific observation. It is likely that even if an eruption were to occur in the area, we would, like last time, hear about it from Ethiopia, or NASA.

At this time is is far too early to speculate on whether this is a volcanic or tectonic event, but if anything new occurs, I will post an update.