The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said that a more vigorous eruption of Mayon Volcano is still possible.
Mayon is now under Alert Level 3 which means there is an increased tendency of an imminent hazardous eruption.
“There is a possibility that it will turn violent or what we call a more vigorous type of eruption,” Paul Alanis, resident volcanologist of the Mayon Volcano Observatory said.
Phivolcs has recorded 309 rockfall events and 7 volcanic earthquakes at Mayon, which continued to ooze lava “very quietly.”
“Currently, the sulfur dioxide is quite low, which could mean 2 possibilities. One is that there’s really not much gas in the magma, which is the reason why we have a very quiet type of eruption occurring. The second scenario, possibility is that the volcano is blocked right now and that pressure is building up,” Alanis explained.
The volcanologist said that they are still studying of there is enough energey coming from volcanic earthquakes.
“We have to check if the energy of the earthquake is high enough to signify an impending eruption. At the moment, the energy of the earthquake, not just the number, is quite low,” Alanis said.
A de-escalation of the alert level may take longer according to Phivolcs.
“What we want to avoid when we de-escalate is what they call ‘lull before the storm scenario,’ where the volcano is just gearing for a bigger eruption, for example,” he said.
