"After 5 months of mild activity, stronger eruptions resumed in mid-October from both Craters 2 and 3. During the first weeks of the month, activity at Crater 2 consisted of occasional Vulcanian explosions rising to a few hundred metres above the crater and causing minor ash fall at the summit area. Crater 3 released weak, thin white and blue vapours.

"By 15 October, ash-laden emissions from Crater 2 became continuous. On the 17th, rumbling noises and bright night glow indicated a return to more sustained eruptive activity. The next day, Crater 3 released grey ash and incandescent lava clots to a height of 20 m, with continuous rumbling sounds. The eruptions from both craters remained moderate, more Vulcanian at Crater 2 and more Strombolian at Crater 3. Night glow was not observed at Crater 2 after the 24th, although dark ash emission persisted. Loud Strombolian explosions occurred at Crater 3, although incandescent ejections remained small. On the 30th, a lava flow emerged from the W side of Crater 3 and progressed northward, in a dry stream channel, on the W side of the lava field at the N foot of the volcano. The following night, Strombolian ejections reached 100 m above the crater rim. A particularly large Vulcanian explosion on the afternoon of 31 October produced a dark column that rose to ~10 km.

"Both seismographs were unoperational before 28 October. From that day onward, the level of seismicity was relatively high, with up to 44 explosion events/day."

Geological Summary. Langila, one of the most active volcanoes of New Britain, consists of a group of four small overlapping composite basaltic-andesitic cones on the lower E flank of the extinct Talawe volcano in the Cape Gloucester area of NW New Britain. A rectangular, 2.5-km-long crater is breached widely to the SE; Langila was constructed NE of the breached crater of Talawe. An extensive lava field reaches the coast on the N and NE sides of Langila. Frequent mild-to-moderate explosive eruptions, sometimes accompanied by lava flows, have been recorded since the 19th century from three active craters at the summit. The youngest and smallest crater (no. 3 crater) was formed in 1960 and has a diameter of 150 m.

Information Contacts: C. McKee, P. de Saint-Ours, and I. Itikarai, RVO.