IG reported that the eruption at Reventador was ongoing during 20-27 June. Seismicity was characterized by 7-30 daily explosions, long-period earthquakes, harmonic tremor, and tremor associated with emissions. Weather clouds often hindered visual observations, though crater incandescence was visible on most nights and early mornings, and from the S-flank lava flow on 21-22 June. During 21-23 June ash emissions rose as high as 1 km above the crater and drifted to the NE, W, and NW. During 23-26 June gas-and-ash emissions rose as high as 1 km above the crater and drifted to the W and NW. Servicio Nacional de Gestión de Riesgos y Emergencias (SNGRE) maintained the Alert Level at Orange (the second highest level on a four-color scale).

Geological Summary. Volcán El Reventador is the most frequently active of a chain of Ecuadorian volcanoes in the Cordillera Real, well east of the principal volcanic axis. The forested, dominantly andesitic stratovolcano has 4-km-wide avalanche scarp open to the E formed by edifice collapse. A young, unvegetated, cone rises from the amphitheater floor to a height comparable to the rim. It has been the source of numerous lava flows as well as explosive eruptions visible from Quito, about 90 km ESE. Frequent lahars in this region of heavy rainfall have left extensive deposits on the scarp slope. The largest recorded eruption took place in 2002, producing a 17-km-high eruption column, pyroclastic flows that traveled up to 8 km, and lava flows from summit and flank vents.

Sources: Instituto Geofísico-Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN), Servicio Nacional de Gestión de Riesgos y Emergencias (SNGRE)