IG-EPN reported that a moderate eruption at Reventador was ongoing during 2-9 January. Seismicity was characterized by 37-58 daily explosions, long-period earthquakes, harmonic tremor, and tremor associated with emissions. Several ash-and-gas plumes rose as high as 1.3 km above the crater rim and drifted S, SW, W, and NW, though cloudy conditions often prevented views. Crater incandescence was occasionally visible during both overnight and morning hours; incandescent material was ejected 200-300 m above the crater and avalanches of incandescent material descended the flanks as far as 600 m from the summit during 6-9 January. A small lahar was recorded on 6 January. Secretaría de Gestión de Riesgos 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)