OVSICORI-UNA reported that small phreatic eruptions at Poás continued to be observed during 8-16 January. Phreatic eruptions were recorded daily, ejecting sediment no more than 200 m above the lake’s surface and producing steam-and-gas plumes that rose no higher than 500 m. In a special report OVSICORI-UNA noted that both gas-and-steam emissions and seismicity began to increase during the second half of 2023. The lake level had been decreasing since October 2023 and eruptive events became more frequent and energetic in December; a phreatic eruption at 2051 on 11 January was the largest event recorded during December 2023-January 2024.

Geological Summary. The broad vegetated edifice of Poás, one of the most active volcanoes of Costa Rica, contains three craters along a N-S line. The frequently visited multi-hued summit crater lakes of the basaltic-to-dacitic volcano are easily accessible by vehicle from the nearby capital city of San José. A N-S-trending fissure cutting the complex stratovolcano extends to the lower N flank, where it has produced the Congo stratovolcano and several lake-filled maars. The southernmost of the two summit crater lakes, Botos, last erupted about 7,500 years ago. The more prominent geothermally heated northern lake, Laguna Caliente, is one of the world's most acidic natural lakes, with a pH of near zero. It has been the site of frequent phreatic and phreatomagmatic eruptions since an eruption was reported in 1828. Eruptions often include geyser-like ejections of crater-lake water.

Source: Observatorio Vulcanologico y Sismologico de Costa Rica-Universidad Nacional (OVSICORI-UNA)