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False eruption report
News reports from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) during 23-24 December indicated that a small group of residents had been evacuated from Alamagan Island by helicopters after the volcano of the same name showed signs of activity. Although five men were taken off the island due to fears of an eruption, an increased volume of steaming apparently led to the false alarm.
Nobody with the technical capability to make a volcanological assessment accompanied the evacuation helicopters, but Greg Guerrero, the Acting Director of the Emergency Management Office discussed the situation with the evacuees and with USGS seismologist Robert Koyanagi in Hawaii. There were no tremors or rumblings felt, and no eruption noises were heard. It is believed that rain penetrating fissures in the volcanic edifice, following a dry period, resulted in a greater than normal amount of steaming. The seismic station installed in 1990 (BGVN 15:09) was not operational due to a lack of funding for batteries. Fieldwork in 1992 (BGVN 17:06) identified one fumarole with a temperature of 72°C.
Reference. Moore, R.B., and Trusdell, F.A., 1993, Geologic map of Alamagan volcano, northern Mariana Islands: U.S. Geological Survey Map I-2408, 1:12,500.
Information Contacts: Greg Guerrero, Emergency Management Office, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; Debbie Subera-Wiggins and Jeff Schorr, Insular Affairs Office, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240 USA; Robert Koyanagi, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), U.S. Geological Survey, PO Box 51, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, HI 96718, USA.
The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Alamagan.
Reports are organized chronologically and indexed below by Month/Year (Publication Volume:Number), and include a one-line summary. Click on the index link or scroll down to read the reports.
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Seismic station installed
Fieldwork was conducted . . . 28 September-3 October . . . . A regional network of single vertical-component, short-period seismometers was installed, with instruments located on the islands of Pagan, Alamagan, and Anatahan, and a receiving station on Saipan. . . .
Information Contacts: R. Koyanagi, HVO.
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Fumarolic activity but no shallow seismicity
A six-member team of USGS volcanologists visited the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 11-27 May 1992 at the request of the CNMI Office of Civil Defense. The team observed all of the islands in the chain N of Saipan, installed a new seismic station at the base of frequently active Pagan, remeasured existing EDM networks, mapped the geology of Alamagan, sampled fumaroles and hot springs, and collected rocks and charcoal for radiocarbon dating.
[At Alamagan] the team measured a temperature of 72°C at one fumarole. No shallow earthquakes or volcanic tremor have been recorded on the Alamagan seismic station since it was installed in September 1990. Charcoal was collected that should date the youngest and one of the oldest eruptions.
Information Contacts: R. Moore, USGS; R. Koyanagi, M. Sako, and F. Trusdell, HVO.
Cite this Report
False eruption report
News reports from the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) during 23-24 December indicated that a small group of residents had been evacuated from Alamagan Island by helicopters after the volcano of the same name showed signs of activity. Although five men were taken off the island due to fears of an eruption, an increased volume of steaming apparently led to the false alarm.
Nobody with the technical capability to make a volcanological assessment accompanied the evacuation helicopters, but Greg Guerrero, the Acting Director of the Emergency Management Office discussed the situation with the evacuees and with USGS seismologist Robert Koyanagi in Hawaii. There were no tremors or rumblings felt, and no eruption noises were heard. It is believed that rain penetrating fissures in the volcanic edifice, following a dry period, resulted in a greater than normal amount of steaming. The seismic station installed in 1990 (BGVN 15:09) was not operational due to a lack of funding for batteries. Fieldwork in 1992 (BGVN 17:06) identified one fumarole with a temperature of 72°C.
Reference. Moore, R.B., and Trusdell, F.A., 1993, Geologic map of Alamagan volcano, northern Mariana Islands: U.S. Geological Survey Map I-2408, 1:12,500.
Information Contacts: Greg Guerrero, Emergency Management Office, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; Debbie Subera-Wiggins and Jeff Schorr, Insular Affairs Office, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC 20240 USA; Robert Koyanagi, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), U.S. Geological Survey, PO Box 51, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, HI 96718, USA.
The Global Volcanism Program has no synonyms or subfeatures listed for Alamagan.
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There is data available for 2 confirmed Holocene eruptive periods.
[ 1887 Nov 29 ] Uncertain Eruption
| Episode 1 | Eruption | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1887 Nov 29 - Unknown | Evidence from Unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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List of 3 Events for Episode 1
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[ 1864 Jan ] Uncertain Eruption
| Episode 1 | Eruption | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1864 Jan - Unknown | Evidence from Unknown | |||||||||||||||||||
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List of 2 Events for Episode 1
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0870 ± 100 years Confirmed Eruption VEI: 4
| Episode 1 | Eruption | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 0870 ± 100 years - Unknown | Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (uncalibrated) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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List of 4 Events for Episode 1
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0540 ± 75 years Confirmed Eruption
| Episode 1 | Eruption | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 0540 ± 75 years - Unknown | Evidence from Isotopic: 14C (uncalibrated) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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List of 3 Events for Episode 1
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There is no Deformation History data available for Alamagan.
There is no Emissions History data available for Alamagan.
Maps are not currently available due to technical issues.
There are no samples for Alamagan in the Smithsonian's NMNH Department of Mineral Sciences Rock and Ore collection.
| Copernicus Browser | The Copernicus Browser replaced the Sentinel Hub Playground browser in 2023, to provide access to Earth observation archives from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem, the main distribution platform for data from the EU Copernicus missions. |
| MIROVA | Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity. |
| MODVOLC Thermal Alerts | Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales. |
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WOVOdat
Single Volcano View Temporal Evolution of Unrest Side by Side Volcanoes |
WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.
GVMID Data on Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure The Global Volcano Monitoring Infrastructure Database GVMID, is aimed at documenting and improving capabilities of volcano monitoring from the ground and space. GVMID should provide a snapshot and baseline view of the techniques and instrumentation that are in place at various volcanoes, which can be use by volcano observatories as reference to setup new monitoring system or improving networks at a specific volcano. These data will allow identification of what monitoring gaps exist, which can be then targeted by remote sensing infrastructure and future instrument deployments. |
| Volcanic Hazard Maps | The IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Hazards and Risk has a Volcanic Hazard Maps database designed to serve as a resource for hazard mappers (or other interested parties) to explore how common issues in hazard map development have been addressed at different volcanoes, in different countries, for different hazards, and for different intended audiences. In addition to the comprehensive, searchable Volcanic Hazard Maps Database, this website contains information about diversity of volcanic hazard maps, illustrated using examples from the database. This site is for educational purposes related to volcanic hazard maps. Hazard maps found on this website should not be used for emergency purposes. For the most recent, official hazard map for a particular volcano, please seek out the proper institutional authorities on the matter. |
| IRIS seismic stations/networks | Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Alamagan. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice. |
| UNAVCO GPS/GNSS stations | Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Alamagan. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window. Requires Adobe Flash Player. |
| DECADE Data | The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO2 to the atmosphere, but installing CO2 monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere. |
| Large Eruptions of Alamagan | Information about large Quaternary eruptions (VEI >= 4) is cataloged in the Large Magnitude Explosive Volcanic Eruptions (LaMEVE) database of the Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA). |
| EarthChem | EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS). |
Alamagan, seen here from the W with two peaks on either side of a roughly 350-m-deep summit crater, is the emergent summit of a large submarine volcano. The exposed cone is largely Holocene in age and the SW flank contains a 1 x 1.6 km graben. Pyroclastic flow deposits have been dated at about 1,000 years old.
