Popocatépetl: Months of Ash Predicted
Scientists predict months of ash from Popocatépetl but say major eruption is unlikely. This episode is not unique and similar events have taken place many times before.
Scientists Call for Calm
The Popocatépetl volcano, also known as El Popo, has been active since 1994. However, over the past few days, alarm bells have been ringing due to its increasing activity: hundreds of explosions across more than 40 uninterrupted hours. Scientists have called for calm: this episode is not unique, experts have stated, similar events have taken place many times before and recent history suggests the volcano will stabilize — without a dramatic eruption — at a high level of activity and ash emission.
Volcanologist Robin Campion notes that it is likely that in the coming months there will be many episodes like the one we are seeing now. “It is a continuous gas leak that generates a lot of noise and carries with it incandescent fragments and ash,” he tells EL PAÍS. Campion has spent three days in the Paso de Cortés, the gap between the Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl volcanoes, monitoring the situation.
Carlos Gutiérrez Martínez, research director of CENAPRED, agrees with this assessment: “The volcano is at least half a million years old. Without wanting to minimize the problem, what we are witnessing in geological and volcanic terms is something small.”