FILE PHOTO: A plume of white smoke rises from Taal Volcano as viewed from Agoncillo town in Batangas province early morning on Saturday, March 26, 2022, prompting the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology to raise the volcano’s alert level from 2 to 3 to indicate magmatic unrest. —BRENDA RECADIO/CONTRIBUTOR
MANILA, Philippines — Taal Volcano has appeared to be lulling as it did not register any quakes during the past two days. But Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) Director Renato Solidum Jr. said Friday, Taal Volcano should still be monitored for a longer period.
Solidum explained that assessing the status of one of the world’s smallest active volcanoes should involve observation of parameters not only for a single day but for weeks.
“There are few days that volcanic earthquakes are recorded in Taal but overall, the volcano’s earthquake activity has been significantly low or none at all,” he said in a text message to INQUIRER.net.
Phivolcs’ bulletins for Taal Volcano on Thursday and Friday showed no record of earthquakes.
According to Solidum, volcanic earthquakes record processes such as fracturing of rocks because of pressure, magma movement, gas or hydrothermal fluids, or explosions.
“If there are no volcanic earthquakes recorded, none of the above processes have occurred. The volcano may [be] quieting down but this trend needs to be observed for a longer period to better appreciate the volcano’s status,” he added.
Earlier on Friday, Phivolcs’ bulletin indicated that activity at the Taal Volcano was dominated by the generation of plumes 900 meters tall that drifted east and southeast. Sulfur dioxide emissions also averaged 213 tons on Wednesday, April 13.
To recall, Alert Level 3 was raised over Taal Volcano on March 26 after it registered a series of phreatomagmatic bursts.
Phivolcs lowered the volcano’s status to Alert Level 2 on April 9 to reflect the “overall decreasing trend in the level of monitoring parameters.”