PICTURESQUE | Taal Volcano remains the biggest tourist draw of towns around it due to its serene and picture-perfect beauty, as shown in this photo taken Feb. 4, 2023, from Tagaytay City, Cavite, even as it continues to belch toxic fumes and remains under alert level 1, or showing low level of unrest. (Photo by MARLON MALLARI / Contributor)
LUCENA CITY, Quezon, Philippines — After nearly two weeks of minimal emissions, Taal Volcano in Batangas province has once again released a significant amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) on Monday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported on Tuesday.
Over the past 24 hours, the volcano has emitted 9,757 metric tons of SO2, following a period of declining emissions.
But the toxic gas only reached an altitude of 300 meters above Taal Volcano Island, locally known as the “Pulo,” before dispersing in the southwest direction.
In their latest update on Tuesday, the state volcanologists noted an “upwelling of hot volcanic fluids” in the main crater lake of the volcano. No earthquake was recorded during the observation period.
Taal Volcano remained under alert level 1 (low level of volcanic unrest), according to Phivolcs.
Slight drop
The latest volume of SO2 emission was higher than the 5,459 MT recorded from Feb. 8 to Feb. 11 and 6,911 MT that was logged from Feb. 5 to Feb. 7.
From Feb. 1 to Feb. 4, the volcano emitted 10,848 MT of volcanic gas, a slight drop from the 12,669 MT emitted on Jan. 29 and 30.
READ: Taal Volcano Island is ‘healing’ after 2020 eruption–DENR
The volcano released 15,145 MT of toxic volcanic gas from Jan. 25 to Jan. 28, the highest so far this year. Last year, the volcano logged 11,499 MT on Nov. 9, the highest emission recorded in 2023.
Phivolcs has continued to bar entry into Pulo and prohibit aircraft from flying close to the volcano, reminding the public that the volcano continued to display an “abnormal condition” and “should not be interpreted to have ceased unrest nor ceased the threat of eruptive activity.”
In January 2022, Taal Volcano had nine phreatomagmatic bursts on its main crater. By March 26, the volcano’s warning status was raised to Alert Level 3 (relatively high unrest) due to a short-lived phreatomagmatic eruption, which required the evacuation of around 1,100 residents around the area and surrounding towns.