PHIVOLCS-DOST announced the lowering of the alert status of Mayon Volcano from Alert Level 1 (abnormal) to Alert Level 0 (normal).
Since the lowering of alert status of Mayon Volcano from Alert Level 2 to Alert Level 1 last 17 July 2020, there has been a continued decline in all monitoring parameters of Mayon Volcano. This is supported by the following observations;
Volcanic Earthquake Activity: The frequency of volcanic earthquakes has declined to baseline levels (0-5 events/day) for the last 6 months. This indicates that rock-fracturing within the volcanic edifice associated with magmatic or hydrothermal activity has diminished.
Ground Deformation: Data from Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and campaign Electronic Distance Measurement (EDM) and Precise Leveling (PL) monitoring collectively track a slight and decreasing rate of inflation of the Mayon edifice this year and continued deflation of its southwest slopes since lava flows were deposited on these in 2018. Electronic tilt monitoring also recorded slight inflation of the northwest slopes but localized deflation of the middle to lower slopes. The integrated GPS, EDM, PL and electronic tilt data indicate ground deformation that is more coherent with local tectonic processes rather than pressurization from a magmatic or hydrothermal source.
Mayon Volcano now on Alert Level 0 or ‘normal state’
Gas Emission: Sulfur Dioxide emission or SO2 flux from Mayon crater based on continuous gas spectrometry has declined below the baseline level of 500 tonnes/day since 14 July 2021. The latest flux was measured at 156 t/d on 14 July 2021 and no plume has been detected since. The relatively low levels of SO2 flux indicate that passive degassing from stored magma beneath the edifice is diminishing or increasingly scrubbed by Mayon’s hydrothermal system.
Visual Observation of the Summit: Faint crater glow, or incandescence associated with superheated gas emission at the summit vent, continues to be observed but only through a camera. Its last visibility with the naked eye was in May 2021. Plume emission from the crater has been weak to moderate this year. In addition, no changes in the summit lava dome extruded in the final phase of the 2018 eruption have been observed for the past year. These observations are consistent with diminished magma degassing and the absence of magma intrusion within the edifice.
In view of the above, PHIVOLCS-DOST is now lowering the alert status of Mayon from Alert Level 1 to Alert Level 0. This means observational parameters have returned to baseline levels and no magmatic eruption is foreseen in the immediate future.
Source: PHIVOLCS-DOST