KADOVAR VOLCANO REMAINS DYNAMIC, SAYS PNG OBSERVATORY

The Rabaul Volcanological Observatory in Papua New Guinea says the eruption of Kadovar Island remains dynamic.

The tiny island off the north coast of PNG’s mainland erupted earlier this month.

About 700 residents were promptly evacuated from the island whose vegetation has been covered in ash.

The Observatory’s acting assistant director Steve Saunders said a seismometre has been placed on the island.

“Visually in the last few days it’s been stable. It’s still ashing and steaming, and there’s a slow lava flow oozing out on one side. But the seismometres have confirmed that there are still what we call high frequency earthquakes occurring which means there is rock-breaking occurring, so the situation is still dynamic.” According to Mr Saunders, Kadovar was still releasing significant amounts of sulfur dioxide, which indicated the presence of fresh magma.

He said latest data to hand showed six highfrequency earthquakes measured in about twelve to eighteen hours, indicating kadovar was “still responding to some sort of stress”.

“So it is still possible that fresh magma will rise to the surface,” he explained. “But at the moment it’s still 50/50.” Meanwhile, Mr Saunders refuted claims that nearby Biem island is erupting in conjunction with Kadovar. He said that recorded dates of volcanic eruptions in the Bismarck Sea show there was no correlation between them.