The orange alert continues in Nevado del Ruiz and for this Friday the Geological Service reported that it could not observe the existing thermal anomaly at the bottom of the crater, due to the amount of gases and steam emitted by the volcano.
In its daily bulletin, the SGC reported that the seismic activity associated with rock fracturing inside the volcanic edifice maintained similar levels in the number of earthquakes and in the seismic energy released, compared to the previous day (May 18).
This seismicity was located mainly in the north-northwestern sector and, to a lesser extent, in the northeastern and southeastern sectors of the volcano, as well as in the Arenas crater, at a maximum distance of 8 km from it. The earthquakes presented low magnitudes and their depths ranged between 1 and 6 km, the institute detailed.
Regarding the seismicity related to the movement of fluids inside the volcanic conduits, the SGC detailed that this activity maintained low levels in the number of earthquakes and in the seismic energy released, although it showed a slight increase compared to the previous day (18 of May). Some of the seismic signals were associated with pulsatile ash emissions confirmed through the web cameras used for volcanic monitoring.
Additionally, in the letter the institute revealed that variations in the degassing of sulfur dioxide and the outflow of water vapor from the crater into the atmosphere continue. The maximum height of the column of gases was 900 m, measured from the top of the volcano. The dispersion direction of the column was predominantly towards the southwest of the volcanic structure.
According to the Colombian Geological Service, all these indicators reflect that the activity of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano continues to be very unstable, which indicates that there is a probability that in days or weeks it will erupt more than it has in the last 10 years. .