Explosive eruption of Kelud Mt, February 13, 2014

An hour after the authority raise the alert from level III to its maximum (level IV), Kelud Mt in East Java Indonesia explosively erupted on Thursday, February 13, 2014, 10:56 PM local time, several more blasts have been recorded since. The plume has been reported reaching height of 15 km and disperse westward. The blast can be heard as far as 30 km from the volcano, the loudest series was lasted around 10 minutes. Residents of Solo, a town nearly 200km from the volcano were reported to hear thundering sounds throughout the eruption period lasting around five hours. Coarse, gravel-size tephra fall along with sand-silt sized volcanic glass pours area within 10-20 km radius from the summit. At least 200.000 people were evacuated and no casualties reported so far. (update: one casualties reported as of 9:13 pm MST)

The volcano has shown sign of increasing activity since January 2014 and it was raised from active normal (level I) to level II in February 2nd. The report and timeline of the activity since January can be accessed here. On Tuesday, residents near the mountain observed animals fleeing down the slopes, a locally known and beliefs as precursor of an eruption; lead many people to evacuate even before the authority ask them to do so.

Kelud Mt is located near the towns of Blitar, Kediri and Malang in East Jawa regency. Notable eruptions are known during the past hundred years. In 1919, 5119 casualties were recorded following eruption of this volcano. Another eruption in 1990 was reported killed 34 people. The most recent eruption in 2007 was well anticipated and no casualties being reported.

The Indonesia Volcanic Observatory have installed a CCTV near the summit of the volcano providing still-images of the volcano. The webcam can be accessed through this link.

Update: volcanic ash reaches Yogyakarta, nearly 300 km west of the volcano. Martin Johnson, who  lives in Yogyakarta made a video reporting the situation in Yogyakarta on February 14 and the video can be accessed through his youtube channel here.

The Volcanic Cloud Monitoring — NOAA/CIMSS developed an animation of the growth of the ash plume based on satellite thermal imagery. Click here to access.

Picture of the ash plume from satellite thermal imagery (image source: Volcanic Cloud Monitoring — NOAA/CIMSS, for full animation showing the growth of the ash plume based on satellite thermal imagery: click here)

Photo of the eruption captured by Hilmi Dzakaaaul through Twitter: @hilmi_dzi

Photo of the eruption captured by Hilmi Dzakaaaul through Twitter: @hilmi_dzi

Eruption captured by Hilmi Dzakaaaul through Twitter: @hilmi_dzi

Tephra from the eruption near Blitar (~15km from the summit), photo captured by by Hilmi Dzakaaaul through Twitter: @hilmi_dzi

The 2014 growing lava dome (image source: MetroTV)

Growing lava dome of Mount Kelud, this photo was captured in November 2007 (image source: volcanodiscovery)

Growing lava dome of Mount Kelud during 2007 eruption episodes. This photo was captured in November 2007 (image source: volcanodiscovery)

Kelud Mt eruption in 1990 (image source: Tempo)

Crater lake prior to the dome growth in 2007, this photo was taken in 1980 by Dan Dzurisin of U.S. Geological Survey (image source: Wikipedia)

The crater of Mount Kelud after the volcano eruption of 1901 (image source: Wikipedia)

Solfatara in Mount Kelud, historical image of Mt.Kelud taken in April 1919 (image source: Wikipedia)

Ash fall observed in Yogyakarta city, nearly 300km away from the volcano (photo courtesy of Bernadeta Subandini Astuti, taken on February 14, 2014)

An airplane covered with ash at Adi Sucipto airport in Yogyakarta (photo source: The Guardian)

The subsequent eruption observed from Blitar (photo source: the Guardian)

Volcanic ash in Solo. Photograph (photo source: the Guardian)