Volcanic activity at Mount Kelud intensifies

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Volcanic activities at Mount Kelud, located on the border between Kediri and Blitar regencies in East Java, have intensified over the last few weeks. Head of Kelud emergency in Kediri on Wednesday the increase in temperature to 36.5 degrees Celsius of the 15-meter-deep lake in Kelud’s crater was an indication of increased volcanic activity. The normal temperature is 32 to 34 degrees.

Located about 150 kilometers to the southwest of the East Java capital of Surabaya, an alert status is in place for Mount Kelud and increasing volcanic activity is predicted.The air temperature when Mount Kelud exploded in 1990 was 40 degrees, with the level of acidity at the lake’s water reaching 3.5 Kelud had an explosion cycle of between 10 and 20 years, meaning an eruption could occur at any time.

Three key indicators of volcanic activity are temperature, acidity level and CO2 content. Umar’s team has installed equipment to monitor each of these, including French acoustic technology that is installed in the center of the lake.With a height of 1,724 meters, Kelud has exploded 30 times since 1311, the last time in 1990. At least 15,000 people were killed by burning lava.Based on historical records, major explosions at Kelud are always preceded by three small blasts within a span of about three hours

The data indicates the acidity of the lake currently averages around 5 to 6. However the lake’s CO2 content has recently jumped — from a normal average of 40 to 100 tons per day to approximately 340 tons per day. On Sept. 7, 2007, the CO2 content reached 544 tons.

The increasing frequency of earthquakes in the area was another predictor of imminent volcanic activity. While in August there were less than 10 earthquakes, during the Sept. 10 to 22 period, 27 earthquakes were registered.

Changes in the color of the crater lake can also indicate increased activity. Normally, the lake is bright green; now it is a pale yellowish green.Despite the upswing in volcanic activity at Kelud, the public should avoid panic because the monitoring team would continue to follow the volcano’s condition on a daily basis, according to Surono, head of the Geological Disaster Mitigation and Volcanology Center.Kelud is temporarily closed to visitors for safety reasons.