CNN Philippines — The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has lowered Taal Volcano’s status to Alert Level 2.

State seismologists on Saturday noted a decline in the volcano’s unrest.

“Following the phreatomagmatic eruption of the Main Crater on 26 March 2022 and six (6) weak phreatomagmatic bursts until 31 March 2022, unrest at Taal Volcano has markedly declined,” said Phivolcs. “Activity in the past two weeks has been characterized by a significant drop in volcanic degassing from the Main Crater and in the incidence of volcanic earthquakes.”

Since the eruption last March 26, the Phivolcs recorded only 86 small-magnitude and imperceptible volcanic earthquakes. These consist of 26 volcanic tremors, 59 low-frequency volcanic earthquakes and one volcanic-tectonic event.

The agency added that the sulfur dioxide emission suddenly dropped on April 3. The recent volcanic gas emissions suggest that any eruptive activity at present is low.

“SO2 flux since then has averaged 240 tonnes/day, decreasing to 103 tonnes/day yesterday, 8 April, the lowest flux recorded since unrest began in 2021,” said Phivolcs.

The state seismologists also said that the activity in the volcano’s main crater in the past week has been characterized by occasional weak plumes and longer periods of absence.

Despite the de-escalation of status, Phivolcs warned that Alert Level 2 does not necessarily mean that threat of possible eruption has ceased.

“Alert Level 2 means that there is decreased unrest but should not be interpreted that unrest has ceased or that the threat of an eruption has disappeared. Should an uptrend or pronounced change in monitored parameters occur, the Alert Level may be raised back to Alert Level 3,” it advised.

AUTHOR PROFILE

People's Tonight