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| 0:00 | · | An unexpected major explosive volcanic eruption began this morning in Ethiopia, generating one of |
| 0:06 | · | the largest eruptions the entire African continent has seen during the last century. This new |
| 0:12 | · | eruption seemingly began at around 8:40 am local time within the African equivalent of Death |
| 0:18 | · | Valley, the below sea level Danakil Depression. Specifically, at the Hayli Gubbi volcano which |
| 0:24 | · | until now did not have a single known historical eruption. A powerful explosion occurred as molten |
| 0:31 | · | rock broke through the surface, giving way to a towering and continuous eruption plume that |
| 0:36 | · | reached upwards to a height of 14 kilometers or approximately 46,000 feet. Yet, as this |
| 0:43 | · | eruption plume drifted to the east, it expanded in size to cover an area the size of Portugal, |
| 0:48 | · | causing the eruption plume in spots to rise even higher, to as much as 20 kilometers or |
| 0:53 | · | about 65,600 feet! At this point, it had been multiple hours and no volcanic ash advisory |
| 1:00 | · | had been issued, so I physically contacted the relevant center and then told them about the |
| 1:05 | · | eruption. As a result, they finally put out the relevant warning, including me as a source of |
| 1:11 | · | information in the relevant alert. Going out of my way to do this may have saved lives. |
| 1:17 | · | Yet, due to the large volumes of erupted material which were too dense to rise on the |
| 1:22 | · | buoyant column of hot air in the eruption plume, volcanic material collapsed back to the ground, |
| 1:27 | · | generating a series of pyroclastic flows which preferentially flowed northwards at high speeds |
| 1:33 | · | due to the summit topography of the Hayli Gubbi volcano. While it is difficult to see exactly how |
| 1:39 | · | far these pyroclastic flows scorched away from its summit, early indications suggest at least 6 |
| 1:45 | · | kilometers or 3.7 miles, and I have geolocated a potential area of 14.2 square kilometers or |
| 1:53 | · | 5.5 square miles having been reached. Thankfully, no one lives on the relevant patch of barren lava |
| 2:00 | · | rock volcanic landscape, but I am concerned if there were any tourists in the area. You see, |
| 2:07 | · | Erta Ale, the volcano to the north, has been a popular local volcano for tourists to visit, |
| 2:12 | · | so I am hoping that there weren't any tour groups there when the eruption happened. |
| 2:17 | · | Ash is still actively falling on some nearby communities, and is falling as such a high rate |
| 2:23 | · | that visibility is under 30 meters in some spots. I immediately recommend anyone in those areas to |
| 2:30 | · | put on an anti particulate mask if they have one. Based on my current analysis of the data, it |
| 2:36 | · | appears that around 330,000 metric tons of sulfur dioxide was produced, which would translate based |
| 2:42 | · | on the suspected lava type expelled to a volume of 0.08 to 0.14 cubic kilometers of tephra, meaning |
| 2:50 | · | this eruption is most likely a high end VEI 3 or a low end VEI 4 on the volcanic explosivity index. |
| 2:59 | · | The eruption was not one continuous explosion, but rather multiple larger explosions with somewhat |
| 3:05 | · | weaker continuous ash emissions between them. While today's eruption was somewhat unexpected, |
| 3:11 | · | it did not completely come out of the blue. You see, the Erta Ale shield volcano to the |
| 3:16 | · | north had contained one of the world's longest lasting lava lakes, existing for more than 60 |
| 3:22 | · | years continuously meaning the volcano was always erupting during that timespan. Yet, |
| 3:28 | · | in early July 2025, something changed, as large volumes of magma drained away |
| 3:33 | · | to the south-southeast, causing its two lava lake containing summit craters to collapse |
| 3:38 | · | downwards by multiple hundred feet. A brief flank eruption then followed, with cracks forming in the |
| 3:44 | · | ground and gas venting out of it above where the implied magma intrusion was, stretching nearly |
| 3:50 | · | 40 kilometers to the south-southeast. While nothing seemingly came of that, |
| 3:55 | · | it caused notably increased gas emissions and even higher temperatures to be recorded above |
| 4:01 | · | the main vent of the Hayli Gubbi volcano. These gas emissions repeatedly appeared and disappeared, |
| 4:07 | · | and in hindsight I do not think this was solely due to the aforementioned basaltic magma dike. |
| 4:13 | · | I interpret that during the last 4.5 months that this basalt magma had encountered a preexisting |
| 4:19 | · | but previously unknown shallow trachyte magma body. The two mixed, decreasing the viscosity |
| 4:26 | · | of the resulting product when compared to the original trachyte, building in pressure, |
| 4:30 | · | until it finally was released upwards in a major explosive eruption. This eruption may very well |
| 4:37 | · | give way to a lengthy lava flow of some sort, and could easily continue for weeks or even months, |
| 4:44 | · | although this is not a certainty. Stayed tuned for more updates, and please stay safe. |
0:00 Major Explosive Eruption