Mexico's Popocatépetl Volcano Erupts For 13 Times Prompting Flights To Be Grounded

Experts said that Mexico's Popocatépetl Volcano had erupted at least 13 times, prompting flights to be grounded for everyone's safety.

The volcanic activity has also prompted officials to issue a warning on individuals not to climb the volcano. The Mexican government said that the Popocatépetl Volcanic Alert Traffic Light is presently in Yellow Phase 2.

Danger Of Fragments

It was urged that the public should not go near the volcano, especially its crater, due to the danger posed by the fall of incandescent fragments.

Officials have recorded the activity of the volcano in the last 24 hours, with 13 exhalations and 1398 minutes of tremor. They said that when explosions occurred, incandescent fragments have been thrown as what has been recently observed.

''Respect the exclusion radius of 12 kilometers from the crater, being within this area is not safe. In case of heavy rain, stay away from the bottom of ravines due to the danger of mud and debris flows,'' officials said.

Airport officials said that some of the ash was found inside planes at Mexico City's Benito Juárez International Airport and this condition led to the cancellation of at least 22 flights.

They added that the ash cloud has also led to the temporary closure of Puebla International Airport, which is located close to the volcano. If the plumes continue, the operations could be suspended.

Authorities said that the volcano's name, Popocatépetl, is the Aztec word for smoking mountain.

Located about 45 miles southeast of Mexico City in central Mexico, the volcano is considered one of the most dangerous in the world since roughly 25 million people live within 60 miles of the said volcano. Due to this, it is also one of the world's most closely-monitored volcanoes.

After lying dormant for more than 70 years, the roughly 17,800-foot volcano, known affectionately as "El Popo," awoke in 1994. Volcanologists said that this has been spewing toxic fumes, ash, and lumps of incandescent rock persistently ever since.

Volcanic Ash

The United States has been working with international partners to monitor volcanoes around the world through the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAACs) network, which is responsible for issuing volcanic ash advisories 24/7.

The VAAC forecasters have been using information from NOAA satellites to monitor clouds whose location, evolution and/or spectral properties are consistent with volcanic activity.

The satellites can estimate the height of ash clouds, determine the extent of ash, and estimate the amount of ash present.

Advisories are useful to air traffic controllers because large amounts of ash can significantly damage aircraft and are a major safety concern.

Authorities said that approximately 90% of the world's volcanoes are not regularly monitored for activity.

Authorities need to distill large amounts of data into actionable information for timely volcanic eruption detection led to the development of an automated detection tool.

Experts said that VOLcanic Cloud Analysis Toolkit (VOLCAT) system automatically detects new eruptive events and issues alerts when new events occur.