Volcanoes
After 8 years, the Turrialba Volcano National Park will reopen its doors to visitors on December 4, confirmed the National System of Areas of Conservation (SINAC). The reopening of this National Park will allow the reactivation of the local economy, especially hotels, restaurants, and local tourism businesses. The Park closed doors back in 2012 when the Volcano increased its activity which cont...
The National System of Areas of Conservation SINAC announced that tickets to visit the Irazú Volcano National Park and Tapantí National Park in Cartago are not available online through their page: https://serviciosenlinea.sinac.go.cr/. Irazu and Tapantí, join other national parks that already use this modality: Chirripó, Poás Volcano, Manuel Antonio and San Lucas Island. SINAC is trying to impl...
Rescue teams received a call the morning of this Sunday informing of people stranded near the crater of the Turrialba Volcano. Members of the Fire Department and Red Cross had to walk several kilometers to get to the place where they found two people, one of them a woman who apparently had a fractured arm. Getting the couple back to safety took several hours. This was the second call received ...
This Saturday, August 1, the Turrialba Volcano in Cartago registered one of its biggest eruptions so far this 2020 with a column of gas and ashes that reached approximately 500 meters above the crater and 3,840 meters above sea level (12595.2 ft). Although the Turrialba Volcano has remained active for years now the last time it expelled ashes was back in November 2019, however since June it has...
The Rincon de la Vieja Volcano located in Guanacaste, Costa Rica registered a moderate eruption Sunday April 19th at 10:16 a.m. with a column of gas that reached 1,500 meters (4,921 feet) above the crater. According to the report by the National Emergency Commission (CNE) the explosion was hydrothermal and as a product of the same materials such as mud, rocks, sediments, where ejected from the ...
The National Seismologic Network (RSN) and the Observatory of Volcanic and Seismic Activity in Costa Rica (OVSICORI) confirmed a new eruption of the Poas Volcano with a column that reached 3000 meters above the crater and 5,708 meters above sea level (18722.24 ft). The activity began at 8:59 p.m. and carried on for 25 minutes, it was captured by the thermal cameras located at the National Park....
After the preventive closure of Poas Volcano National Park this past Monday, visitation to the park has resumed with normality despite the sporadic passive eruptions that it continues to report. The eruptions have been of variable intensity and after the analysis by experts the park remains open to the public with certain restrictions and security measures. “When there is a change in the dir...
Monday, February 11, at 1:51 a.m. the Poas Volcano in Alajuela, Costa Rica, registered an eruption with a column that reached 200 meters above the crater and 2,908 meters above sea level (9,538.24 ft.) this was a passive eruption that continued on through the early morning hours. The eruption also showed the presence of incandescent material. The direction of the winds is causing the gases and ...
Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 1:26 a.m. the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano in Guanacaste, registered another important eruption; the height reached by the column of gas is unknown due to the visibility conditions in this area at the time. The most intense phase of the eruption lasted approximately 5 minutes, according to the seismic registries. Neighbors located to the north of the Volcano confirm...
Photo: Archive Poás, Turrialba, and the Rincón de la Vieja volcanoes in Alajuela, Cartago and Guanacaste respectively, continue this 2019 with important activity and constant eruptions. On January 17, 2019, the Rincón de la Vieja presented a moderate phreatic eruption (or perhaps a phreatomagmatic eruption, this is still being determined by the laboratory) at 1:30 a.m. and in the main crater w...
The Turrialba Volcano now has seven shelters meant to offer protection to authorized personnel, park rangers, scientists and maintenance workers, that are distributed along the road that leads to the crater. The shelters were designed and built by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE). Visitation to the Turrialba National Park is limited for the public; tourists are not allowed in a ra...
The hydro-thermal activity at the Poas Volcano has maintained throughout the last month, and it presented an important eruption the afternoon of this Monday, January 7. These eruptions are considered as normal for this volcano, they occur as the lake dries out leaving behind mud and sediments which cause impulsive expulsions of gas. Poas Volcano National Park reopened its doors to the public...
Volcanoes in Costa Rica have certainly made headlines this year, the National University's Volcanology and Seismology Research Institute (OVSICORI) offered its annual report on the country’s volcanic activity. “Turrialba Volcano has maintained an open system activity, generating passive emissions of ash as a result of the slow but almost constant raise of a small volume of magma. Out of the 336...
Since December 2014, a fissure on the Northern side of the Irazu Volcano started to buckle the land where 84 telecommunication towers for television, radio and private communication are set. Since 2015 the National University's Volcanology and Seismology Research Institute (OVSICORI) has been monitoring the situation and carrying out measurements of the sector through the use of GPS. “Between A...
The Poas Volcano has been registering phreatic eruptions for the past two days as a result of the evaporation of the lake. ¨Since December 19, the Poas Volcano has been generating eruptions with a high content of water vapor¨, explains the National University's Volcanology and Seismology Research Institute ( OVSICORI). These activity is very typical of the Poas Volcano, and they occur as the la...
The constant eruptions of the Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica that have been registered since yesterday and throughout the day today have caused ash fall to different parts of the Great Metropolitan Area. The activity this Sunday, December 9, began since the early morning hours (1:15 a.m.) and again (6:52 a.m.) with a column of ash that reached over 800 meters above the crater, 4.140 meters abo...
The color of the water of the lake of the Poas Volcano in Costa Rica, changed its coloration from its regular turquoise to green. According to information given by volcanologist Guillermo Alvarado, from the National Seismology Network, the reason for the change of color occurs because the volcano has two sources of activity under the lake which constantly inject sulfur dioxide to it; the effect...
This Saturday December 8th and 7:49 am the Turrialba Volcano registered another eruption with a column of gas that reached approximately 500 meters above the crater and 3,840 meters above sea level (12595.2 ft). The direction of the winds during the morning directed the ash towards some areas of the Central Valley such as Coronado, Goicoechea, Moravia and several cities in Heredia. Smell of su...
The morning of this Wednesday, December 28, at 7 a.m. local time the Turrialba Volcano registered another eruption with a column of ash that reached close to 500 meters above the cater, 3,840 meters above sea level (12595.2 ft). The eruption carried on for a couple of hours, with ash reaching several areas of the Central Valley, including Santa Ana and Tibás in San José and San Rafael in Heredi...
Saturday, November 24th at 00:19 a.m. the Turrialba Volcano had another important eruption, which you can appreciate in the video included in this note. An impressive column of ash and incandescent material can be appreciated. “The Turrialba Volcano maintains important eruptive activity, which went from frequent events during the morning and the beginning of the afternoon yesterday (Friday),...
This Sunday, November 4th two of Costa Rica’s volcanoes registered important activity; the Turrialba Volcano in Cartago presented an eruption with an ash column that reached 500 meters above the crater or 3,484 meters above sea level (12595.2 ft). In Guanacaste, the Rincon de la Vieja volcano began its activity at 7:45 p.m., the weather conditions at the time of the eruption didn’t allow to con...
Photo: Archive The Turrialba Volcano continues showing signs of important activity; this Tuesday, October 30 it registered an eruption with a column that reached close to 500 meters above the crated, 3,840 meters above sea level (12,595.2 ft). Even though the activity is sporadic and of short span (minutes generally), it is a good reminder of the fact that this Volcano could at any given poi...
Today, the Rincón de la Vieja Volcano in Guanacaste registered an eruption after several months of relative calm. The column reached close to 1000 meters above the crater, some 2916 meters above sea level (9564.48 ft), it was a short eruption that lasted close to 2 minutes. According to OVSICORI, no reports have been received of ash fall in the nearby communities, however, they recommend pre...
The Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica has been presenting a more constant and intense activity since the beginning of October. The activity began today at 6:30 a.m. and its still ongoing. The ash column reached close to 500 meters above the crater of the volcano, 3,840 meters above sea level, (approx. 12,595 ft. above sea level). The National Seismology Network reported that the volcano mainta...
In the frame of the International Day for Natural Disaster Reduction, the non-governmental organization, Volcanoes Without Boarders in coordination with the Irazu Volcano National Park and the Earth Sciences Section of UNESCO is organizing several free guided visits to the Irazu Volcano this Wednesday, October 10. “The educational guided visits will be carried out under the concept “Volcanologi...
Cameras located at the Turrialba Volcano National Park caught the moment it registered an important eruption this past October 5th. During the eruption, incandescent material was expelled. The National Seismology Network reminds the public of the dangers they expose themselves to if they venture to climb the restricted area near the crater of the volcano. The Turrialba Volcano is an active v...
The Turrialba Volcano in Costa Rica has maintained relatively calm in the past weeks with just the regular column of gases and vapor that can be seen coming from the crater and occasional small eruptions. This Monday, however, the volcano registered an important column of ash that reached close to 500 meters above the crater, 3840 meters above sea level (12,595 ft above sea level). The directio...
With the installation of “bunker style” shelters, the Poas Volcano National Park became the 8th active volcano in the world to have these types of structures in place for the protection of visitors, affirmed Guillermo Alvarado Induni, specialist at the Technical Assessment Committee of Volcanology and Seismology of the National Emergency Commission (CNE). The other volcanoes in the world that h...
The Poas Volcano National Park opened its doors to the public again this past Friday, after several months of worked that involved fixing the areas that had suffered damages as a result of the eruptions and building new shelters for the security of the visitors. As it had been announced in the past months the Park now has controlled access, with only 50 people being able to enter at a time; tic...
After more than 16 months there is finally a date for the reopening of the Poas Volcano National Park in Costa Rica, President Carlos Alvarado will be at the park this Wednesday, August 29 in an official ceremony and on Friday, August 31st the park will open doors to national and foreign tourists. The Technical Assessment Committee (CAT) of Volcanology and Seismology of the National Emergency C...
The Ministry of Environment and Energy announced that everything is now ready for the reopening of the Poas Volcano National Park to the public. There is still not a set date for the reopening since they are coordinating with the agenda of President Carlos Alvarado; however, it should be sometime this upcoming week and the doors will open to the public the day after the official act. The 5 s...
The National Seismology Network (RSN) reported an eruption of the Turrialba Volcano this August 15 at 7 a.m., the volcano still maintained a passive emission of ash over four hours after the eruption. The activity was mild with a column of ash that reached close to 300 meters above the active crater; the ash was being dispersed to the Northeast. Turrialba Volcano had increased its activity...
The National Seismology Network (RSN) informed that the Turrialba Volcano has increased the sporadic eruptions since July 23, with passive emissions of ash. The ash columns generally reach between 100 and 300 meters above the crater; however, since the evening of August 1st the activity has been more sustained, and a tremor signal has been persistent as per the information gathered by the surve...
July 29, 1968 lives in the memory of many Costa Ricans as a tragic day in which more than 80 people lost their lives as a result of the eruption of Arenal Volcano, known back then only as Arenal Mountain, many didn’t know, and others didn’t want to believe it was a volcano. The Arenal Volcano is considered the youngest volcano in the country and also one of the most dangerous. That day, the ...
Works at the Poas Volcano National Park advance at good pace and is expected to reopen for tourist visitation shortly with a new security model that involves 5 shelters: 3 new modules and the remodeling of 2 existing infrastructures as well as new protocols in the management of visitors. The five shelters are being built at the same time, the new ones include one shelter with a capacity for 18...
Local and foreign tourists continue to take unnecessary risks in their seek for adventure, rescue teams in Costa Rica receive numerous alerts every year about tourists that decided to hike all the way to the crater of a volcano, most commonly the Arenal Volcano in La Fortuna, San Carlos, but this also happens in Poas and Turrialba Volcanoes. This weekend two American tourists had to be rescued ...
The National Seismology Network published the following information regarding the activity at the Rincon de la Vieja Volcano: “The Volcanology and Seismology Observatory of the Arenal and Miravalles (OSIVAM), operated by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) and that forms part of the National Seismology Network (RSN: UCR-ICE), registered changes in the behavior of the seismic activity in...
Today, June 5, we celebrate the World Environmental Day, a day meant to encourage worldwide awareness and action for the protection of our environment. Costa Rica celebrated with the signing of a decree by President Carlos Alvarado and the Minister of Environment, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, for the expansion of the Rincon de la Vieja National Park, with the purpose of strengthening the protec...
The eruptions this Sunday of the Volcan de Fuego in Guatemala which caused, according to the latest data, at least 62 deaths, several people injured and almost two million people affected, raised the question on whether an emergency of this type could happen with one of the active volcanoes in Costa Rica. The National Seismology Network in Costar Rica posted in their Facebook account “Volcan d...
The activity at the Poas volcano was captured on video this past May 25th, as members of the National Seismology Network were doing maintenance work in the area. The impressive footage shows the degasification with an important column of water vapor. “The degasification is persistent but passive, it consists in low temperature fumaroles rich in water vapor with a relatively low content of ma...