In the past two days, Rouen, an active volcano in Indonesia, has become active. The volcano is located northeast of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, south of the Philippine island of Mindanao, about 1,300 kilometers from the Spratly Islands on the mainland. On April 16, the volcano of Rouen began to spew steam, and the local area evacuated the residents of the vicinity of the volcano, and at the same time banned the local residents from moving within 4 kilometers of the crater.
Later, in the early morning of April 17, the second eruption of Rouen volcano occurred, in addition to steam, magma smoke and dust began to appear, and volcanic ash rain began to fall in the local area, and communication began to be unstable; around 8:10 p.m. on April 17, Rouen volcano had the largest violent eruption in recent years, a large amount of smoke and dust was violently ejected to an altitude of 19 kilometers, and a huge volcanic smoke cloud rose into the sky, which was clearly visible on satellite cloud images. According to the analysis of available data, the current eruption of Rouen volcano may reach VEI level 4, which is the largest volcanic eruption since the eruption of Tonga volcano in 2022.
Volcanic eruptions are one of the forms of violent release of earth's energy, which often cause changes in topography, cause earthquakes and tsunamis, and release a large amount of volcanic ash into the atmosphere, causing serious impacts on human production and life. In 1815, the VEI7 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia released a large amount of volcanic ash into the atmosphere, causing changes in the earth's climate, and in 1816, there was a rare cool summer in the northern hemisphere, known as the "year without summer".
In 2022, the Tonga volcano will have a VEI6 eruption, although it is an undersea volcanic eruption, a huge cloud of smoke still rises into the sky and penetrates deep into the stratosphere, the volume of the ejecta is 16 cubic kilometers, the shock wave is transmitted all over the world and captured by meteorological satellites, the global ground pressure is affected by the volcano and fluctuates, and the tsunami caused by the volcanic eruption swept across the Pacific Ocean, Peru, Japan, the United States, etc. were affected.
The eruption of Mount Rouen this time, as of the evening of April 17, is much smaller than the Tonga volcano and Mount Tambora, and the impact on the global climate should be relatively small. However, the eruption of Rouen is not over yet, and it remains to be seen whether there will be a larger eruption, and the geological changes caused by this eruption may be closely monitored, especially the earthquakes and tsunamis it could cause. The southern part of the South China Sea also needs to pay attention to the indirect impact of volcanic smoke clouds.
At the same time as the eruption of Mount Rouen, around 10:17 p.m. on April 17, a magnitude 6.5 earthquake occurred in southwestern Japan.