WATCH: Piton de la Fournaise volcano erupts for first time this year

ON Monday, September 19, the Piton de la Fournaise volcano, one of the most active volcanoes on the planet, erupted for the first time in 2022.

The Piton de la Fournaise observatory shared the first images of the eruption at Piton de la Fournaise, located on Réunion island in the Indian Oceam. The last eruption dates back to December 2021.

A video taken from the path leading to Piton de Bert was shared on social media.

“The activity is located inside the Enclos Fouqué on the southern flank east of the Rivals crater,” the observatory said.

🌋Premières images de l'éruption au #PitondelaFournaise.
Vidéo prise depuis le sentier menant au Piton de Bert.
L'activité est située à l'intérieur de l'Enclos Fouqué sur le flanc Sud à l'est du cratère Rivals. pic.twitter.com/YgklOWshEX

— Observatoire Volcanologique Piton de la Fournaise (@ObsFournaise) September 19, 2022

According to French media reports, the seismic crisis began at 6.23 am., triggering alert phase 1 of the ORSEC system.

Thanks to scientists’ measuring devices, the eruption was confirmed at 7.48 am. Sadly, the bad weather conditions did not allow its observation for long.

The Volcanological Observatory of Piton de la Fournaise located the eruption inside the enclosure on the South South-West flank, around 2,200 m altitude.

Communiqué de l'OVPF-IPGP – Eruption en cours au #PitondelaFournaise
Le trémor volcanique synonyme d’arrivée du magma à la surface est enregistré depuis 07h48 ce jour. La source de ce trémor est localisée sur le flanc sud sud-ouest. Les infos ici 👇https://t.co/oWpkaP1tf4 pic.twitter.com/2G0jvbsH3L

— Observatoire Volcanologique Piton de la Fournaise (@ObsFournaise) September 19, 2022

Philippe Kowalski, deputy director of the OVPF, said that rain and fog have made it hard to view the eruption clearly and the weather is not expected to improve on Monday.

According to Météo France forecasts, an improvement is possible on Wednesday, September 21.

The Piton de la Fournaise eruption comes a month after a swarm of seismic activity was detected in the vicinity of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Canary island of La Palma on Wednesday, August 10.

As reported by the National Geographic Institute (IGN) , between 11pm local time and 4am on Thursday, August 11, a total of 63 earthquakes were recorded in the vicinity of the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, on the Canary island of La Palma, which they said corresponded to a low-magnitude seismic swarm.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, do remember to come back and check The Euro Weekly News website for all your up-to-date local and international news stories and remember, you can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.