Mount Merapi spews 1,000m hot clouds twice toward Boyong River
Yogyakarta - Mount Merapi, on the border of Central Java Province and the Special Region of Yogyakarta, ejected hot clouds twice, with a gliding distance of one thousand meters toward Boyong River on Friday.
Head of the Geological Disaster Technology Research and Development Center (BPPTKG), Agus Budi Santoso, noted in his official statement received here on Friday that the first hot cloud avalanche occurred at 9:05 local time, with a gliding distance of approximately one thousand meters to the Boyong River or southwest.
"Hot cloud avalanches were recorded on a seismograph, with an amplitude of 18 mm and a duration of 135 seconds," he remarked.
Furthermore, hot clouds of avalanches were observed again at 12:08 local time, with a gliding distance of one thousand meters to the southwest, with an amplitude of 23 mm and a duration of 104 seconds.
According to Santoso, the Merapi Mountain last spewed hot clouds on June 22, 2022.
During BPPTKG's observations from 6:00 to 12:00 local time, the smoke from the weak pressure crater was observed to be white, with medium to thick intensity, reaching as high as 30-150 meters above the peak of the Merapi crater.
Meanwhile, based on visual observations of the activity of Mount Merapi from October 28 to November 3, 2022, the BPPTKG stated that there were no significant morphological changes, both in the southwest dome and the middle dome of Merapi.
Santoso remarked that the volume of the lava dome in the southwest part of Merapi was recorded at 1,626,000 cubic meters and the middle dome at 2,772,000 cubic meters.
"The volume of the dome is relatively stable," he added.
Until now, the BPPTKG still maintains the status of Mount Merapi at Level III or Alert.
Lava flows and hot clouds from Mount Merapi can impact areas in the south-southwest sector that include the Boyong River, for a maximum of five km, and the Bedog, Krasak, and Bebeng Rivers, for a maximum of seven km.
In addition, lava flows and hot clouds from Mount Merapi can impact areas in the southeastern sector that included the Woro River, for a maximum of three km, and the Gendol River, for a distance of five km, he stated.
If the volcano erupts, the ejection of volcanic material can reach an area within a radius of three kilometers from the top of the mountain, Santoso stated.
Oleh : Luqman Hakim, Resinta S/Antara
Editor : Yakop