Volcano Information

    Pagan
    Volcanic Alert Level: UNASSIGNED Aviation Color Code: UNASSIGNED

    • Current Update, last updated Dec 20, 2006 19:03 MPT:
      ALERT LEVEL CHANGE TO UNASSIGNED; AVIATION COLOR CODE CHANGE TO UNASSIGNED.
      Summary: The last ash reported visible in satellite imagery was observed on December 07 at 0531Z. EMO observers on Pagan the next day reported another small ash eruption in the early afternoon of December 8.

      EMO reports that the islanders have seen only steam over the last several days.

      The USGS does not currently have any permanent monitoring instruments installed on Pagan.
    • Volcanic History Overview: Pagan Island, the largest and one of the most active of the Mariana Islands volcanoes, consists of two stratovolcanoes connected by a narrow isthmus. Both North and South Pagan stratovolcanoes were constructed within calderas, 7 and 4 km in diameter, respectively. The 570-m-high Mount Pagan at the NE end of the island rises above the flat floor of the northern caldera, which probably formed during the early Holocene. South Pagan is a 548-m-high stratovolcano with an elongated summit containing four distinct craters. Almost all of the historical eruptions of Pagan, which date back to the 17th century, have originated from North Pagan volcano. The largest eruption of Pagan during historical time took place in 1981 and prompted the evacuation of the sparsely populated island. From the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program.
    • Location: Mariana Islands, Mariana Islands

      Latitude: 18.13
      Longitude: 145.8
      Elevation: 570 m

      Recent Eruption: 2006
    • Hazard Assessments: Sako, M. K.; Trusdell, F. A.; Koyanagi, R. Y.; Kojima, George; Moore, R. B., 1995, Volcanic investigations in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, April to May 1994, USGS Open-File Report 94-705.
    • Link to monitoring data: NMI Web Site