Volcano erupts on Indian Ocean island Reunion

Piton de la Fournaise erupted on Reunion Island today, Saturday, 01 August, 2015 at 9.50 am local time.

According to the island’s tourist website, the volcano “has its place amongst the most active volcanoes on the planet, with an average of one eruption every nine months”.

The Reunion Island government imposed a ban on access to the Piton de la Fournaise volcano, including by helicopter, after an eruption at 10am local time Friday, according to media reports. It ranks with other active volcanoes in Hawaii, Italy and Antarctica.

This is the third such eruption for the volcano this year, with the first two occurring February and May. Usually, after a day, we only have one.

The screaming lava presently reaches a max height at 44 yards, and it’s creating cones roughly 20 meters high after just one meagre day of eruption, surmised Peltier.

The volcano, situated on the south-east side of La Reunion, is a World Heritage site. Although some reporters may be nursing repressed memories of volcanoes that did threaten the curious-namely those of the years 1977 and 1986. Piton de la Fournaise is one of the most studied volcanoes in the world, monitored closely by the global scientific community.

“The Peak of the Furnace” has been spewing out more gases than usual.

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