Details of the first few hours of eruption at La Fournaise.

The eruption begun on July 14 at 00:50 local time continues. The volcanic tremor (surface eruptive indicator) is maintained at an average level (about half that observed at the beginning of the eruption) from 9:00 am local time - 5:00 am TU.

Following the reconnaissance survey carried out this morning with the assistance of the Air Force Section and the PGHM, the eruptive site was located more precisely 750 m east of the Kala-Pélé peak (August-October 2015) and 850 m west of Château Fort. It is located about 2.2 km to the North-East of the Piton de Bert.

At 0930, the eruptive fissure extended over 450 meters. Seven lava fountains with a maximum height of 30 meters were active. The fountain the most downstream began to build a cone from which escaped two arms of lava flow. The front of the flows could not be located because of the cloud cover on the east of the volcano.

The first estimates made by satellites via Hotvolc and Mirova show flow rates in the order of 22 to 30 m³ / sec. At the beginning of the opening of the crack.
A plume of SO2 was detected on the east of the volcano.

Sources: OVPF, Mirova, Hotvolc, Clicanoo