Bigger eruptions at Mt. Bromo

Mount Bromo could be on the brink of bigger eruptions, an official from the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center said,

Mohamad Syafii, who is also the head of the Mt. Bromo observation post at Ngadisari, Sukapura district in Probolinggo, based his prediction on changes in the eruption characteristics over the last few years.

He said that before, eruptions had longer intervals and were smaller in scale, whereas now, the period between eruptions was much shorter and the eruptions themselves more intense.

“Bromo continues to spew ash, which it has done for the last seven days. It looks likely that there is still a lot of energy built up,” Syafii said.

He compared the energy build up of the recent eruptions to the earlier eruptions on June 8, 2004, and
before.

“In 2004, Mt. Bromo discharged volcanic material briefly — only within 20 minutes. After that it ran out of steam,” Syafii said.

He said he did not know when a major eruption would take place as the energy could still be discharged through smaller eruptions.
Dwi A(08-44)