Pago
West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea, SW Pacific
5.58°S, 150.52°E; summit elev. 742 m
All times are local (= UTC +10 hours)
Explosive ash plumes reported in May-July 2012
Based on analyses of satellite images as reported by the Global Disaster Alert and
Coordination System (GDACS) and the Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), five
volcano plume advisories were issued for Pago volcano in the Summer of 2012 (table 1).
Table 1. Five VAAC volcano ash advisories were issued for Pago volcano for the period MayJuly 2012. Darwin VAAC Aviation Alert Colors range in four steps from green to yellow to
orange to red – lowest to highest alert. Courtesy of Darwin VAAC and GDACS.
Date - Time,
2012, UTC
3 May - 0530
3 May - 0600
VAAC Aviation
Alert Color
red
red
3 May – 0715
orange
10 July – 1630
orange
10 July – 2203
orange
Other
Observations
high level eruption to 12.2 km
high level eruption to 13.7 km
extending 74 km to NE
ash/steam plume to 13.7 km
extending 74 km to NE
ash plume to 4.3 km extending
280 km SW
ash plume to 4.3 km extending
185 km SW
According to the Papua New Guinea (PNG) National Disaster Centre (2013), PNG has 16
active and at least 28 potentially active or ‘dormant’ volcanoes which are a potential danger to
the lives of about a quarter of a million people living in a total area of 16, 000 km2. Of the 16
active volcanoes, 6 of them are classified as high-risk volcanoes - high-risk in the sense that they
have had explosive eruptions in the past and have the potential of repeating these eruptions in
future. Of these 6 high-risk volcanoes, 3 are in New Britain - Rabaul in East New Britain, and
Ulawun and Pago in West New Britain (for locations, see figure 3, BGVN 32:04, on Sulu Range
volcano).
Figure 1 shows a satellite photo of approximately 8-km diameter Witori caldera from
Google Earth. The walls of the caldera appear on the N and NW side of the caldera. A series of
lava flows have formed the lobate character of the floor of the caldera. More detail on the lava
flows appear in a previous report on Pago (figure 3, BGVN 27:08 - a vertical photo, with the old
caldera rim delineated in white, distribution of new lava flows from August 2002 shown in red,
compared with the previous lava flows from the 1911-18 eruption shown in light blue; a fault
perpendicular to the 2002 lava flow is shown in dark blue).
Figure 1. Satellite photo of Witori caldera within which Pago volcano exists. Courtesy of
Google Earth.
References: Volcano Research Center, 2002 (4 September), Pago volcano, New Britain,
Papua, New Guinea: Brief report and Photographs Aug. 26-September 2, 2002;
URL:http://hakone.eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
Papua New Guinea (PNG) National Disaster Centre (NDC), 2013 (28 July), Volcanic
eruption, PGN NDC (URL:http://www.pngndc.gov.pg/).
Geologic Summary. Pago is a young post-caldera cone that was constructed within the
5.5 x 7.5 km Witori caldera. The Buru caldera cuts the SW flank of Witori volcano. The gently
sloping outer flanks of Witori volcano consist primarily of dacitic pyroclastic-flow and airfall
deposits produced during a series of five major explosive eruptions from about 5,600 to 1,200
years ago, many of which may have been assocciated with caldera formation. The post-caldera
cone of Witori, Mount Pago, may have formed less than 350 years ago. Pago has grown to a
height above that of the Witori caldera rim. A series of ten dacitic lava flows from Pago covers
much of the caldera floor. The youngest of these was erupted during 2002-2003 from vents
extending from the summit nearly to the NW caldera wall.
Information Contacts: Ima Itikarai and Herman Patia, Rabaul Volcano Observatory
(RVO), P.O. Box 386, Rabaul, Papua New Guinea (Email: [email protected]); Darwin
Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), Bureau of Meteorology, Northern Territory Regional
Office, PO Box 40050, Casuarina, NT 0811, Australia (Email: [email protected]; URL:
http://www.bom.gov.au/info/vaac/advisories.shtml); Global Disaster Alert and Coordination
System (GDACS), United Nations and the European Commission (URL:
http://www.gdacs.org/Volcanoes); Volcano Research Center, Earthquake Research Institute,
University of Tokyo, 113-0032 1-1-1, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo (URL:http://hakone.eri.utokyo.ac.jp); and Papua New Guinea (PNG) National Disaster Centre,
(URL:http://www.pngndc.gov.pg/).