The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) raised Mayon Volcano to alert level two following the continued seismic growth of lava dome monitored on its crater.

It said as of Tuesday, "the lava dome has increased in volume by approximately 48,000 (cubic meters) since 20 August 2022."

"Ocular inspection of the summit during an aerial survey this morning confirmed the presence of freshly extruded lava at the base of the summit lava dome," it stated.

Phivolcs said alert level 2 "means that there is current unrest driven by shallow magmatic processes that could eventually lead to phreatic eruptions or even precede hazardous magmatic eruption."

"The public is strongly advised to be vigilant and desist from entering the six kilometer-radius permanent danger zone (PDZ) to minimize risks from sudden explosions, rockfall and landslides," it added.

Phivolcs said "the event was signalled only by observations of thin remobilized light-colored ash, likely derived from lava fragmentation during the extrusion process, on the floor of the Miisi Gully since 2 October 2022."

"Longer-term ground deformation parameters based on EDM, precise leveling, continuous GPS, and electronic tilt monitoring show that Mayon has been slightly inflated, especially on the northwest and southeast, since 2020," it stated.

It also noted that the sulfur dioxode emission last measured by campaign Flyspec on October 1, 2022 has averaged of 391 tonnes per day which is below the baseline levels.

"The public is strongly advised to be vigilant and desist from entering the six kilometer-radius Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) to minimize risks from sudden explosions, rockfall and landslides.

Phivolcs said civil aviation authorities must also advise pilots to avoid flying close to the volcano’s summit as ash from any sudden eruption can be hazardous to aircraft. Robina Asido/DMS