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Drone peers into active Balinese Agung volcano

On Thursday, October 19 a surveillance drone flew over the Agung volcano in Bali, Indonesia and detected that the fracture that was photographed by a satellite on
Wednesday had in fact widened. While the seismic activity under Agung is still at an increased level, it has come down since then and continues to decline.

Volcanoes seem to be a bit of a theme lately as we reported on Japan and Hawaii earlier.

Fake news, real volcano

Authorities are urging people to stop spreading fake news about the volcano and possible eruption. Bali is safe for tourists.

BNPB’s spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said, as reported by The Jakarta Post:

“The fracture is located on the eastern side of the volcano. The sulfuric gases emanating from the fracture are also denser than before. The highest energy was on September 22, 2017, when the status was raised to 4. After that it was downhill.”

He continued to say that the drone photos also reveal a smaller fracture in the southeastern part of the crater.

Mount Agung is located on the east side of Bali, roughly 43 miles from the main tourist areas of Kuta and Seminyak. Both towns remain unaffected for now.

Geologically speaking

Symmetrical Agung stratovolcano is Bali’s highest and most sacred mountain. At 10,308 feet, it towers over the east end of the island. Agung, the volcano’s name, means “Paramount” and rises above the South East caldera rim of the neighboring Batur volcano. The northern and southern flanks of Agung extend to the coastline.

Only a few eruptions have been recorded since the 19th century. One of the largest volcanic eruptions took place here in 1963-64. It produced voluminous ashfall along with devastating pyroclastic flows and lahars that caused widespread destruction and fatalities.

Featured image: Steam rising from the crater of Mount Agung, Bali, Indonesia – October 21, 2017. Credit: Sutopo Purwo Nugroho / BNPB

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Avatar for Haye Kesteloo Haye Kesteloo

Haye Kesteloo is the Editor in Chief and Main Writer at DroneDJ, where he covers all drone related news and writes product reviews. He also contributes to the other sites in the 9to5Mac group such as; 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys and Electrek. Haye can be reached at haye@dronedj.com or @hayekesteloo