The Darwin Regional Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre has today issued an aviation red notice after Mount Sinabung on the island of Sumatra erupted. Ash clouds from the volcano rose to 5 kilometres (16 400 feet). Mt Sinabung is currently 1 of 3 volcanoes currently erupting in Indonesia. It was dormant for 400 years before erupting in 2010, then again in 2014 and 2016. Mt Sinabung has been at highest alert status since June 2015.
A large volcanic eruption has occurred at Mount Sinabung Volcano in Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Visible on the Bureau’s high definition satellite images #volcano #Sinabung pic.twitter.com/RsGldAz3yc
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) February 19, 2018
Mt Agung, which caused more than 400 cancellations to Bali flights in November is still active. The exclusion zone around Mt Agung was reduced from 6 kilometres to 4 kilometres the weekend before Valentine’s Day. Its estimated the Mt Agung eruption cost the island $1.5 billion in cancellations.