Old Taal eruption clips resurface as volcanic smog blankets Philippine main island
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on October 10, 2023 at 07:13
- 5 min read
- By Jan Cuyco, AFP Philippines
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"This is no ordinary fog -- it's smog that came from the Taal Volcano. Wear your face mask when you go outside," reads the Tagalog-language caption of a Facebook reel viewed more than 300,000 times since it was posted on September 22, 2023.
The nearly two-minute video contains several clips of the volcano emitting giant columns of thick ash, as well as images that appear to show towns blanketed by haze. Its text overlay says "Taal Volcano / September 21-22, 2023".
A grey haze hung over the archipelago's sprawling capital and nearby provinces on those days, prompting some local governments to cancel classes.
Experts blamed the hazardous air on a weather phenomenon that traps smog and a spike in sulphur dioxide emissions from Taal, which sits around 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Manila (archived links here and here).
Similar posts about volcanic smog from Taal were shared on Facebook here, here and here.
But they misleadingly feature clips that do not show Taal's recent volcanic activity.
"Although the main crater has been degassing significantly since 2021, it has not produced such profuse plumes these past months, most definitely not on 21-22 September 2023," Ma. Antonia Bornas, chief of the volcano monitoring unit of the country's volcanology agency Phivolcs, told AFP on October 4.
Reverse image and keyword searches on Google found some of the clips have actually circulated in reports about previous Taal eruptions.
Volcanic lightning
The clip at the beginning of the video -- which appears to show lightning ripping through Taal's giant ash plume -- had earlier been shared here and here on Facebook in January 2020.
Taal erupted on January 13, 2020, shooting a massive column of ash kilometres (miles) into the sky. Lightning crackled through its ash cloud in a poorly understood phenomenon that has been attributed to static electricity.
Subsequent keyword searches led to the same footage published on the website of local media outlet GMA News here, as part of a news package explaining Taal's ashfall (archived link).
Its Tagalog-language caption says: "Many were amazed at the speed of the eruption of the Taal volcano and the 'lightning' show sighted from the volcano."
The clip used in the false social media posts, seen at the GMA News video's 28-second mark, was published alongside other eyewitness footage of the volcanic lightning.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip in the false post (left) and GMA News' video from January 2020 (right):
Giant smoke plumes
Two other clips appearing to show Taal spewing ash and steam had in fact circulated online in 2022, when the volcano exploded with a "short-lived burst".
According to Phivolcs, the burst was followed by "nearly continuous phreatomagmatic activity" that sent plumes stretching 1,500 metres (4,900 feet) into the air.
A phreatomagmatic eruption happens when molten rock comes into contact with underground or surface water.
A reverse image search on Google found the clip was published by local newspaper The Philippine Star on Facebook here on March 26, 2022 (archived link).
Its caption reads: "A netizen from Brgy. Lumanglipa, Mataas na Kahoy in Batangas captured the Taal Volcano emitting thick layer of smoke at 8:20 AM on Saturday".
Below is a screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the video posted by The Philippine Star in 2022 (right):
Another clip showing a closeup view of Taal's brief explosion can also be found in reports by the US broadcaster Voice of America and the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper from March 2022 (archived links here and here).
AFP traced the video to a March 26, 2022 post by Facebook user Gin Chris Perez. His account shows a history of posts featuring images taken from a town near Taal (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the video posted by Perez (right):
Another image included in the falsely shared video was shared here in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in March 2022 (archived link).
Volcanic smog
AFP cannot independently verify other images in the video that show similar pillars of thick smoke rising from Taal.
But Bornas of Phivolcs said they are not from recent volcanic activity.
"The two snaps in fact may be profuse plumes emanating from minor eruptive activity of the volcano, possibly on 26 March 2022," she told AFP.
Other images shared in the posts corresponded to a local report on September 21, 2023 about volcanic smog in areas near Taal.
The formation of volcanic smog is not indicative of an imminent eruption at Taal, Phivolcs director Teresito Bacolcol said in a September 26 press briefing (archived link).
The Philippines is periodically hit by volcanic eruptions and earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" -- a zone of intense seismic activity.
AFP has previously debunked misinformation about the Taal volcano here, here and here.
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