Emergency service officials in Guatemala on Tuesday issued an orange alert over increasing eruptions from the country's southeastern Fuego volcano and ordered the evacuation of a nearby hotel.

The 12,346-foot high colossus, whose name means "fire" in Spanish , showed heightened activity overnight, sending columns of ash high into the sky, spilling lava down its side and provoking small tremors.

Fine ash was falling on at least six villages and on the town of San Pedro Yepocapa, in the indigenous province of Chimaltenango, a state spokesman for the Disaster Reduction National Coordination Committee, David de Leon, told reporters.

The country's Seismology and Vulcanology Institute urged authorities to consider taking precautionary measures for air traffic.

Thick, airborne ash can clog planes' engines and cause them to fail. In February, the volcano erupted with such force and so much ash that Guatemala was forced to close the airport serving its capital.

Guatemala and neighboring countries lie on what is known as the Central American Volcanic Arc, a chain of hundreds of volcanoes that forms part of the Pacific "Rim of Fire". Most are dormant, but some spectacular, and dangerous, eruptions do happen.

The Fuego volcano lies near Guatemala's colonial-era city of Antigua Guatemala and is about 40 kilometers southwest of the capital Guatemala City.

Less than a week after a pair of eruptions, Mexicos Colima or Fire volcano pulled of the feat again on Tuesday (10 November) morning, as its period of activity continues.

According to officials, the first eruption occurred at 7.03am local time, sending a column of ash and smoke some 2,500m into the sky. National Civil Protection coordinator Luis Felipe Puente said on his Twitter account that ash and smoke rose 2,000m above the crater of the volcano during the second explosion, which occurred at 9.02am local time.

Located in the south-western Mexican state of Colima, the Fire Volcano has been exhibiting continuous activity since 9 July. Over the past months, nearby villages have been blanketed with thick coats of ash, prompting evacuations.

Officially known as the Colima Volcano, it was previously active in January and February and is part of the Pacifics Ring of Fire. Mexico contains over 3,000 volcanoes but only 14 are considered active.

New activity/unrest was observed at 5 volcanoes from October 28 - November 3, 2015. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 18 volcanoes.

New activity/unrest:

Fuego, Guatemala | Heard, Kerguelen Plateau | Lascar, Chile | Rinjani, Lombok Island (Indonesia) | Turrialba, Costa Rica.

Ongoing activity:

Aira, Kyushu (Japan) | Bagana, Bougainville (Papua New Guinea) | Colima, Mexico | Colo, Sulawesi (Indonesia) | Cotopaxi, Ecuador | Dukono, Halmahera (Indonesia) | Karangetang, Siau Island (Indonesia) | Karymsky, Eastern Kamchatka (Russia) | Kilauea, Hawaiian Islands (USA) | Manam, Papua New Guinea | Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia | Piton de la Fournaise, Reunion Island (France) | Santa Maria, Guatemala | Sheveluch, Central Kamchatka (Russia) | Shishaldin, Fox Islands (USA) | Sinabung, Indonesia | Tungurahua, Ecuador | Ubinas, Peru.

New activity/unrest:

Fuego, Guatemala
14.473°N, 90.88°W, Summit elev. 3763 m

INSIVUMEH reported that during 30 October-3 November explosions at Fuego generated ash plumes that rose 450-850 m above the crater and drifted as far as 10 km W and SW. Incandescent material was ejected 100 m high. Ashfall was reported in Panimache I and II (8 km SW), Morelia (9 km SW), Santa Sofía (12 km SW), and El Porvenir (8 km ENE) during 2-3 November.

Geologic summary: Volcán Fuego, one of Central America's most active volcanoes, is one of three large stratovolcanoes overlooking Guatemala's former capital, Antigua. The scarp of an older edifice, Meseta, lies between 3763-m-high Fuego and its twin volcano to the north, Acatenango. Construction of Meseta dates back to about 230,000 years and continued until the late Pleistocene or early Holocene. Collapse of Meseta may have produced the massive Escuintla debris-avalanche deposit, which extends about 50 km onto the Pacific coastal plain. Growth of the modern Fuego volcano followed, continuing the southward migration of volcanism that began at Acatenango. In contrast to the mostly andesitic Acatenango, eruptions at Fuego have become more mafic with time, and most historical activity has produced basaltic rocks. Frequent vigorous historical eruptions have been recorded since the onset of the Spanish era in 1524, and have produced major ashfalls, along with occasional pyroclastic flows and lava flows.

Heard, Kerguelen Plateau
53.106°S, 73.513°E, Summit elev. 2745 m

A plume from Heard was visible in a satellite image drifting SSW on 30 October.

Supervolcanoes, massive eruptions with potential global consequences, appear not to follow the conventional volcano mechanics of internal pressure building until the volcano blows. Instead, a new study finds, such massive magma chambers might erupt when the roof above them cracks or collapses.

Knowledge of triggering mechanisms is crucial for monitoring supervolcano systems, including ones that lie beneath Yellowstone National Park and Long Valley, California, according to the study led by Patricia Gregg, University of Illinois professor of geology, in collaboration with professor Eric Grosfils of Pomona College and professor Shan de Silva of Oregon State University. The study was published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. Gregg also presented the findings this week at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.

"If we want to monitor supervolcanoes to determine if one is progressing toward eruption, we need better understanding of what triggers a supereruption," Gregg said. "It's very likely that supereruptions must be triggered by an external mechanism and not an internal mechanism, which makes them very different from the typical, smaller volcanoes that we monitor."

A supervolcano is classed as more than 500 cubic kilometers of erupted magma volume. For comparison, Gregg said, Mount St. Helen's ejected about one cubic kilometer of material, so a supervolcano is more than five hundred times larger.

Indonesia closed Bali airport, one of the country's busiest international terminals, until Thursday due to volcanic eruptions on Mount Rinjani on a nearby island, meteorological agency said on Wednesday.

Ngurah Rai airport in Denpasar and Selaparang airport in West Nusa Tenggara will be closed until Thursday and the situation will be re-evaluated before reopening, Indonesia's meteorological agency said in a statement.

"Tremors due to volcanic activities are continuously recorded and potential of more eruption is still high," it said. Mount Rinjani has been spewing ashes since last weekend.

Tens of thousands of travelers in Bali were stranded in July when the resort island's airport was closed due to volcanic eruptions on Mount Raung in East Java.

Mexicos Colima or Fire volcano erupted once again on 1 November, as its period of activity rolls on. There were five explosions between 8am and noon local time, and ash from the volcano reached 1,500 metres into the sky.

Located in the southwestern Mexican state of Colima, the Fire volcano has been exhibiting continuous activity since 9 July. Over several months, nearby villages have been blanketed with thick coats of ash, leading to evacuations.

The eruption on Sunday morning required no such evacuation. But officials were releasing warnings to locals to cover their faces and to be careful before drinking water.

The volcano, officially known as Colima, was previously active in January and February of 2015 and is part of the Pacifics Ring of Fire.

Mexico has more than 3,000 volcanos, but only 14 are considered active. Major eruptions in Mexican history have included the Paricutin volcano in Michoacan in 1953, the Tacana volcano in Chiapas in 1982, and the Colima volcano in 1986.

Disaster mitigation authorities in West Nusa Tenggara have raised the status of Indonesia's second highest active volcano to "alert" as it continues to spew ash, prompting an Australian airline to cancel all flights to and from Denpasar airport today.

Mount Barujari, Mount Rinjani's cone and a result of eruptions of the main volcano in 1994 and 1995, erupted on Sunday sending hot clouds and debris up to around 10,000 feet, Azhar, chief of the West Nusa Tenggara Disaster Mitigation Agency, said on Tuesday.

Although the status remains at alert, Azhar said, the agency had prepared a number of evacuation scenarios for some 40,000 residents living near the 3,726-meter volcano located in the North Lombok district.

"We will evacuate them immediately to the safest areas in North Lombok, East Lombok and West Lombok," said Azhar as quoted by news portal Okezone.com on Tuesday.

The volcanic activity has prompted Virgin Australia to cancel all of Tuesday's flights to and from Indonesia's most popular tourist destination island of Bali — neighboring Lombok.

Lascar, in the northern Andes of Chile, erupted unexpectedly today, producing a small plume of light grey ash that reached 2.5 kilometers (~8,200 feet) above the volcano (see above). The fact that there seemed to be little in the way of precursory activity (earthquakes, increased gas emissions) from Lascar suggests that this blast may have been a phreatic explosion driven by water flashing to steam in the volcano's summit crater or conduit.

Due to this minor eruption, the SERNAGEOMIN has raised the alert status at Lascar to Yellow, although the volcano is in a fairly remote part of the Chilean Andes—the Global Volcanism Program reports only ~8,100 people living within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of Lascar.

It has been over 2 years since Lascar last did anything and its last major eruption of Lascar was in 2005. However, it has produced some spectacular eruptions in the recent past, including the 1993 eruption that was a VEI 4. As with any of these small blasts, volcanologists will watch Lascar to see if this is a sign that it is awakening or merely a blip. Based on images on the Lascar webcam, the eruption appears to have waned rapidly (see below).

The SERNAGEOMIN maintains two webcams pointed at Lascar, although only one is running right now.

Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano erupted on Thursday (29 October), belching ash and smoke across blue skies, authorities reported. A spectacular column of ash erupted from the volcano at 8.57am local time. The volcano is located 50 miles southeast of the capital, Mexico City.

National Civil Protection Coordinator Luis Felipe Puente said in his Twitter account, ash and smoke rose 3,000 metres above the crater of the volcano, in the direction of the north east.

Mexico's National Centre for Disaster Prevention (Cenapred) reported that a total of 141 exhalations of low intensity in the last 24 hours have been reported, following a series of rumblings at the massive volcano in recent months. Mexico contains over 3,000 volcanos but only 14 are considered active.

Costa Ricas Turrialba volcano released a column of gas and ash into the sky on Tuesday (26 October) in the latest of a series of eruptions at the majestic volcano. According to officials, the eruption occurred at 8.37am local time (2.37pm GMT) and was a little bigger than recent activity at the site. Geologist Floribet Vega said that dozens of eruptions have been registered at Turrialba in recent days.