On 23 November 2025, the
Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) released an advisory bulletin stating that an explosive volcanic eruption was underway, and an ash plume had been detected in satellite imagery. The initial eruption is reported to have occurred at 08:30 UTC, with an ash plume reaching (
flight level 450). The ash plume later drifted northeastward across the
Arabian peninsula, including
Yemen and
Oman and eventually into
North India and parts of China, causing flight disruptions. The eruption is likely a
sub-plinian eruption, with a buoyant eruption plume visible in photographs of the event. Volcanic activity subsided on 25 November. A field expedition already in the area reported observations of the volcano and ejecta on 25 November suggesting that the eruption was
produced by a steam explosion. Following the eruption, there were concerns about impacts on
air quality in some locations, and on the impacts on air travel from the drifting
ash plume. However, there were no reports of significant impacts away from the location of the eruption itself. In a research paper published shortly after the eruption, authors from the Universities of
Addis Ababa,
Pisa and
Southampton and colleagues reported that they had detected an underground
intrusion of
magma beneath the nearby volcano,
Erta Ale, during July and August 2025. The
dike intrusion began on 10–16 July, and accompanied a major eruption of Erta Ale on 15 July 2025, which involved explosions, crater collapse and lava flows. Satellite imagery and modelling showed that the dike propagated southwards in July and August 2025, underneath Hayli Gubbi. The eruption was likely caused by the mixing of the basaltic magma from a dyke from Erta Ale with a preexisting trachytic magma chamber over the span of four months before breaking through. ==See also==