Hayli Gubbi volcano erupts for the first time in recorded history, Ethiopia

Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia’s Afar Rift Volcanic Province erupted at about 08:30 UTC on November 23, 2025. This is the first confirmed Holocene eruption of the volcano and the first documented eruptive activity in the instrumental record.

The Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) issued multiple advisories throughout the day as ash and gas spread across the region, initially rising to roughly 3 km (10 000 feet) above sea level and later reaching approximately 14 km (46 000 feet) during the strongest phase of the eruption.

By 20:00 UTC on November 23, VAAC Toulouse confirmed that the eruption had stopped, but residual ash up to around 5.2–6.1 km (17 000–20 000 feet) above sea level continued to drift over Ethiopia.

Updated advisories issued early on November 24 reported that the upper-level plume, containing both ash and SO₂, had moved east and northeast across the Red Sea and was located over Yemen and Oman at altitudes of up to about 14 km (46 000 feet).

At present, no confirmed reports of casualties or major damage in nearby settlements have been reported, but the remote setting and wide-area ash/gas dispersal raise potential concerns for communities, livestock and infrastructure.

Forecast dispersion data suggest continued transport of ash and gas toward the Arabian Peninsula and the western Indian Ocean. Wind shear produced a split plume structure, with lower-level ash drifting southeast at roughly 9 km/h (6 mph) and upper-level material moving east-northeast.

Updated SO₂ measurements from the Support to Aviation Control Service (SACS) using IASI-C at 06:31 UTC on November 24 showed that a large and elevated SO₂ plume remained in the atmosphere after the end of eruptive activity.

The retrieval reported maximum SO₂ values of 15.1 DU near 14.39° N, 45.08° E, with plume heights between 5 km (16 400 feet) and 17 km (55 800 feet). The center-of-mass height was detected near 16 km (52 500 feet), suggesting that most of the remaining SO₂ is concentrated at upper-tropospheric to lower-stratospheric levels.

Total SO₂ mass loading reached 58.405 kt, and the plume area expanded to approximately 842 145 km² (325 100 mi²), drifting eastward toward the Arabian Peninsula and the western Indian Ocean.

According to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program (GVP), Hayli Gubbi has no known eruptions during the Holocene. The volcano is located in the southernmost edifice of the Erta Ale Range.

Recent tectonism has formed a summit graben occupied by a symmetrical scoria cone with a 200 m (650 feet) wide crater displaying fumarolic activity. An older shield volcano is overlain by recent fissure-fed lava flows to the north.

Lava flows from the southern axial fissure system have reached the floor of the Giulietti Plain, covering sedimentary deposits dated to about 8 200 years. Open fissures extend for more than 10 km (6.2 miles) and contain numerous small spatter cones and pit craters.

Teo Blašković

I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.

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