Poas is an active 2,708m stratovolcano located in Costa Rica. It is one of the most active volcanoes in Costa Rica and has erupted more than 40 times. The Poas volcano’s latest eruption occurred in 2017, with widespread evacuations.
Location: | Poas Volcano National Park. Costa Rica |
Coordinates: | 10.198474, -84.230513 |
Volcano Type: | Stratovolcano |
Poas’s Location
Poas’s Latest Status
2024: May: Currently Active. Gas, steam, and ash continue to vent from the crater floor.
Poas’s Eruptive History
1990 | Ongoing phreatic eruptions. Crater lakes continues to shrink. |
1993 | More phreatic eruptions. |
2006 | First phreatic eruption in over 12 years |
2009 | A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck near Poas, killing at least 40 people. This did not increase eruptive activity. |
2014 | A series of phreatic eruptions – also caught on the newly installed web cam. Plume to 300m. |
2017 | Increase in phreatic and phreato-magmatic explosions. Ash column to 3000m. |
2019 | Ongoing phreatic eruptions and changing crater lake levels. Multiple thermal anomalies recorded. September: Eruption producing ash column to 2km. |
2022 | OVSICORI-UNA has reported increased seismicity since mid August. |
2023 | Dec: OVSICORI-UNA has reported a small phreatic eruption producing a steam plume to 200m. |
2024 | April: Gas, steam, and ash continue to vent from the crater floor. Activity intensified dramatically on March 29th, and remains high, with continuous seismic and infrasound signals. VAAC Washington has issued a Volcanic Ash Advisory with a plume rising to 3000m |
Poas Monitoring
Please refer to OVSICORI for monitoring of this volcano.
Poas Images