First details

Momotombo is an active stratovolcano located on the northern shore of Lake Managua in western Nicaragua. Scientists who studied the area in 1902 named it “smoky terror.” According to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program, Momotombo is relatively young, approximately 4,500 years old, and its summit rises to 1,270 meters above sea level.

Momotombo has experienced several revivals over the past 500 years. A large-scale eruption in 1610 caused an earthquake that destroyed the nearby city of León, which was then under Spanish control. The city’s inhabitants resettled and built a modern version of León, now Nicaragua’s second largest city, and the ruins of the old city are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A volcano right now is in the process of explodingJust like in November 2015 and February 2016, when significant magma emissions occurred. Before these two events, the volcano had not erupted since 1905, more than a century.

The 2015 eruption looked like this:

Are there any dangers today?

According to the Global Volcanism Program, from 2021 onwards the volcano No significant activity that could threaten humans was observedSo the current case has not yet attracted much attention from scientists.

The clouds thrown up by Momotombo probably contain: a mixture of poisonous gases such as water vapor and hydrogen sulfideIt has painted the volcano’s top yellow for thousands of years. The volcano has frequently spewed these clouds in the years before and after eruptions, such as from 2016 to 2018. You can find a photo on the internet from 2023, when the volcano also spewed some smoke.

Momotombo Volcano photographed in 2023 / Photo by @Joel190779

Interestingly, Momotombo is part of the Central American Volcanic Arc, which extends along the western coast of the continent from Mexico to Panama, and is surrounded by many other volcanoes, including its younger sister, the stratovolcano Momotomboto. It is 350 meters high and is located in the middle of Lake Managua. Although it formed alongside Momotombo and is likely linked by common magma sources, Momotombito is now calm and doesn’t even smoke.