On November 23, 2025, the Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia erupted for the first time in about 12,000 years, sending ash and gas high into the sky and disturbing life across several countries. The blast affected air travel, local communities, and raised new scientific and climate questions.
A Sleeping Giant Wakes Up
Hayli Gubbi lies in Ethiopia’s Afar region, where three tectonic plates slowly pull apart and make the ground highly unstable. Many nearby volcanoes erupt from time to time, but Hayli Gubbi had shown no known activity since the end of the last Ice Age, so scientists saw it as long dormant.
When a volcano stays quiet for thousands of years, pressure from magma and gas can slowly build up deep below the surface. If that pressure finally breaks through, the result can be a very powerful eruption, which is what appears to have happened at Hayli Gubbi.
How the Eruption Happened
People living in the village of Afdera near the volcano felt the ground shake strongly on the morning of November 23. Within minutes, a huge column of ash and gas shot upward, reaching around 15–16 kilometers into the atmosphere, about the same height where many passenger jets cruise.
The ash plume spread outward like a giant umbrella and could be seen from hundreds of kilometers away, while satellites tracked sulfur dioxide drifting over the Red Sea toward Yemen and Oman. Ash fell so thickly in some areas that daylight turned gray, people stayed indoors to avoid breathing problems, and local water sources and grazing fields became polluted.
Impact on Flights and Local Communities
The day after the eruption, many countries began closing parts of their airspace as the ash cloud spread. Airlines such as Air India, Akasa Air, and KLM cancelled or diverted flights because volcanic ash can melt inside jet engines and cause serious damage.
These changes did more than inconvenience travelers; they separated families, delayed medical trips, and forced airlines to fly longer routes that used more fuel and cost more money. Even with modern tools to watch ash clouds, the speed and size of this event showed how hard it is for aviation to cope with a sudden major eruption.
For local pastoral communities, especially Afar families who depend on cattle, goats, and camels, the eruption became a fight for survival. Ash made grasslands and water unsafe for animals, threatening food supplies and income, while schools, markets, and normal daily activities shut down as people focused on basic needs.
Science, Climate, and Future Preparedness
Teams of geologists and other experts quickly moved in—on the ground and via satellite—to study the eruption and the volcano’s structure. They collected ash, measured gas outputs, and installed new sensors to learn why a volcano quiet for millennia suddenly became active, hoping this knowledge will improve early warnings elsewhere.
Scientists also discussed how the sulfur dioxide that reached the stratosphere might slightly cool the planet for a short time, though this eruption seems smaller than the famous 1991 Mount Pinatubo event that noticeably lowered global temperatures. At the same time, the disaster revealed that Ethiopia’s local early-warning and monitoring systems are less advanced than those in richer countries, prompting calls for more investment in volcano watching across Africa and other under-monitored regions.
As the ash slowly settled and flights began to resume, experts kept a close eye on Hayli Gubbi to see whether it would calm down or stay active. The eruption reminded the world that even volcanoes considered sleeping can wake suddenly and that human plans must adapt to forces deep within the Earth that do not follow human schedules or expectations.
Sources:
Copernicus, Nov 24, 2025
Midday India, Nov 25, 2025