Santa Bárbara Volcano on Terceira, Azores, Hits V3 After Five Quakes

A string of fresh jolts has reminded the Azores that life on an active volcanic chain never truly rests. Five earthquakes have rippled through Terceira in less than twenty-five hours, nudging the alert level for the Santa Bárbara volcano to V3 and forcing authorities to repeat advice that many islanders can now recite from memory. Scientists insist the situation remains under control, yet every rumble fuels the same question on the mainland and in the archipelago alike: how close is the island to a full-blown volcanic episode?

Shaking That Sticks Around

Phones began buzzing just before dawn when a magnitude 2.2 tremor struck near Serreta, at roughly 04:45, only hours after twin shocks of 3.6 and 3.5 had rattled windows on the west coast. By mid-morning a separate event of 3.8 was logged close to Doze Ribeiras. The latest series, felt as far away as São Jorge, reached intensity V on the Mercalli scale, strong enough to topple picture frames and wake light sleepers. Although these numbers would barely make headlines in regions like California or Japan, the frequency and clustering of events in Terceira’s fissural system have seismologists paying attention. Over the past two months, magnitude values have been climbing steadily, reinforcing the impression that magma is still on the move beneath the Atlantic seabed.

What Santa Bárbara Is Telling Scientists

Research teams from CIVISA and the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) have traced the unrest to a shallow magma intrusion under the western volcanic rift, directly below the island’s highest peak. Since a pronounced jump in ground deformation in mid-2024, sensors have captured a persistent pattern: short bursts of earthquakes followed by quiet hours, then another swarm. That on-off rhythm, according to volcanologist Marta Freitas, is the signature of pressurised magma finding new fractures. She describes the current V3 designation as a yellow light, signalling “reactivation, not eruption,” yet acknowledges that intrusive episodes can escalate without warning. For comparison, the island’s strongest jolt during this crisis remains the 4.5 event of January 2024, which cracked walls in several parishes. Nothing so serious has occurred this week, but the cumulative stress inside the crust is undeniably higher than the baseline recorded before June 2022, when the present crisis began.

Civil Protection Adjusts Its Playbook

While rumblings dominate scientific briefings, everyday life goes on. Still, Serviço Regional de Proteção Civil e Bombeiros dos Açores has refreshed its public guidance. The agency urges people to keep torches and radios nearby, to open interior doors after any shake so they do not jam, and to leave gas lines closed until inspections are finished. Officials also repeat a lesser-known tip: avoid beachfront areas in the minutes after a strong quake in case a local tsunami develops. During the nationwide drill A Terra Treme, held two days before the latest swarm, schoolchildren practised the drill known as “Drop, Cover, Hold On”. Superintendent Paulo Correia says that real tremors, arriving so soon after the exercise, “proved the relevance of those three seconds of reflex.” Insurance companies on the mainland, meanwhile, report a modest uptick in calls from policyholders anxious to confirm that their home and vehicle contracts cover seismic damage.

How This Sequence Ranks in Azorean Memory

Since 2015, the archipelago has logged hundreds of quakes above magnitude 3, yet few clusters rival the persistence of Terceira’s current crisis. Annual catalogues show that 2023 produced 124 felt events across all nine islands, but only a handful exceeded magnitude 4. The present unrest has already generated multiple shocks above 3.5 in one fortnight, capped by the infamous 4.5 last year. For residents who recall the Capelinhos eruption on Faial in 1957—or, more recently, the Pico Ridge swarm of 1998—the comparison is unsettling. However, geophysicist João Brum points out that continuous monitoring, high-speed data links to Lisbon, and real-time deformation models give today’s authorities far greater situational awareness than their predecessors had even a decade ago.

Living With Uncertainty on a Green Island

Tour guides still lead visitors along the emerald slopes of Serra de Santa Bárbara, and dairy farms continue shipping milk toward the continent every dawn flight. Yet conversations in cafés across Angra do Heroísmo drift inevitably toward the next tremor. Bartender Ana Sousa admits she sleeps with her shoes by the bed; fisherman Rui Bettencourt says he has mapped higher ground near his harbour, “just in case the sea decides to misbehave.” Their pragmatism echoes a broader Azorean resilience. As long as airlines keep runways open, ferries maintain schedules, and the V3 alert stays short of V4, locals plan to carry on—albeit with an ear tuned to the low rumble beneath their feet.