Just 23 flights left Wednesday, and the airport continues to operate below its capacity of 400 per day. Still, more than 4,500 people have flown from Bali's airport, authorities say, with about 3,200 of them on international flights.
However, the airport on nearby Lombok island — also a popular tourist destination — closed again Thursday after ash and smoke drifted in its direction, making runways slippery and posing a risk to engines, which could suck particles in.
The shifting wind occurred as a result of the Cempaka cyclone, which has battered Indonesia's main island, Java. The cyclone has left at least 19 people dead in severe flooding and landslides.
Agung, which killed more than 1,100 people when it last erupted in 1963, began rumbling anew in September, forcing 140,000 residents to evacuate. Many returned to their homes when activity decreased in October. On Saturday, Agung belched smoke for the second time in a week in what volcanologists call a phreatic eruption, caused by the heating and expansion of groundwater.
Lava flows — which often precede the flaming floods of popular imagination — have also appeared. A worst-case scenario would involve an explosive eruption that causes the mountain's cone to collapse.
About 43,000 residents have fled during the current flare-up. Though some residents have refused to leave the danger zone, which has a radius of 10-kilometers (6 miles), tens of thousands of people — some with respiratory problems linked to the volcanic ash — have filled up 225 evacuation centers. As many as 100,000 will likely need to evacuate in the case of a full eruption, disaster agency officials say.
Indonesia lies in the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent seismic activity. With 127 volcanoes, Indonesia is the world's most volcanically volatile country.
Last year, seven people died after Mount Sinabung, on Indonesia's western island of Sumatra, erupted.
In pictures: Bali's Mount Agung erupts
A volcano on the Indonesian island of Bali has erupted, sending plumes of ash thousands of meters into the sky. Authorities have upgraded flight warnings and ordered people still in the exclusion zone to leave.
Image: Reuters/Antara Foto/N. Budhiana
Ash cloud
Mount Agung in Bali's northeast erupted several times over the weekend, coating nearby resorts and villages in a thin layer of ash. Dark gray clouds spewing from the peak could be seen moving away from the capital, Denpasar, and toward the neighboring island of Lombok.
Image: Reuters
Lava's reflection
As night fell, a deep orange glow from the crater lit up part of an ash cloud that reached up to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet) into the sky. Mount Agung started showing signs of activity in September, prompting authorities to raise the volcano's emergency status to the highest level and evacuate 140,000 people living nearby. The alert was later downgraded on October 29 after a decrease in activity.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Lisnawati/AP
Ash-covered paradise
Bali's surf beaches, temples and lush forests attract about 5 million visitors each year, making the island Indonesia's top tourist destination. But Made Sugiri, from the Mahagiri Panoramic Resort, says tourist numbers have been down in recent months. "We are out of the danger zone, but like other resorts in the region, of course the eruptions cause a decrease in the number of visitors," he said.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Jilin
'Still safe'
Indonesia's disaster agency says Bali is "still safe" for tourists, noting in a statement that the emergency status for Agung remained at level 3, one below the highest, over the weekend. Despite a number of eruptions, it said volcanic activity remained relatively stable.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Tumbelaka
Flight warning upgraded
It was a different story for the aviation alert status, however, which was lifted on Sunday from orange to red — its highest level. Although many flights went ahead as planned, hundreds of people were stranded by cancellations. Lombok's airport had to be shut down, but officials said Bali's main airport would remain open for as long as it was still possible for planes to skirt the ash cloud.
Image: REUTERS
Exclusion zone
About 25,000 people fled their homes during the latest eruptions. Authorities have warned anyone still inside a 7.5-kilometer (4.5-mile) exclusion zone around the crater to leave. Mount Agung is one of more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia. Its last major eruption in 1963 killed more than a thousand people.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Lisnawati/AP
Magma and ash
Volcanologists described the renewed activity on Saturday as a phreatic eruption, with the expulsion of smoke caused by the heating and expansion of groundwater. On Sunday, officials said things may have progressed to a magmatic eruption, which results in the spewing of ash.
Safety measures
"Mount Agung ... is still spewing ash at the moment, but we need to monitor and be cautious over the possibility of a strong, explosive eruption," Indonesian government volcanologist Gede Suantika said. Soldiers and police are distributing masks to people in nearby villages and resorts to protect them from ash.
