Volcanoes
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Attention

Volcano triplets spotted erupting on the South Sandwich Islands

On Sept. 29, 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this false-color image showing volcanic activity in the South Sandwich Islands.
© NASAOn Sept. 29, 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this false-color image showing volcanic activity in the South Sandwich Islands.
Three active volcanoes simultaneously erupting and unleashing giant plumes of smoke were spotted by a NASA satellite as it passed over a remote archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean.

The three stratovolcanoes — a type of composite volcano built of layers of lava, ash and stone — are located on the South Sandwich Islands, which are about 1,700 miles (2,800 kilometers) southeast of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Volcanoes in the region are some of the least studied in the world, because of the remote location and inhospitable environment of the islands.

On Sept. 29, NASA's Aqua satellite captured the plumes from these volcano triplets in a false-color image. Clouds and ice in the region make it difficult for satellites to see volcanic activity in natural-color imagery, NASA said. False-color images use portions of the electromagnetic spectrum typically invisible to humans — such as infrared — to distinguish ice from ash and clouds, according to the agency.

Arrow Up

Peru's Ubinas volcano resumes eruptions after 9-month hiatus

Ubinas eruption
© Melquades Alvarez
A series of events beginning with one exhalation and followed by three explosions took place the evening of Sunday, October 2, into Monday morning.

The most energetic of the three explosions happened on Sunday evening at 10:50 p.m., measuring at 19 megajoules, just three hours after the first exhalation happened at 7:21 p.m. But this measured 0.6 megajoules. It was the late night explosion that caused ash coverage in the villages of Santa Rosa de Phara and Yanapuqui northeast of the volcano.

The explosions Monday morning at 4:24 a.m. and 5:52 a.m. led to ash within the town of Ubinas, which is southeast of the volcano with the wind carrying it southwest of the volcano also.

Due to fluctuations with rise of magma, the Scientific Committee of Permanent Monitoring of Volcano Ubinas, composed of the Volcano Observatory of the South (OVS) and the Volcanological Observatory of the INGEMMET (OVI), warned of possible reoccurrences and to take proper measures.


Comment: The last eruption was reported in January of this year.

Peru's Ubinas volcano erupts: 3km smoke ash cloud


Seismograph

Fears of Teide volcano eruption after 'abnormal' earthquake swarm hits Tenerife

Tenerife earthquake swarm
© INVOLCAN92 microquakes were recorded in Adeje and Vilaflor in the space of four hours on Sunday October 2

FEARS are mounting that a huge volcano on the island of Tenerife could erupt after nearly 100 mini earthquakes were reported in FOUR HOURS in the region


The Volcanology Institute of the Canary Islands (Involcan) reported a significant spike in seismic activity on Sunday afternoon.

Some 92 microquakes were recorded in Adeje and Vilaflor in the space of four hours, with one measuring more than 1.5 on the Richter scale.

The majority of the quakes took place between 7 and 13km below ground sparking fears Mount Teide could be about to blow.

Involcan has sent teams to the area to measure the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere following the quakes, which they described as a "seismic swarm" which is "abnormal" for the region.

An increase in carbon dioxide is said to be an early indicator of volcanic earthquake activity that can precede an eruption.

Involcan said in a statement: "We are registering an important seismic rally on the island of Tenerife.

"In principle, these earthquakes are very low magnitude, consistent with those that occur in active volcanoes.

"The number of earthquakes is provisional pending the analysis of the signals more closely, but we can qualify this activity as a seismic swarm whose pattern is an alignment with prevailing direction northeast to southwest ".

Attention

Six previously undiscovered volcanoes found near Italy's deadly Mt Vesuvius

volcanoes submerged near Naples
© GettyThe volcanoes are submerged near the coast of Naples

SIX previously undiscovered volcanoes have been found off of the coast of Naples, all of which are situated close to the deadly Mt Vesuvius.


The newly found submerged volcanoes lie just three kilometres from the Gulf of Naples - home to Mt Vesuvius.

Mt Vesuvius is responsible for one of the most deadly eruptions in human history when, in 79 AD, the huge volcano erupted over the city of Pompeii, killing all 11,000 inhabitants of the ancient Roman-ruled area.

Researchers from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), the University of Naples Federico II and the National Research Council discovered the new volcanoes during a campaign in 2014 to garner more information on Vesuvius, which is overdue an eruption, but information has only just been released.

INGV's Guido Ventura said: "We detected new points of carbon dioxide emissions in the Gulf of Naples, which is quite common in geothermal and volcanic areas such as Naples.

"And here we have discovered six volcanic structures (cones and domes) with a diameter of 800 meters, unknown until now."

Comment: There has been a sharp rise in observable volcanic activity on our planet's surface in recent times. However, the vast majority of the planet's volcanoes are located underwater (up to one million is estimated).

Unprecedented marine heatwaves could be attributed to increased quantities of CO2, methane outgassing and heat coming up from below, i.e. passing up through the oceans from within the planet, heating and acidifying the planet's oceans.

Such activity may be a significant contributory factor to the increasing number of bizarre, odd (perhaps even mutated species), previously unknown and mysterious creatures being discovered recently, together with increases in abnormal animal and marine behavior. All over the world such 'strange' and 'unusual' incidents are quickly becoming the norm, as are mass fish die offs.


Seismograph

Katla volcano continues to tremble in Iceland with over 200 tremors in 24 hours

Katla volcano.
© Páll Stefánsson.Katla volcano.
Seismic activity in Katla volcano, South Iceland, continues. No less than 200 tremors have registered there in the past 24 hours, Vísir reports. Three quakes in excess of magnitude 3 hit the volcano overnight, the largest one at 4:41 am, of magnitude 3.7. It was preceded by another one of magnitude 3.1 a minute earlier. The third one measured 3.2 at 2:43 am. All three were shallow. Sigurdís Björg Jónasdóttir, natural hazard specialist at the Icelandic Met Office, reported that the seismic activity was constant all night long.

"It's been very lively in Katla overnight, but the tremors are all shallow, and there hasn't been any eruption activity or glacial outburst flood activity, so those of us who are on call are relatively calm, since the situation effectively hasn't changed since yesterday," Sigurdís stated.

Katla volcano is located under the icecap of Mýrdalsjökull glacier. It last erupted in 1918, but has, on average, erupted twice a century.

Bizarro Earth

Residents forced to flee after Mexico's 'Volcano of Fire' emits violent eruption of lava and ash

colima volcano
© webcamsdemexico / Instagram
Streams of lava and large plumes of ash emitted in a dramatic volcanic eruption has forced residents in the state of Colima, Mexico to leave their homes.

One of the most active volcanoes in Central America, the Colima volcano has been erupting slowly since early September.

More than 300 people were ordered on Friday to evacuate from two villages in the foothills of Volcan de Fuego, the 3,839-meter mountain which towers over the states of Jalisco and Colima.

A timelapse taken from a webcam observing the peak shows its most recent fiery outburst, raining molten rock and ash on the surrounding area.


Attention

Barujari volcano erupts in central Indonesia sending ash column 2 km high

 Thick volcano ash emanates from the crater of Mount Barujari, a sub-volcano of Mount Rinjani in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara
© West Nusa Tenggara Disaster Mitigation Agency Thick volcano ash emanates from the crater of Mount Barujari, a sub-volcano of Mount Rinjani in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara
Mount Barujari in West Nusa Teggara province of central Indonesia erupted on Tuesday, with ashes potentially enveloping a nearby city and disturbing international flight, a disaster agency spokesman said.

The eruption took place at 14:45 local time with a column of ash rising up to 2 km in the sky, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman of the national disaster management agency told Xinhua via phone.

The ash tends to spread to southwest of the crater and fall down on the provincial capital of Mataram city and hamper flight at the Lombok international airport, Sutopo said.

Authorities are preparing more than 300,000 masks for local people, he added.

Indonesia, an archipelago country home to over 16,500 islands, has 129 active volcanoes.

Source: Xinhua

Seismograph

3.9 magnitude earthquake at Katla Volcano, Iceland

Katla volcano.
© Páll StefánssonKatla volcano.
An earthquake of magnitude 3.9 hit Mýrdalsjökull glacier at 1:30 pm today, mbl.is reports. A few aftershocks have registered, but there is no sign of volcanic activity in the area, according to the Icelandic Met Office.

The source of the quake was the south side of the Katla volcano caldera, which is under the ice cap of Mýrdalsjökull glacier. The area is being monitored day in and day out by the Icelandic Met Office.

There was less seismic activity in Mýrdalsjökull glacier last week than during the previous week. On August 29, two earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 registered in the northern part of the Kaltla volcano caldera. Those were the largest quakes to hit the area since 1977.

Attention

Turrialba volcano erupts for third time this week in Costa Rica

Volcanic ashes emanating from Turrialba volcano during an eruption is seen from San Gerardo de Irazu in the province of Cartago, Costa Rica, on Sept 20, 2016.
© Kent GilbertVolcanic ashes emanating from Turrialba volcano during an eruption is seen from San Gerardo de Irazu in the province of Cartago, Costa Rica, on Sept 20, 2016.
Costa Rica's central Turrialba Volcano on Thursday erupted for the third time this week, sending a plume of ash and gas more than 2,000 meters above the crater.

This latest eruption occurred at 3:20 a.m. (09:20 GMT), Costa Rica's volcano and earthquake monitoring agency Ovsicori said.

Turrialba's strongest eruption to date was just before noon on Monday, when it spewed ash some 4,000 meters into the sky. Earlier that day, it has a smaller eruption.

The volcano, located in the province of Cartago, 37 km east of the capital San Jose, has registered intermittent eruptions since late last year.

Ovsicori says the volcanic material expelled is falling mainly to the west of the crater, in the direction of the country's Central Valley, which is home to Costa Rica's most densely populated cities, including the capital.


Arrow Up

Turrialba volcano in Costa Rica erupts twice in one day, ash cloud spews 4 km into sky

Turrialba volcano eruption
© Facebook/Nethanel's BrenesThe spectacular volcanic eruption grounded flights in Costa Rica.
The Costa Rican authorities suspended operations at the country's main airport yesterday after the nearby Turrialba volcano erupted, sending a thick ash cloud into the sky.

The San Jose international airport was temporarily closed for safety reasons because the volcanic ash could cause problems for planes, the civil aviation authority said.

Airport sources said eight approaching flights were diverted as the order was given, some to the north of the country and others to El Salvador.

Turrialba erupted twice, first at dawn and again just before noon.

The second eruption sent an ash cloud 4,000 meters into the air.

The volcano is located 35 kilometres from the capital.