Volcanoes
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Hourglass

Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano erupts again, spews ash and molten rock

Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano erupts
© Reuters / Carlos CampanaEcuador's Tungurahua volcano spews molten rocks and large clouds of gas and ashes near Banos, south of Quito, April 4, 2014.
Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano erupted on Friday, spewing a huge column of molten rock and ash which surged 10 kilometers (six miles) above the volcano's crater following two strong explosions.

Pyroclastic material, a fast-moving current of hot gas and rock, flowed out of the northern and northwestern regions of the volcano, Geophysical Insitute of Ecuador's National Polytechnic School reported. The Institute continues to monitor the situation, as tremors are ongoing.

Five moderate explosions were also registered on Friday.

The 5,023-meter volcano, referred to as the 'Throat of Fire,' is located in the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes of central Ecuador and is the one of most active volcanos in South America and Ecuador.

Tungurahua had been quiet since October 2013 before resuming eruptions in February.

The volcano has been active since 1999, with the worst eruption occurring in 2006, when it killed four people and left two others missing.

Question

Yellowstone Volcano Observatory scientists dismiss claims that volcano about to erupt

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© American Dream
Yellowstone National Park assured guests and the public on Thursday that a super-volcano under the park was not expected to erupt anytime soon, despite an alarmist video that claimed bison had been seen fleeing to avoid such a calamity.

Yellowstone officials, who fielded dozens of calls and emails since the video went viral this week following an earthquake in the park, said the video actually shows bison galloping down a paved road that leads deeper into the park.

"It was a spring-like day and they were frisky. Contrary to online reports, it's a natural occurrence and not the end of the world," park spokeswoman Amy Bartlett said.

Bizarro Earth

Baby volcanic island 'eats' its older neighbor as Pacific Ring of Fire continues erupting at unprecedented rate

New Volcanic Island
© NASA Earth ObservatoryLandsat 8 snapped this image of Niijima and Nishinoshima, now one island, on March 30, 2014.
As a seafloor volcano continues to erupt in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean, a newborn island has swallowed its neighbor whole, images from space show.

In November 2013, a baby volcanic island rose from the sea out of a volcanic blast in the Bonin Islands about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Tokyo, on the western edge of the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a hotbed of seismic activity. Named Niijima, the newcomer boiled the sea and spewed steam, ash and lava fragments into the air.

Some thought the small black cone - which sprouted just offshore of a larger volcanic island called Nishino-shima - might slip back into the sea, vanishing under pounding waves. But Niijima kept growing.

Arrow Up

Yellowstone Volcano Eruption in 2014?

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This map from the U.S. Geological Service shows the range of the volcanic ash that was deposited after the biggest of the Yellowstone National Park eruptions around 2.1 million years ago. "These eruptions left behind huge volcanic depressions called “calderas” and spread volcanic ash over large parts of North America," it said. "If another large caldera-forming eruption were to occur at Yellowstone, its effects would be worldwide. Thick ash deposits would bury vast areas of the United States, and injection of huge volumes of volcanic gases into the atmosphere could drastically affect global climate. Fortunately, the Yellowstone volcanic system shows no signs that it is headed toward such an eruption in the near future. In fact, the probability of any such event occurring at Yellowstone within the next few thousand years is exceedingly low."
A number of bloggers are posting videos that show bison and other animals allegedly leaving Yellowstone National Park, prompting theories that as earthquakes ramp up the seismic activity will set off the Yellowstone supervolcano.

Two of the main bloggers behind the discussion stress that there's no way to know when the supervolcano will go off but note that the 4.8 magnitude earthquake that hit on March 30 seemed to set off a reaction from the animals, who are moving for a reason.

Attention

Kamchatka Peninsula: Karymsky volcano spews 2 km ash column

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© ITAR-TASS/Igor Vainshtein
The Karymsky volcano has been highly active since the beginning of March

The Karymsky volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula has spewed a two-kilometer ash column. The eruption poses no hazard to the local population, the Kamchatka Volcano Eruption Response Team (KVERT) told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday.

The ash plume has spread to a distance of 50 kilometres southeast. There are no populated localities on its way, experts said.

The orange aviation color code has been assigned to the volcano. It warns of the hazard to aircraft posed by volcanic ash particles.

The Karymsky volcano has been highly active since the beginning of March. It has been spewing ash columns to a height of up to two thousand meters above sea level.

Arrow Up

Peru: Volcano rumbles to life; dozens evacuated

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© Vesti.ru
A volcano in Peru that has not blown its top in four decades spewed more ash skyward on Tuesday, after authorities evacuated villagers to avoid Ubinas's wrath.

According to AFP, the volcano in southwestern Peru blasted back to life causing about 60 villagers from Querapi, near its base, to be relocated Saturday, Ubinas town mayor Pascual Coaquira said.

"We are readying a shelter for refugees from the blasts," he added Tuesday, noting that the whole Moquegua region was on alert.

"The volcano has been emitting a lot of ash all day, the people in the town (of Ubinas) are having some problems breathing, the mayor added. They have been given masks, he said.

Alarm Clock

Yellowstone Bison filmed running along road in Yellowstone Park

Animals can often sense trouble long before humans. These Bison are coming down the hills in droves and fleeing on the road to get away from Yellowstone. Is the volcano there going to erupt?


Comment: 4.8 magnitude earthquake in Yellowstone National Park


Snowflake Cold

Support for theory of a cooling world

Steve Goddard tips me to this article in the Canberra Times on May 16th, 1974:

Support for a theory of a cooling world

It has some interesting claims in it that sound much like climate change claims made today. Apparently they detected large albedo changes via satellite, with a 12% increase in snow and ice in the Northern Hemisphere that started in 1971, and continued through 1974 when this article was published:

global cooling
Interactive image here.

They claim that due to albedo changes which help induce cooling, wind, drought, and rainfall patterns will become worse, much like identical claims made today about the effects of warming. The article also claims, quoting Dr. Reid Bryson, there would be increased uncertainty about "stable patterns of weather" that may affect "food reserves", and he also claimed "much of that change was man-made". Sound familiar?

Galaxy

Heaven and Earth: Unusual natural events and strange phenomena from around the world in February/March 2014

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© Martin Rietze/National
This video compiles footages of strange phenomena of all kinds, including awesome natural events or beautiful phenomena from around the world in the last few weeks. Just a small sample of what we've seen already this year!

In the past month or so we have seen: Unusual solar activity including an X class flare - Aurora Borealis much further south than usual, including southern UK - Huge waves off coast of California, Brazil, UK - England battered by record storms, floods and sinkholes - Severe drought in California, followed by extreme storms and floods - US cities in the East frozen still - Strange skies over Europe - Ecuador Tungurahua volcano erupts - Strange 'hailstone' falls over Nevada - Weird pulsating orange Earth phenomena melts ice and boils water - Amazing sinkhole in the Corvette Museum - New York sinkhole swallows car - Popocatelpetl Volcano, Mexico eruptions - Sakurajima, Japan spectacular volcanic eruption - Large fireball over Maine, USA - Huge eruption from Volcano Pacaya in Guatemala

Cloud Lightning

Electric universe: Pyroclastic flow from Sinabung volcanic eruption last month produced string of 'tornados'

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Towering twisters of ash spawned by a pyroclastic flow from a volcanic eruption in Indonesia last month.
When Mount Sinabung erupted in North Sumatra, Indonesia early last month, the pyroclastic flows making their way down the mountain left red-hot deposits along its sides.

Incredibly, as the air above the deposits heated and quickly rose, a group of small "tornadoes" formed, twisting their way down the mountainside as well.

The video of the event, captured by Dr. Richard Roscoe of Photovolcanica, is astoundingly surreal. Check it out above for yourself.


Comment: As far as we're aware, this is the first time such a thing has been witnessed, in the modern era at least.

While 'warm air-cold air exchange' and high winds might have something to do with it, we suspect this is evidence that tornadoes (and other air spirals) are electrical phenomena in which the fundamental exchange is electrical discharge between the highly charged pyroclastic cloud (in this case) and a relatively negatively charged surface. That would also explain why we see lightning during volcanic eruptions, as happened at Sinabung in an earlier eruption:

Electric universe: Previously dormant Mt Sinabung volcano in Indonesia spews river of fire, pyroclastic cloud and lightning (VIDEO)

The important question is: why are volcanoes now demonstrating more electrical activity?