Volcanoes
S


Bizarro Earth

Italy: Lava Flow at Stromboli


INGV, Italy
Sat, 06 Aug 2011 14:20 UTC
Stromboli
© INGVA selection of frames captured from video recorded by the thermal monitoring camera SQT (all images except center right, which is of the visible-light camera SQV) located at 400 m elevation on the northern flank of Stromboli, which show the evolution of the lava flow on the Sciara del Fuoco between 2100 GMT on 1 August 2011 and 0716 GMT on the 2nd. The emission of this lava flow has evidently not led to the cessation of the explosive activity at the summit craters, as happened during the eruptions of 2002-2003 and 2007.
On the late evening of 1 August 2011, a conspicuous lava flow started to descend the northern slope of the Sciara del Fuoco at Stromboli. This marks the first lava effusion outside the crater terrace since the emission of a small lava flow in the night of 11-12 December 2010.

Around 2100 GMT on 1 August, a vast accumulation of incandescent material appeared at the base of vent N1, the northernmost of the various active vents that lie within the crater terrace at about 750 m elevation on Stromboli. A few minutes later, this material started to collapse and slide, and then developed two small lobes of lava, the more easterly of which descended slowly on the steep slope of the northern portion of the Sciara del Fuoco, repeatedly generating collapse and small landslides derived from the loose material that the slope is made of. The lava then accumulated on the flat area where the hornitos of the 2002-2003 eruption had been located, before making its way down the steep slope below that flat area (as is shown in the two bottom frames in the figure above). On the late morning of 2 August, the lava flow had descended to about 500 m elevation and was advancing very slowly. During the early afternoon of the same day, feeding of the lava flow appeared to diminish.

This lava flow represents the first major summit overflow at Stromboli for several decades, the most recent similar event being the eruption of November 1975. During the subsequent eruptions, in 1985-1986 and 2002-2003, lava effusion occurred from eruptive fissures on the upper northern slope of the Sciara del Fuoco, whereas in 2007, the main effusive vent was located at 400 m elevation. Differently from these eruptions, the usual Strombolian activity from the summit craters has not ceased with the onset of lava effusion on 1-2 August 2011.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Russian Volcano Shows Signs Of Impending Eruption

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:22 UTC
Image
Kamchatka Peninsula marked on GOOGLE EARTH
The Kamchatka Peninsula, along Russia's Pacific coast, is currently the most volcanically active area in the world: four volcanoes are erupting simultaneously, and a fifth is showing signs of an impending eruption.

Ash plumes from two of these volcanoes are visible in this natural-colour satellite image. Along the northern (top) edge of the image Shiveluch emits a broad gray plume from the lava dome growing on its southern flank. 90 kilometres (60 miles) to the southwest a much smaller plume escapes from Bezymianny.

This image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite on August 3, 2011. Bright green vegetation covers the river floodplains and mountainsides, which gives way to bare rock and eventually snow at higher elevations.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

US: Volcano Watchers Raise Alert Status for Mount Cleveland

Casey Grove
Anchorage Daily News
Wed, 03 Aug 2011 21:28 UTC
Mt Cleveland
© Anchorage Daily News
Signs of lava at Mount Cleveland prompted volcanologists to raise their alert level Tuesday afternoon for the Aleutian Islands volcano.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory reports "heightened or escalated unrest" and the possibility of an eruption at the 5,676-foot volcano, according to the observatory's website.

Cleveland Volcano comprises the western half of Chuginidak Island, which sits about 115 miles west of Dutch Harbor and 950 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Satellite data and visual observations in late July revealed a lava dome about 140 feet in diameter growing in the volcano's crater, said volcanologist Chris Waythomas. The dome grew another 10 feet or so between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the observatory.

"Sometimes lava domes like that can be explosive and lead to ash production," Waythomas said.

The volcano observatory raised the advisory status from "advisory" to "watch" and the aviation warning level from yellow to orange.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Satellite Image Shows Ash Plume Drifting From Krakatoa

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:16 UTC
A newly released NASA satellite image shows an ash plume drifting from a volcano that produced one of the largest eruptions in modern history.

Anak Krakatau (also known as Krakatoa), a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia, has been intermittently active for the past several decades.

The island exploded in 1883, killing approximately 40,000 people, although some estimates put the death toll much higher. The explosion is considered to be the loudest sound ever heard in modern history, with reports of it being heard nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from its point of origin. The shock wave from the explosion was recorded on barographs around the globe.

Anak Krakatoa
© NASA
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Mount Etna In Sicily Erupts, Seventh Eruption This Year

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Sun, 31 Jul 2011 22:54 UTC
The Mount Etna volcano on the southern Italian island of Sicily erupted this weekend spewing ash and volcanic debris more than 300 metres into the air and sending lava down its slopes.

This is the seventh time that Mount Etna has erupted in 2011. The weekend eruption was the fourth and largest in July. The last eruption occurred on 19 July.

Italian officials had since said the 11,000-foot-tall volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the world, had calmed down after more that two weeks of activity. Residents in surrounding areas had been warned however, that the Sicilian volcano might have fallen back into a short-lived slumber and another "active phase may just be around the corner."

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity.

On 12-13 January 2011 lava fountaining occurred from the vent on the east flank of Etna's Southeast Crater cone, lasting more than 1.5 hours. Italian Authorities were forced to temporarily close airports for a couple of hours while the ash cloud cleared.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Canary Islands Government Monitors El Hierro Earthquake Swarm


Irish Weather Online
Sat, 23 Jul 2011 21:35 UTC
The Canary Islands Government has said it is monitoring an earthquake swarm on the small island of El Hierro where in excess of 400 tremors of low magnitude have been recorded in the past four days.

On Friday, the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Government Security Canary convened the first ever meeting of the Steering Committee and Volcanic Monitoring, reflected in the Specific Plan Protection Civil and Emergency for Volcanic Risk, given what it described "the significant increase in seismic activity".

Image
© Google EarthLocation of tremors on El Hierro
A statement (translated from Spanish) issued following the meeting outlined: "This committee met this morning (Friday) at the headquarters of the Directorate General Security and Emergency Tenerife, established after the assessment of information gathered from seismic and volcanological last July 17 by the National Geographic Institute (IGN) and Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands, the situation is total normal for the green light for the information population, activating mechanisms for monitoring and oversight needed to coordinate the actions of self civil population and information contained in the Plan."
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

Ecuador: Reventador Volcano Activity Increases

galapagosonline
Zimbio
Sat, 23 Jul 2011 09:35 UTC
Reventador
© galapagosonline
The Reventador Volcano has shown increased activity and government officials ask no one to approach. Revenatador is located 90 km west of Quito and has a long history of activity. In November 2002 the volcano erupted for the first time in 26 years destroying roads between Quito and Lago Agrio. The 17 km high ash cloud affected 2 million people as it spread over the provinces of Pichincha, Napo and Suscumbios and forced the closure of the Quito Airport causing flights to be rerouted to Guayaquil or Latacunga. A subsequent eruption in November of 2008 effected residents of El Chaco in the Amazon basin.

The Geophysical Institute of Ecuador stated "it is clear that the volcano appears significantly more active than in previous months, this being much more noticeable in recent days " Rash on the volcano Reventador occurs "significantly active than in previous months" and "in these circumstances the presence of people near the crater of Reventador is dangerous and in no way recommended to climb to the summit."
Read More...
Sun

SOTT Focus: Connecting the Dots: Cosmic Changes, Planetary Instability and Extreme Weather

Sott Editors
Sott.net
Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:10 UTC
Image
© NASA / SDOThe Solar Dynamics Observatory's view of the coronal mass ejection of June 7, 2011.
With Earth Changes now clearly happening and time pressing, the editors of Sott.net are faced with the urgency of catching up with an avalanche of significant news items and trying to make sense of things! Recent weather events have been unprecedented: both spring and early summer have been bizarre across the globe, to say the least.

You name the weather or geological type of phenomenon; someone in the world had it: volcanoes, earthquakes, torrential rain, floods, sinkholes, tornadoes, droughts, wildfires ... even summertime snow! Let's review them all as best as we can, starting from the top: the cosmic factor.

Solar Activity
© Mike BormanImage Taken: Jun 4, 2011
Location: Evansville, Indiana, USA
Cosmic Changes Are Under Way

Changes on planet Earth comprise such a wide variety of phenomena, from extreme weather anomalies to volcanoes and earthquakes, so perhaps it's a good idea to zoom back and see if we can make sense of any changes in the cosmic climate that may be affecting us. Yes, we are aware that this approach goes against the sanctioned narrative claiming that these changes are caused by carbon-burning human beings living in an isolated bubble that can only grow warmer. But the pieces of the puzzle on the table point to a different, larger picture.

A huge central piece is our sun, which is not surprising, since this ongoing explosion in space is what brings order to our corner of the universe and to life to Earth. For the last couple of years the sun was expected to go into high activity in accordance with its usual 11-year sunspot cycle. But scientists were left scratching their heads as our local star remained quiet. Now it's giving off such a display of flares that it has NASA scientists going 'ooh and ahh'.
Read More...
Bizarro Earth

US: Alert Level Raised for Alaska Volcano


Associated Press
Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:48 UTC
Cleveland Volcano
© AP / NASAThis 2006 photo shows an aerial view of the eruption of Cleveland Volcano.
Anchorage, Alaska - The alert level for an Alaska volcano is being raised after officials say persistent thermal anomalies have been spotted in satellite data.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory on Wednesday raised the level Cleveland Volcano to advisory from unassigned.

There is no real-time seismic network at the volcano, located 939 miles southwest of Anchorage on an uninhabited island. Officials are not able to track local earthquake activity related to volcanic unrest.

Short-lived explosions with ash clouds or plumes exceeding 20,000 feet above sea level are frequent on Cleveland. It last showed signs of unrest last summer, with a small ash emission and lava flows on its upper flanks.

The observatory says the last significant eruption of the 5,676-foot volcano began in February 2001 and eventually produced a lava flow that reached the ocean.
Read More...
Radar

Mt. Etna erupts with fountains of lava

Elizabeth Weise
USA Today
Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:58 UTC
Image
Tom Pfeiffer/VolcanoDiscovery
Iceland's gotten all the press of late, but there are other volcanoes in the world. One of the more famous ones, Italy's Mount Etna, spent Monday night into Tuesday morning sending up cascading fountains of lava and throwing out car-sized molten rocks.

The volcano's southeast crater began to show fractures on the Monday afternoon, says volcanologist Tom Pfeiffer, who leads volcano tours through Volcano Discovery. At just after midnight Tuesday morning it began to mildly erupt and the tour group walked to a viewpoint on the rim of the Valle del Bove.

At around 2:30 am the volcano began to send up fountins of lava 1,600 feet into the air, Pfeiffer said via email from Italy.

"At the peak of the eruption at around 3 am, the fountains pulsated between an estimated 500-800 m height, with large incandescent bombs visible more than 1 kilometer above the vent and landing behind southeast crater," he wrote. "The fountains gradually decreased by around 4 am and the activity turned into exploding giant lava bubbles, detonating with loud noise, and throwing large bombs up to 1 km in spherical directions above the crater. This activity slowly waned until dawn. While the fountains lasted, the crater wall was completely covered by incandescent lava."
Read More...