Volcanoes
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Bizarro Earth

Kamchatka's Bezymianny volcano erupts, expels ash cloud 8 km high

Friday saw a new eruption of the Bezymianny volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East.
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© EPABezymianny volcano
Earlier in the day, the volcano spewed ash up to 8 kilometers high, seismologists said, adding that the eruption does not pose a threat to population centers in the area.

One of the most active volcanoes in the world, Bezymianny is located 350 kilometers northeast of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.

Bizarro Earth

Another Aleutian Island volcano stirs- Iliamna volcano rumbling

Iliamna volcano experienced several episodes of increased earthquake activity over the last three months, according to a news release issued Wednesday by Alaska Volcano Observatory officials. One of the episodes is currently ongoing and is characterized by numerous small earthquakes.
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© M. Scott MoonMount Iliamna, pictured several years ago, is showing unrest.
The increase in activity may be related to movement of magma at depth and additional observations, including an airborne gas sampling and observation flight, are being planned to help constrain this interpretation, according to the release. A similar but longer episode of increased earthquake activity occurred from September 1996 to February 1997 and likely was related to the intrusion of new magma at depth. That incident did not result in an eruption.

Bizarro Earth

Cleveland volcano explodes as epidemic of awakenings across planet continues

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© Kevin Powell Anchorage Daily News
A restless Aleutian volcano exploded Wednesday night and may have blown off a slow-growing lava dome that was building for months in its summit crater, volcanologists say. Cleveland Volcano, 940 miles southwest of Anchorage, probably burped up a small amount of ash - a potential hazard to trans-oceanic air travel - but the ash did not appear to reach above 20,000 feet, said Steve McNutt, a researcher with the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

Because of its remoteness, harsh weather in the area and budget constraints, Cleveland Volcano does not have instruments on its flanks. As a result, scientists cannot listen to its inner rumblings. But distant seismometers and specialized microphones detected the explosion about 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to the observatory. The explosion caused a displacement of air and an airwave traveled out from the volcano at the speed of sound, McNutt said. Instruments at volcanoes 60 and 90 miles away detected the explosion several minutes after it occurred, he said.

Bizarro Earth

Lava Destroys Last Home in Hawaii's Royal Gardens Subdivision

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© Ã Leigh Hilbert/hawaiianlavadaily.blogspot.comLava nears the home of Jack Thompson on Friday in the Royal Gardens subdivision. The home was destroyed Friday after years of near-misses.
Pele's destruction of Royal Gardens is complete. The last resident of the last home in the beleaguered, besieged Puna subdivision evacuated just an hour before a vigorous flow of lava came down the hill and burned it to the ground.

Jack Thompson, looking at the unstoppable river of molten rock bearing down at his home of nearly 30 years, delivered the epitaph on Friday: "This is probably the grand finale."

He was reached Saturday evening from his other home in Ainaloa.

"I got as much stuff out there as was practical and everything else, had to leave it. It (the lava) was pretty much coming in the back as we were going out the front," Thompson said. "We left about 6 o'clock it was still light."

He took whatever he could stuff into two empty choppers from Paradise Helicopters. An hour later, some of Thompson's friends in Kalapana Gardens (near the county's lava viewing area several miles away) saw a bright light go up from what used to be a bed and breakfast.

It was the final act in the destruction of a vast but sparsely populated neighborhood dating back to the earliest phases of the Pu'u 'O'o-Kupaianaha eruption in 1983. Over the years, flows from Kilauea had burned his neighbors' homes and cut off the roads leading to Royal Gardens. In 2008, his last neighbor's home succumbed. Thompson began walking the 3 or 4 miles to Highway 130 over rough lava rock, hauling a backpack heavy with brown rice and beans. Those days appear to be over.

Bizarro Earth

Mud Pool Draws Hordes of Wildlife and People in Malaysia

Mudflow
© Lano LanVisitors at the mud volcano in Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Lahad Datu, where its pool has overflowed to about the size of a football field, three times bigger than its normal size.
A rare phenomenon is attracting a beeline of "visitors" at the mud volcano in the Tabin Wildlife Reserve in Lahad Datu.

Volcanic mud has been spewing at least twice to three times more actively than normal since last week. This has created an overflow of the sulphuric substance that has spread over an area as big as a football field. Apart from excited guests at the nearby Tabin Wildlife Resort, the number of wild animals, too, appears to have increased at the mud pool.

(Volcanic mud is believed to contain curative properties with iodine, bromine, calcium and magnesium. According to Wikipedia, since the mud solution has no significant toxic substance, it is used as a curative agent for mud baths at spas. Mud baths have existed for thousands of years and can now be found in high-end spas in many countries of the world.)

The mineral-rich pool serves as a salt lick for animals at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve, including endangered species such as the Sumatran rhino and the pygmy elephants.

Sun

Icelandic Volcano Fimmvörðuháls Erupts During Aurora Borealis

A photographer from Britain, James Appleton, has captured breath-taking pictures from Iceland, reports The Huffington Post. He captured both magma and northern lights in one shot. He stood just a few yards from an erupting volcano in order to take the pictures and they just might be one of nature's most amazing sights.
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© James Appleton
James was willing to go within a few hundred feet of an erupting volcano after working alongside vulcanologists in Iceland, and found out about Fimmvörðuháls who from his Icelandic friend. He explained, "She informed me of the eruption, and I knew immediately I had to try and get out to see it."

Not only did James have to deal with the harsh flames of the volcano, but he also had to face the frozen temperatures of a harsh Icelandic winter in order to take his remarkable pictures. "The closest I got was probably only a few hundred meters away," said James.

Bizarro Earth

US: Hawaii scientists monitor earthquake swarm near Kilauea volcano

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© USGS
48 small quakes and counting on the Big Island as of Wednesday morning

Scientists at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory are keeping an eye on a swarm of small earthquakes around the active Kilauea volcano. In its morning status report, HVO wrote that there "is an ongoing seismic swarm just northwest of the summit."

From the Wednesday status report, updated at 7:29 HST:
A swarm of shallow earthquakes started after midnight last night about 5 km (3 mi) northwest of Halema'uma'u Crater that was ongoing as of this posting. Forty-eight earthquakes were strong enough to be located beneath Kilauea: 39 quakes within the swarm so far at a maximum rate of 6/hr (including a preliminary magnitude-3.4 quake at 6:56 am), two deep quakes beneath the southwest rift zone, two beneath the southeast summit caldera, one within the upper east rift zone, four on south flank faults. Seismic tremor levels were low and dropped slightly during deflation.
Most of the quakes have been in the magnitude 2.0 vicinity, but a few reached over 3.0.

Bizarro Earth

Volcanic Activity In Alaska Heats Up

Kanaga Volcano
© AVO/USGSKanaga Volcano - Viewed from the west with Mt Moffet, Adak and Great Sitkin in the background.
Several volcanoes in our northernmost state of Alaska are showing increased signs of activity, and scientists are keeping a wary eye on them both, reports Yareth Rosen for Reuters.

Kanaga Volcano, located near the port city of Adak, experienced a tremor Saturday morning followed by more seismic activity for about an hour, said the Alaska Volcano Observatory. This activity follows more of the same at Mount Cleveland, which threatens to make life troubling for Alaskans.

Last erupting in 1994 and 1995 Kanaga saw significant ash plumes near the community of Adak and disrupted air traffic due to continuing low-level activity and cloudy conditions, which prevented visual approaches to the local air field.

Adak is a former Navy station that has about 330 residents, a state-owned airport left over from US Navy operations, a seafood processing plant and numerous maritime-service operations.

Mount Cleveland's observatory reported a new 200-foot-diameter lava dome building near its summit according to Alaska Volcano Observatory. "There have been no observations of ash emissions or explosive activity during this current lava eruption."

Camera

Earth, solar wind and fire: Northern lights and molten lava come together in landscape that could be out of this world

Iceland Aurora
© James Appleton / Barcroft MediaOtherworldly: A volcanic erupts on the Fimmvvrpuhals mountain pass in Iceland as Aurora Borealis lights up the sky in lurid greens and yellows behind
With their vivid colours and alien landscapes, these pictures look like they could be of another world.

They capture two of nature's most spectacular sights - the northern lights and an erupting volcano in Iceland - in a single shot.

Photographer James Appleton from Cambridge braved the mighty flames of the Fimmvvrpuhals volcano and the frozen bite of the harsh Icelandic winter - and was rewarded with these incredibly rare shots.

Bizarro Earth

Japan: Mt Fuji Volcano - Signs of Volcanic Unrest Reported

Mt. Fuji
© Wikimedia Commons
Reports are appearing about unrest and signs of a possible awakening of Mt Fuji volcano in Japan.

According to a report which includes an unclear photo of the area, a row of new craters, the largest 50 m in diameter, has appeared on the eastern flank of the volcano at 2200 m elevation. Steam was observed erupting from these vents.

The observation joins other signs suggesting a gradual reawakening: A swarm of earthquakes including 4 of magnitude 5 have occurred northeast of Mt Fuji on and after 28 January. An earlier 6.4M quake occurred under the volcano on 15 March 2011. The report also mentions increased activity from a fumarole vent at 1500 m elevation and hot spring areas at the eastern flank observed since 2003.

These locations seem to be aligned geographically, and are probably connected. Dr. Masaaki Kimura of Ryukyu University is quoted to admit that there is an increased risk of and eruption on the eastern flank and that the status of the volcano should be closely monitored.