Volcanoes
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Megaphone

Philippines: Stay away from Taal, Palace warns tourists and residents


GMA News
Sat, 02 Apr 2011 15:32 UTC
On Saturday, Malacañang appealed to residents and tourists to heed warnings by state volcanologists to keep away from the crater of Taal Volcano in Batangas, due to high carbon dioxide levels there.

Deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte said tourists and residents should also heed the calls of local officials to evacuate once the need arises.

Cooperate with local officials on the ground (Inn such situations, our first appeal would be to heed the authorities in staying away from the volcano's crater. And those residents living at the foot of the volcano should heed village leaders' call to evacuate if the need arises)," Valte said on government-run dzRB radio.
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Info

Eruption Creates New Lava Lake in Hawaiian Volcano

Bret Israel
Our Amazing Planet
Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:09 UTC
Image
© HVO/USGSIt's baaa-aack! Lava has returned to the Pu`u `Ō `ō crater on Mount Kilauea.
Lava has newly erupted inside a volcanic crater that collapsed several weeks ago - and hours before a nearby spectacular fissure eruption - on Mount Kilauea.

The new lava lake is inside the Pu'u 'Ō 'ō crater on the Hawaiian volcano. The fresh lava arrived almost 20 days after the crater floor collapsed on March 5 and almost 16 days after the Kamoamoa fissure eruption to the west on March 9. [In Images: Hawaii's Mount Kilauea Erupts.]
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Info

Vog and Ash from Ambrym Volcano, Vanuatu

Rob Gutro
NASA
Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:04 UTC
Image
© NASA Goddard/MODIS Rapid Response Team
The Ambrym Volcano was billowing vog and ash on March 28, 2011 at 02:55 UTC, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image.
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Bizarro Earth

Sulfur Dioxide Plume Erupts from Vanuatu Volcano


NOAA
Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:12 UTC
Vanuatu Volcano_2
© NOAASulfur Dioxide Plume Erupts from Vanuatu Volcano
Vanuatu Volcano
© NOAAWide View of Sulfur Dioxide Plume Erupting from Vanuatu Volcano
On the tiny island of Tanna, Vanuatu in the South Pacific is one of the world's most active volcanoes: Mt Yasur. As the NASA Aura satellite orbited overhead today (March 18, 2011), the Ozone Mapping Instrument detected a large sulfur dioxide plume being emitted from the volcano. OMI, though designed primarily for monitoring the ozone layer, is an important tool in monitoring volcanoes. NOAA's Satellite Analysis Branch operates the Washington Volcanic Area Advisory Center (WVAAC) in conjunction with the National Weather Service to issue volcanic ash advisories and alerts.

These advisories are critical for air quality monitoring, but even more so for diverting air traffic in the impacted areas. Volcanic ash, if ingested by jet engines can cause significant damage, and even loss of the aircraft. It is estimated that NOAA's ash monitoring saves the aviation industry between $100 and 200 million per year. The Mt Yasur volcano is situated in the Wellington (New Zealand) VAAC, but NOAA SAB processes and monitors plumes from many volcanoes around the world who's ash might enter the WVAAC airspace.
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Attention

6.0 Magnitude Quake Jolts Northern Japan, No Immediate Reports of Damage

Kazunori Takada
Reuters
Tue, 22 Mar 2011 05:28 UTC
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 jolted parts of northern Japan near a quake-stricken nuclear power plant Wednesday, national broadcaster NHK said.

There were no immediate reports of damage. Numerous aftershocks have been rocking the country following a devastating quake and tsunami on March 11.
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Bizarro Earth

Vietnam: Mud Eruption in Ninh Thuan is Defined as Volcano Mud


VietNamNet Bridge
Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:48 UTC
Mud Volcano
© VietNamNet Bridge
Dr. Dinh Doan Lam, a senior official from the Institute for Geology of Vietnam, said that mud eruption in Ninh Thuan is not dangerous. Mud volcano or mud dome are used to refer to formations created by geo-excreted liquids and gases, although there are several different processes which may cause such activity. Hot water mixes with mud and surface deposits. Mud volcanoes are associated with subduction zones. Temperatures are much cooler in these processes than at igneous volcanoes.

About 86 percent of the gas released from these structures is methane, with much less carbon dioxide and nitrogen emitted. Ejected materials are often a slurry of fine solids suspended in liquids which may include water, which is frequently acidic or salty, and hydrocarbon fluids.
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Bell

Japanese Volcanic Blast Shatters Windows for Miles


Earth Week
Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:56 UTC
Image
© Japan Meteorological AgencyShinmoedake volcano (below) simmering in February during part of its nearly two-month lull in activity.
The strongest activity at southern Japan's Shinmoedake volcano in 52 years shattered windows four miles away, sending hundreds of people fleeing the area.

Ash and other volcanic debris soared more than 6,000 feet into the atmosphere above Kyushu Island, about 950 miles from the epicenter of the catastrophic 9.0 magnitude quake off Honshu two days earlier.

Officials said it was unclear if the volcanic blast was related to the temblor.

Shinmoedake's last blast was on Feb. 1. Its rumblings resumed on Jan. 19 after the peak had remained dormant for two years.

Vulcanologists have been warning that a lava dome was growing inside the volcano's crater, but were not certain if it was a sign of an impending eruption.

Shinmoedake is one of several geologically active peaks in the Kirishima mountain range.
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Bizarro Earth

Lava, clouds of hot ash spews from the mouth of volcano in central Indonesia


Associated Press
Sat, 19 Mar 2011 04:46 UTC
Manado, Indonesia - Residents in central Indonesia have been evacuated from the slopes of a volcano that has been spewing hot lava and clouds of searing gas high into the air for days.

State volcanologist Surono says Mount Karangetang has been spilling lava and shooting clouds of gas and debris up to 1,900 feet (600 meters) in the air as ash poured down its slopes.

He said Saturday that some 582 people living along its slopes have been evacuated away from the mountain on Siau, part of the Sulawesi island chain. There were no reports of injuries, but several houses and a church were damaged.
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Cloud Lightning

2010 Extreme Weather: Deadliest Year In A Generation

Seth Borenstein and Julie Reed Bell
The Huffington Post
Sun, 19 Dec 2010 00:56 UTC
Image
© Unknown
This was the year the Earth struck back.

Earthquakes, heat waves, floods, volcanoes, super typhoons, blizzards, landslides and droughts killed at least a quarter million people in 2010 - the deadliest year in more than a generation. More people were killed worldwide by natural disasters this year than have been killed in terrorism attacks in the past 40 years combined.

"It just seemed like it was back-to-back and it came in waves," said Craig Fugate, who heads the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. It handled a record number of disasters in 2010.

"The term '100-year event' really lost its meaning this year."

And we have ourselves to blame most of the time, scientists and disaster experts say.


Comment: Interesting how the blame is assigned to those who are struggling daily with the effects of psychopathy at the top (including scientific establishment), and with the influence of those who are in fact responsible for the negligence, mediocrity, political manipulations and lies so prevalent in our nowadays society.


Even though many catastrophes have the ring of random chance, the hand of man made this a particularly deadly, costly, extreme and weird year for everything from wild weather to earthquakes.

Poor construction and development practices conspire to make earthquakes more deadly than they need be. More people live in poverty in vulnerable buildings in crowded cities. That means that when the ground shakes, the river breaches, or the tropical cyclone hits, more people die.
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Attention

Alert Level at Indonesia Volcano Raised to Highest


The Seattle Times
Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:36 UTC
Image
© Getty ImagesMount Karangetang
Indonesia has raised the alert level at one of its most active volcanos to the highest after it repeatedly sent hot clouds of gas down its slopes.

Volcanology hazard mitigation chief Surono says authorities have been ordered to evacuate people living along Mount Karangetang's slopes.

He says the 5,853-foot (1,784-meter) mountain on Siau, part of the Sulawesi island chain, spewed hot clouds of gas at least seven times Friday. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

It last erupted in August, killing four people.
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