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Bizarro Earth

Indonesia: Volcano Agency Warns of Likely Papandayan Eruption


Jarkata Globe
Wed, 24 Aug 2011 01:02 UTC
Papandayan volcano
© Antara PhotoTwo villagers walk pass Mount Papandayan which serves as a short cut to their farms on Aug. 14, 2011, warnings to stay at least two kilometers from the volcano, which is in imminent danger of erupting.
Indonesia's highly active Mount Papandayan volcano is in imminent danger of erupting, the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Agency warned on Wednesday.

The agency, known as the PVMGB, said it was likely the volcano in Garut, West Java, would erupt either before or just after Idul Fitri, which marks the end of Ramadan.

The prediction was based on the increasing activity of the volcano, the agency said on its Web site.

"The volcano has more energy compared to its last eruption in 2002," agency head Surono said in Bandung, the provincial capital, on Tuesday.

Papandayan has shown an alarming increase in activities since the volcano's status was raised to standby. Between Aug. 19 and 20, there were 45 earthquakes.
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Bizarro Earth

Costa Rica: Experts Keep An Eye On The Turrialba Volcano


Inside Costa Rica
Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:10 UTC
Turrialba volcano
© InsideCostaRicaTurrialba volcano.
For over 100 years the Turrialba was dormant, but now is visited weekly by experts who are tracking its changes.

Recently, experts have been investigating new holes in the craters, where the temperature of gas emissions has been rising and forming a single plume of gas that is visible at the top.

The Turrialba volcano records an average of 100 micro quakes daily. In addition, the degassing is affecting production at nearby crop and dairy farms.

To follow the pulse of the temperatures the University of Costa Rica (UCR) has installed infrared cameras, this along with the seismic stations, it will allow experts to learn any drastic change at the volcano in minutes.

Cameras have also been installed at the Poás volcano.

Last July 22 the Ministry of Environment and Telecommunications (MINAET) decided to reopen the Turrialba Volcano National Park, that had been closed since January 2010 activity.
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Binoculars

Indonesia's Mount Lokon Erupts Again

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:25 UTC
Mount Lokon
Mount Lokon erupts
Indonesia's Mount Lokon, which is located on the northern tip of the island of Sulawesi, erupted again on Wednesday, local authorities said.

Farid Ruskanda Bina, the Mount Lokon and Mahawu Kakaskaben monitoring post chief, said Mount Lokon began to spew volcanic ash at around 1.25 p.m. local time. Ash fell as far away as the Kinilow I village and the Tinoor areas in North Tomohon sub district, which is a short distance from Lokon's crater.

Mount Lokon's activity had been quickly increasing since Tuesday as more tremors were being detected, the Antara news agency reported. The monitoring post recorded 25 tremors from 1 to 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday.
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Bizarro Earth

Indonesia: North Sulawesi's Mount Soputan Erupts


Jakarta Post
Sun, 14 Aug 2011 14:04 UTC
Mt Soputan
© AFPMount Soputan near Manado emits thick clouds of volcanic ash on Sunday.
Mount Soputan in Minahasa, North Sulawesi, emitted a cloud of ash on Sunday morning, reaching 1 kilometer in height.

The volcanic eruption drew the attention of residents of Tompaso district in Minahasa, from which the volcano can be clearly seen.

"I was surprised and panicked seeing the eruption at about 10 a.m. It was a big eruption; the clouds and ash looked very tall; almost the same as those produced in the big eruption several months ago," said Tompaso resident Riko Tamunu, 24.

He said he was attending church when the eruption occurred, adding that there had been smaller eruptions earlier at about 6 a.m. on Sunday.

Some Tomoso residents also left their houses, churches or other buildings upon hearing the sound of the eruption. Several residents captured the event using their cell phone cameras, TribunNews reported.
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Bizarro Earth

Indonesia: Mount Papandayan's Alert Level Raised


The Jakarta Globe
Sat, 13 Aug 2011 13:46 UTC
Mount Papandayan
© Suara Pembaruan PhotoIn the file photo taken in July 2004, Mount Papandayan in Garut, West Java was spewing smoke from its craters. On Saturday, the volcano's alert level is raised from level 2 (beware) to level 3 (stand-by).
The alert level of Mount Papandayan in Garut, West Java has gone up a notch to alert level 3 - just one level below eruption.

According to Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) the 2,665-meter volcano had shown a significant increase in tectonic earthquake activity since Friday.

"BNPB has dispatched a quick-response team to assess the necessary emergency action local government and other agencies need to take in order to ensure the safety of residents living around the volcano," Sutopo said.

Mount Papandayan last erupted on Nov. 11, 2002. Even though there were no deaths or casualties, dozens of houses were destroyed by the lava that swept through the villages within the volcano's 10km radius.

It's earliest recorded eruption was in 1772 when it destroyed 40 villages and killed 2,951 people.
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Bizarro Earth

Aleutian Islands: Cleveland volcano erupts

chillymanjaro
The Watchers
Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:59 UTC
cleveland volcano
Cleveland Volcano, located on uninhabited Chuginadak Island in the Aleutians, has begun building a lava dome. An Alaska volcano has begun erupting, but it is not yet posing a serious hazard to populations or aviation in the region.

The eruption was described as a "slow effusion of magma that is forming a lava dome" by John Power, the scientist-in-charge at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

Along with the quiet nature of the eruption, the remote siting of the volcano has so far kept the hazard level low.
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Bizarro Earth

Indonesia: Mt. Ibu Emits Thick Smoke

Budhy Nurgianto
TempoInteractive
Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:59 UTC
Mt Ibu
© Bruce Gemmell, PT Nusa Halmahera MineralsA closer look at the lava dome within the Mt. Ibu crater. May 2000 photograph.
Mt. Ibu in West Halmahera regency has been emitting thick smoke, causing its alarm status to be raised on Sunday.

Ridwan, a volcanic observer at Mt. Ibu said the mountain's activities had intensified over the past two weeks. Hundreds of small eruptions have been recorded by the seismograph. "There were numerous tremors. Therefore we increased its status to alert level II," he said yesterday.

Ridwan said the mountain had been closed to hikers and people were prohibited from getting within 3 kilometers of Mt Ibu's crater. "We announced this two weeks ago and have intensified our observations. We hope people will be aware," he said.
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Bizarro Earth

Activity at Kizimen and Shiveluch volcanoes, Kamchatka Peninsula

chillymanjaro
The Watchers
Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:50 UTC
kizimen, volcano
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 and a thermal anomaly marking active lava flow at a third are visible in this natural-color 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 kilometers (60 miles) to the southwest a much smaller plume escapes from Bezymianny. Further south, an area where the instrument measured high temperatures over land is outlined in red, marking Kizimen.
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Bizarro Earth

US: Huge Lava Pond Forms On Hawaii's Mount Kilauea


Our Amazing Planet
Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:57 UTC
Lava continues to erupt from volcanic vents on Hawaii's Mount Kilauea and has pooled into a huge lava pond on the volcano's active east rift zone.

Spatter cones, formed from molten lava ejected from a volcanic vent, are feeding narrow, fast-moving lava flows, according to an eruption update from the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. This area of Mount Kilauea has been erupting since 1983 with few interruptions.

Image
© USGS/HVO
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Bizarro Earth

US: New Eruption Starts At Alaska's Cleveland Volcano

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:27 UTC
Cleveland volcano
© Schaefer, JanetLocation of Cleveland volcano and other Aleutian volcanoes.
One of Alaska's most active volcanoes has started erupting, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO).

The 1,730 m (5,676 ft) high Cleveland Volcano, also known as Mount Cleveland, began erupting early on Tuesday. However, the stratovolcano's remoteness is limiting opportunities for its study, reported the AVO which is relying heavily on satellites for monitoring.

According to the AVO: "Without a real-time seismic network on the volcano, AVO is unable to track local earthquake activity related to volcanic unrest, provide forecasts of eruptive activity, or confirmation of explosive, ash-producing events. AVO is monitoring the volcano using satellite data as it becomes available. Such data suggests that effusive eruption of the lava dome in the summit crater is possibly continuing."

One of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian Arc, Cleveland has erupted at least 21 times in the last 230 years. A VEI 3 eruption in 1944 produced the arc's only direct volcanic fatality. Most recently Mount Cleveland has erupted three times in 2009, and twice in 2010.
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