Volcanoes
The Ivan Groznyy ("Ivan the Terrible") volcano erupted early on Thursday morning on the island of Iturup, part of the Kuril group in Russia's Far East. The volcano spewed a column of ash onto the surrounding area. Local people in the nearest towns, Goryachiye Klyuchi (9 kilometers away) and the city of Kurilsk (25 kilometers), noticed a faint smell of hydrogen sulfide gas, which disappeared later. The eruption poses no threat to nearby human settlements. Scientists recorded signs of the impending eruption on Wednesday, when gas emissions on the volcano's northeast slope increased, a Sakhalin region Emergency Ministry representative told RIA Novosti. Observation of the volcano continues. - RIA Novosti
The smell has become common since the volcano erupted at 11.50pm on August 6 with residents as far as Blenheim noticing it.
The Horizon Regional Council today received "multiple complaints" about the smell being back and some residents said the sulphur had become an irritant.
Council emergency manager Shane Bayley said the smell was the result of wind drift from the mountain and was not a cause for concern.
"Our air quality monitoring sites in Taumarunui and Taihape are not showing any elevated presence of fine air particles.
The Popocatepetl volcano registered 38 exhalations in the last 24 hours and one on the morning of Tuesday, was accompanied by slight amount of ash, as reported by the National Center for Disaster Prevention (Cenapred). In his report at 11:00 hours, indicated that all the exhalations of the last 24 hours were of low intensity, of which the most important were: one at 15:47 hours on Monday, another at 3:23 and most recently at 8:29, which was accompanied by ash. Bad weather conditions that prevailed during the Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning has obstructed visibility and, therefore, it is unclear which direction dispersed emissions from the volcano traveled.
From the morning until the time of writing this report there is a plume of water vapor and gas that rises a few meters above the crater, due to strong wind that goes to the northwest. The report makes no reference to seismic activity associated with the volcano or possible ashfall in neighboring towns.
- Noticieros Televisa
From the morning until the time of writing this report there is a plume of water vapor and gas that rises a few meters above the crater, due to strong wind that goes to the northwest. The report makes no reference to seismic activity associated with the volcano or possible ashfall in neighboring towns.
- Noticieros Televisa
© INGEOMINAS
The summit of Sotarà volcano on an INGEOMINAS photo from Oct 2011.
The summit of Sotarà volcano on an INGEOMINAS photo from Oct 2011.
The increase had been detected on June 24, 2012 and since that date, 6891 earthquakes have been recorded, i.e. an average of 150 quakes per day. Most of them (5177) are of very small magnitude, but the remaining 1714 quakes were of significant energy (local magnitudes 0.1-2.2) and concentrated in an area between 0.1 and 5 km northeast of the volcanic summit at depths between 2 and 6 km.
None of these events were felt by inhabitants of the communities surrounding the volcano Sotará.
The deformation network shows a possible inflation process towards the northeast sector of the volcano, which correlates with the epicentral zone of seismicity reported and suggest that magma is rising there, and might (or might not) lead to an eruption in a near to medium future.
During the month of July, geochemical surveys showed no significant changes in temperatures of hot springs in the area.
INGEOMINAS stresses that this activity does not pose any immediate danger to the communities aroud the volcano. However, it should be said as well that this could change quickly.
© Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
Taken in the afternoon on July 19, 2012, this NASA MODIS image reveals the Havre Seamount eruption, including the gray pumice, ash-stained water and the volcanic plume.
Taken in the afternoon on July 19, 2012, this NASA MODIS image reveals the Havre Seamount eruption, including the gray pumice, ash-stained water and the volcanic plume.
On Aug. 9, the HMNZS Canterbury ship observed the floating pumice "island" - measuring a whopping 300 miles (482 kilometers) in length and more than 30 miles (48 km) wide - along a voyage from Auckland to Raoul Island, New Zealand. A maritime patrol aircraft, RNZAF Orion, had seen the weird mass and reported it to this Royal New Zealand Air Force ship. Soon after, the HMNZS crew saw the thick mass of porous rocks.
"The rock looked to be sitting two feet above the surface of the waves, and lit up a brilliant white colour in the spotlight. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf," said Lieutenant Tim Oscar, a Royal Australian Navy officer, in a statement.
Pumice, which forms when volcanic lava cools quickly, is riveted with pores due to gas getting trapped inside as the lava hardens. The result: lightweight rocks that can therefore float. (Recent research suggests such pumice replenishes the Great Barrier Reef with new coral.)
Where the huge floating mass came from was a mystery. At the time, according to the Royal Navy, scientists thought an underwater volcano, possibly the Monowai seamount, which has been erupting along the so-called Kermadec arc, was responsible. [See Photos of the Pumice Raft]
Historical background: Tofua Caldera, in Tonga, is the summit caldera of a steep-sided composite cone that forms Tofua Island. Tofua Island is in Tonga's Ha'apai island group. Pre-caldera activity is recorded by a sequence of pyroclastic deposits and lavas constituting the older cone, followed on the northern part of the island by froth lavas or welded and unwelded ignimbrite.
A swarm of more than 150 earthquakes over two days last month caused a previously dormant volcano to erupt beneath the Pacific Ocean, a scientist said Monday. The eruption of the Havre Volcano, about halfway between New Zealand and Tonga, is believed to have caused a floating island of pumice larger than 4,000 square miles that was encountered by a New Zealand navy ship last week. Cornel de Ronde, principal scientist of New Zealand's Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, told Radio New Zealand the source of the pumice had been identified in cooperation with French researchers in Tahiti who monitor earthquakes in the southwest Pacific.
"When they looked at their physical records they saw that on July 17th and 18th, there were some 157 earthquakes of magnitudes between 3.0 and 4.8," he said. De Ronde said they occurred near the time of the first sighting of the pumice 'raft.' When the institute looked at its database, it found the Havre volcano, which it had previously surveyed. It was a caldera volcano, like White Island off the west coast of New Zealand's North Island, which erupted last week, but the Havre was not thought to have erupted before, he said. De Ronde said the pumice island was so light that it had floated several hundred kilometers from the volcano when it was encountered by the HMNZS Canterbury, which took samples last week.
Rolly T. Visaya, Tupi information officer, told BusinessWorld that weeks prior to the Phivolcs letter, residents of Barangays Acmonan and Kablon in Tupi, and Maligo in Polomolok observed certain developments such as: the descent of wild animals from the mountains, as well as burnt vegetation.
The locals also claimed to have felt the ground shaking and heard unusual rumblings from the volcano, he added. To confirm the observations, both Tupi and Polomolok towns sent their rescue teams to Mt. Matutum to get firsthand information through photographs and videos. From the information acquired, Mr. Tamayo, who also chairs the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council of Tupi, then requested for Phivolcs's investigation.
© AFP
The stretch of golf-ball-size pumice rocks was first spotted this week by a New Zealand air force plane about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) northeast of Auckland. The rocks stretch for about 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles).
A volcano has erupted near Mt Ruapehu spewing ash on onto the surrounding area and access roads. The ski slopes though are still open.
Mt Tongariro is just 20km from the ski resorts of Turoa and Whakapapa on the north island.
It is where parts of the film, Lord of the Rings, were filmed and the site of Mount Doom.
It is the first time Mount Tongariro the volcano has erupted in more than 100 years though other volcanoes in the area have erupted in recent time.
It erupted last week and produced an ash cloud 4 miles high and has covered the surrounding areas in thick grey ash. Rocks and debis damaged buildings but no-one was hurt.
Some people have been evacuated from their homes.
Ski resorts have been keen to point out that they are open for business.
Comment: More evidence of increased volcanic activity around the world. Remember, most volcanoes are underwater.
Increased evaporation due to geological changes - and not antropogenic global warming, as they tell us - may already be affecting the global weather.