© Dave MinerShishaldin Volcano
Shishaldin Volcano is rumbling to life in the Aleutian Islands.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory detected long tremors and an increase in surface temperatures at Shishaldin earlier Tuesday.
Those could be signs of an eruption, says Robert McGimsey, a geologist at the AVO.
"Typical eruptions of Shishaldin have involved what we call Strombolian eruptions, which are gas-charged emissions," McGimsey said.
Shishaldin, which is located on Unimak Island is unique among volcanoes in Alaska. It doesn't have a lava plug or a dome - just a deep, open vent.
McGimsey says that when Shishaldin erupts, "It's gas bubbles coming up through the throat or the vent of the volcano. And when they pop, it just kind of throws magma up into the air. That's kind of what defines lava fountaining."
Comment: The planet certainly is rocking and reeling at the moment and as can be seen from the chart below, volcanic activity reported from 2009 to the present shows a notable and worrying increase.