Volcanoes
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Bizarro Earth

Possible threat of eruption at Hakone volcano as 100 volcanic earthquakes recorded

hakone hot spring resort
© AFP PhotoAnglers fish from a boat floating on Lake Ashinoko in front of Japan's highest peak, Mount Fuji, and other mountains covered with coloured autumn leaves at a Hakone hot spring resort, some 100 kms west of Tokyo
There has been a rise in the number of volcanic earthquakes recorded in Hakone, Japan. The nearby Hakone volcano began belching steaming gas and meteorologists say there is a possible risk of an eruption.

There were two minor quakes registering 2.4 and 2.0 recorded at the Hakone volcano, which is located in the Kanagawa Province and is 80 kilometers southwest of the capital Tokyo. Meanwhile, there were a total of 98 volcanic earthquakes recorded at the popular hot springs resort of Hakone on Tuesday up until 15:00 local time. During the whole of Monday, 34 were logged.

Japan's meteorological agency has issued a warning to limit access to the resort.

"Activity at Hakone... is in a state of uncertainty," the agency said in an advisory, which was reported by AFP. "There is a possibility that a minor eruption may suddenly occur," it said. "Please do not enter dangerous zones."

Despite the warning, the agency still believes the risk of the Hakone volcano erupting is minimal. It is maintaining an alert level at 1 on a scale of 5. Level 1 means "normal."

Comment: Japan's meteorological agency may be downplaying the threat to avoid panic or hinder tourism, but volcanoes that have long been dormant are beginning to wake up and there has been an alarming increase in eruptions and earthquakes worldwide:


Bulb

Researchers: Asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago may have caused Deccan Traps' vast lava flow

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© Gerta Keller
The Deccan Traps in India - between 17° - 24° North and 73° - 74° East - are a place where you can find layer upon layer of solidified rock. This region is thought to have been the site of extremely powerful volcanic activity in the past, so powerful that it caused mile-deep lava over an area as large as the state of California. Last week (April 30, 2015) geophysicists at UC Berkeley announced their evidence that this vast region is related to the asteroid thought to have slammed into the ocean half a world away. The impact near Chicxulub, Mexico - 66 million years ago - is believed by many researchers to have killed the dinosaurs and ushered in the age of mammals. The Berkeley researchers say the impact probably "rang the Earth like a bell," triggering powerful earthquakes and volcanos around the globe, including those that created the Deccan Traps.

The Berkeley researchers - who published their work online April 30 in the The Geological Society of America Bulletin - cited the "uncomfortably close" coincidence between the Deccan Traps eruptions and the asteroid impact 66 million years ago. Team leader Mark Richards of UC Berkeley said in a statement:
If you try to explain why the largest impact we know of in the last billion years happened within 100,000 years of these massive lava flows at Deccan ... the chances of that occurring at random are minuscule.
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© UC BerkeleyIllustration of a hot mantle plume “head” pancaked beneath the Indian Plate. The theory by Richards and his colleagues suggests that existing magma within this plume head was mobilized by strong seismic shaking from the Chicxulub asteroid impact, resulting in the largest of the Deccan Traps flood basalt eruptions.
Richards had proposed in 1989 that plumes of hot rock, called "plume heads," rise through Earth's mantle every 20-30 million years and generate huge lava flows, called flood basalts, like the Deccan Traps. It struck him as more than coincidence that the last four of the six known mass extinctions of life occurred at the same time as one of these massive eruptions.

Comment: See also: Forget About Global Warming: We're One Step From Extinction!


Attention

The most powerful existing volcano emits ash, clouds of steam 7,500 meters high in Kamchatka, Russia

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The Kliuchevskoi, the most powerful existing chain giants in the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka volcano, today launched clouds of gas-steam and ash to a height of seven thousand five hundred meters above the level the sea.

Emissions were captured by the observatory of geophysics and volcanology, a subsidiary of the Academy of Science of Russia in the Far East.

The wind spread the ash cloud at a distance of 40 kilometers to the northeast, toward the Gulf of Ozernovskiy, and does not represent a danger for the populations, the regional Emergency Situations Ministry, in a report televised on federal channels said.

However, civil defense declared code yellow -alert averagely for aviation security and recommended to travelers refrain from organizing tourist expeditions in the area of the volcano, active since 1 January.

Kliuchevskoi ranks as the largest and most powerful active basaltic volcano in Eurasia, with four thousand 850 meters.

Actually it gives its name to a group of giants (Kliuchevskaya) located near the east coast of the peninsula as Ploski Tolbachik, Shiveluch and Kizimen responsible for the intense seismic activity in the region since late 2012.

The Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East, is part of the zone of high seismic activity on the planet, the Ring of Fire.

Bizarro Earth

Researchers think underwater volcano off Northwest coast is erupting - right on schedule

Hydrothermal vent
© Bill Chadwick, Oregon State University, Copyright Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionA “snowblower” hydrothermal vent spews hot water and white bits of bacterial mat that are blooming in the chemical-rich hot-spring water, showing that the lava flow that was erupted in 2011 at Axial Seamount is still cooling.
Axial Seamount, an active underwater volcano located about 300 miles off the coast of Oregon and Washington, appears to be erupting - after two scientists had forecast that such an event would take place there in 2015.

Geologists Bill Chadwick of Oregon State University and Scott Nooner of the University of North Carolina Wilmington made their forecast last September during a public lecture and followed it up with blog posts and a reiteration of their forecast just last week at a scientific workshop.

They based their forecast on some of their previous research - funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which showed how the volcano inflates and deflates like a balloon in a repeatable pattern as it responds to magma being fed into the seamount.

Since last Friday, the region has experienced thousands of tiny earthquakes - a sign that magma is moving toward the surface - and the seafloor dropped by 2.4 meters, or nearly eight feet, also a sign of magma being withdrawn from a reservoir beneath the summit. Instrumentation recording the activity is part of the NSF-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative. William Wilcock of the University of Washington first observed the earthquakes.

Alarm Clock

Bulusan volcano in Philippines explodes, ejecting steam and ash

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© errolgatumbato.wordpress.com
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), in its 1:30 p.m. advisory Friday, disclosed that Bulusan Volcano (12.7667°N, 124.0500°E) situated in Sorsogon Province, produced a steam and ash explosion which lasted for 5 minutes based on seismic records.

The volcanic activity was recorded at 8:09 a.m., although it may not have been observed visually due to thick rain clouds covering the summit.

"At around 10:30 a.m., when the crater became visible, strong to moderate, dirty white steaming was observed, reaching 200 meters high and drifting west-northwest coming from the northwest vent of the volcano," Phivolcs said.

Only five (5) volcanic earthquakes were detected during the past week by the Bulusan seismic network, but after the steam and ash explosion, the network recorded approximately 40 volcanic earthquakes.

Alert Level 0 status currently prevails over Bulusan Volcano, Phivolcs added.

However, local government units and the public are reminded that entry to the 4-kilometer radius Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) remains strictly prohibited due to the possibility of sudden and hazardous steam-driven or phreatic eruptions.

Civil aviation authorities must also advise pilots to avoid flying close to the volcano's summit as ejecta from any sudden phreatic eruption can be hazardous to aircraft.

Bizarro Earth

Chile volcano: Cloud of ash and gas spew into sky as Calbuco erupts again

Calbuco volcano erupts again
© Carlos Vera/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Calbuco volcano erupted again Thursday, releasing a large column of ash into the air just over a week after it spectacularly roared to life following half a century of inactivity.
The Chilean volcano that erupted spectacularly twice last week is causing more chaos after once again spewing a cloud of ash and gas into the sky

Calbuco began erupting again today, sending a massive plume of smoke into the clear blue sky.

The volcano spewed over 200 million tonnes of ash last week, coating nearby towns, wrecking the local salmon industry, and forcing the cancellation of flights as far as Buenos Aires, some 870 miles away.

Attention

US North West submarine volcano 'Axial Seamount' likely just erupted, say stunned scientists

A seismometer
A seismometer is deployed on the underwater Axial Volcano in 2014.

A new seafloor observatory operated by the University of Washington is providing unprecedented detail about the possible eruption of a submarine volcano off the Northwest coast
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More than 80 scientists from around the world gathered in Seattle last week to discuss a thrilling development: For the first time, seafloor instruments were providing a real-time look at the most active, submarine volcano off the Northwest coast — and all signs indicated it might erupt soon.

But even the researchers most closely monitoring Axial Seamount were stunned by what happened next.

Beginning Thursday, April 23 — the day after the workshop ended — the new sensors recorded 8,000 small earthquakes in a 24-hour period. The volcano's caldera, which had been swelling rapidly from an influx of magma, collapsed like a deflated balloon.


Comment: At a similar time to the devastating Nepalese earthquake and the massive eruption of the Calbuco volcano in Chile.


"All the alarm bells were going off," said Oregon State University volcanologist Bill Chadwick, who along with a colleague predicted last year that the volcano would erupt in 2015. "It was very exciting."

Scientists are still debating whether to describe what transpired as an eruption, which means molten rock flowed onto the seafloor. No instruments were destroyed and there was no obvious temperature spike, so the magma might have oozed into subterranean fissures, forming what's called a dike.

Chadwick is among those who suspect lava did burst out, probably north of where the new instruments are clustered. "This was a major event," he said. "A lot of magma moved, and that makes a lot of us think it had to erupt somewhere."

The only way to find out for sure is to visit the site with a research vessel, which he and his colleagues will do this summer.

Axial seamount, submarine volcano
© Kelly Shea / The Seattle Times

Comment: The vast majority of our planetary volcanoes are under water, so called 'submarine volcanoes' (perhaps up to one million of them). Although their eruptions are normally difficult to detect, the significant increase of fish die off's and strange migratory behaviour of marine life could be considered a potential sign of such activity (another cause being methane outgassing).

With the number of known volcanic eruptions on land rapidly increasing worldwide, as the number of volcanoes erupting right now is greater than the 20th century's YEARLY average, a comparable escalation in activity of their under water counterparts seems probable.


Compass

Kilauea Volcano lava lake reaches rim, threatens to overflow

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© GB Hajim, COO HawaiiCon
The lava lake at the summit of Kilauea volcano reached the rim of the Overlook crater vent this morning, "during a period when all spattering stopped, but did not get quite high enough to overflow onto the Halemaʻumaʻu Crater floor," scientists report.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says there was no significant change in tilt recorded at Kīlauea's summit over the past day. This week's rise in the level of the lava lake to record heights has correlated with inflation recorded at the summit; about 7.5 microradians since inflation started on Tuesday, April 21. The radial tilt leveled off into slight deflation on Monday but as of this posting Tuesday morning it has returned to steady inflation. The lava lake remained at a steady 10-13 feet below the rim on Monday.

The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says seismicity is elevated beneath Kilauea's summit and upper East and Southwest Rift Zones. Sulfur dioxide emission rates averaged 3000-5200 tonnes/day for the week ending April 21.

Stop

Human cosmic connection: Volcanic eruptions becoming more violent, aggressive

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We are beginning to witness more aggressive activity from the world's eruptive volcanic systems. Chile's Calbuco, Peru's Ubinas volcano, Indonesia's Mt. Sinabung volcano, Mexico's Colima volcano, and Costa Rica's Turrialba volcano are not the only volcanoes ejecting high altitude ash plumes in more powerful eruptions these days - the list of volcanoes across the globe now experiencing similar simultaneous activity is growing. Volcanic activity as documented for April 27, 2015:

Karymsky (Kamchatka): (27 Apr) An explosion occurred this morning that was strong enough to produce an ash plume to approx. 10,000 ft (3 km) altitude (VAAC Tokyo).

Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): (27 Apr) Strong activity continues from the volcano. This morning (14:24 local time), an explosion at the Showa crater sent a plume to 15,000 ft (4.5 km) altitude that drifted north.

Manam (Papua New Guinea): (27 Apr) Eruptive activity is taking place at the volcano. VAAC Darwin reported an ash plume to 8,000 ft from the volcano this morning. A pronounced SO2 plume can be seen on satellite data as well.

Dukono (Halmahera): (27 Apr) The volcano continues to produce significant ash emissions - a plume extending 20 nautical miles E was observed Saturday (Darwin VAAC).

Barren Island (Indian Ocean): (27 Apr) A pilot reported an ash plume rising to 10,000 ft from the volcano. Likely, eruptive activity which had produced a new lava flow in March is still going on or has resumed.

Comment: To learn more about the human cosmic connection to these events, read Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection by Pierre Lescaudron and Laura Knight Jadczyk.


UFO

UFO filmed during eruption at Calbuco volcano, Chile

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© YouTubeMysterious: UFO spotted at the eruption site of the Calbuco volcano
Footage captured at the Calbuco volcano eruption in Chile has caused controversy - after viewers spotted a 'UFO' in the sky among the plumes of dust and ash.

The unidentified flying object appears to hover in mid-air to the left of the eruption for a few seconds, flashing against the ash filled sky.

Moments later, the mysterious object disappeared.

The clip was uploaded to YouTube on April 23 by Ana Luisa Cid and has already clocked up more than 200,000 views.

Ana wrote: "Luminous object near the plume, captured on 22 April 2015.

"Some believe it may be a drone or a police helicopter.