Volcanoes
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Fire

5 volcanoes in Indonesia erupt simultaneously - Ash clouds force airport closures

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Raung exploded to life earlier this month
Eruptions of ash at five volcanoes shrouded the skies over parts of the Indonesian archipelago Wednesday, forcing three airports to close.

Mount Raung on Java island blasted ash and debris up to 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) into the air after rumbling for several weeks, government volcanologist Surono said.

Ash erupted also from Gamalama and Dukono mountains on the Moluccas islands chain, Sinabung volcano on Sumatra island and Mount Karangetang on Siau island, darkening the skies, Surono said.

A total of more than 13,000 people have been evacuated due to the volcanic eruptions since last month, mostly from around the slopes of Sinabung in Tanah Karo District, added Surono, who uses a single name.

"Our evaluation showed there is no extraordinary natural phenomenon that triggered simultaneous eruptions of the five volcanoes," Surono said, adding that all the eruptions are natural and normal occurrences in a nation with about 130 active volcanoes.


Comment: Nothing to see here folks! It's just increasing climate chaos on the way towards sudden glacial rebound! Move along!


Arrow Up

Drone captures rare underwater volcano eruption off coast of Taiwan

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Astounding footage shows the moment a rare underwater volcano erupts off the coast of Taiwan. As the drone flies above the underwater Kueishantao volcano, off the coast of Taiwan's Gueishan Island, the amazing recording captures the moment the mighty volcano erupts deep in the ocean.
The footage was captured by marine scientist Mario Lebrato with Spanish film-maker Daniel Meana, 31, as they were working offshore on a research project with Taiwan Ocean University. Mario commented on the footage: "In the video you can see more than 30 vents, which expel sulphur and carbon dioxide. The seawater comes out of the vents at around 100C, but then gets cooled down by the surrounding water."


Fire

Best of the Web: Signs of Change: Extreme weather and environmental upheaval in June and July 2015 (VIDEO)

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© HawkkeyDavisChannel/YouTubeA first? Wildfire torches moving vehicles on highway near Los Angeles, California
Video compilation of extreme weather events (and general environmental chaos) from the past month or so.

Record high temperatures in Germany were immediately followed by unusually strong storms and hail. Record rainfall in China was followed by a record heatwave there. In the US, there's been a record heatwave in the West, and record rainfall in the South. There's been record cold in Australia, and record heat in Pakistan. Volcanoes erupted in Indonesia, Japan and Mexico, while there was a strong earthquake in China and an earthquake swarm in Iceland... And in between all that; powerful storms and record rainfall.

Things be intensifying!


Bizarro Earth

Huge and ancient underwater volcanoes discovered off coast of Sydney, Australia




Scientists searching for lobster larvae on Investigator research vessel instead find cluster of four volcanoes thought to be about 50m years old


Four enormous underwater volcanoes, thought to be about 50m years old, have been discovered off the coast of Sydney by a team of scientists who were looking for lobster larvae.

The volcano cluster was spotted through sonar mapping of the sea floor by Investigator, Australia's new ocean-going research vessel, about 250km off the coast.

The four volcanoes are calderas, large bowl-shaped craters caused when a volcano erupts and the land around it collapses. The largest is 1.5km across the rim and rises 700m from the sea floor. The 20km-long volcano cluster is nearly 5km underwater.

Professor Iain Suthers, a marine biologist at the University of NSW, said the volcano discovery was made when the team was searching for nursery grounds for larval lobsters.

Comment: Other underwater volcanoes have been discovered in recent years from off the coast of New Zealand to Antarctica. In April this year, scientists were stunned by the apparent eruption of a submarine volcano, 'Axial Seamount' off the Northwest US coast (at a similar time to the devastating Nepalese earthquake and the massive eruption of the Calbuco volcano in Chile), which could explain the "unprecedented warming occurring over the last 13 years" of water in this area.

As the number of volcanoes erupting right now is greater than the 20th century's YEARLY average, a comparable escalation in activity of their underwater counterparts seems logical.

It is estimated there are up to one million submarine volcanoes on our planet. Effects from this volcanic activity, combined with increased methane outgassing, radiation from the Fukushima disaster are probably also causing the ongoing devastation of marine life, mass fish die offs and strange migratory behaviour we are currently witnessing.


Question

Sharks discovered inside active underwater volcano in Solomon Islands

sharks kavachi volcano
Brennan Phillips and some colleagues were recently on an expedition to Kavachi volcano, an active underwater volcano near the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. But they weren't prepared for what they saw deep inside the volcanic crater:

Sharks!

Hammerheads and silky sharks, to be specific, contentedly swimming around despite the sizzling water temperatures and biting acidity.

Volcanic vents such as these can release fluids above 800 degrees Fahrenheit and have a similar acidity to vinegar, according to the Marine Education Society of Australasia.

Bizarro Earth

Colima Volcano in western Mexico erupts

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© AP/Sergio Tapiro VelascoLava flows down the banks of the Colima Volcano, also known as the Volcano of Fire, near the town of Comala, Mexico, Friday, July 10, 2015.
A volcano in western Mexico has erupted, spewing ash more than 4 miles (7 kilometers) into the air and sending lava down its flanks.

The activity at the Colima Volcano began Thursday and continued Friday morning. The volcano is also known as the Volcano of Fire.

Luis Felipe Puente is director of Mexico's civil protection agency. He tweeted Friday that preventive protocols were activated.

A statement from Colima state's civil protection agency on Thursday said the initial eruption occurred just after 11 a.m. Ash was falling to the southwest of the crater. People were advised to recognize a 3-mile (5-kilometer) perimeter around the peak.

A state helicopter was making a reconnaissance flight Friday morning.


Attention

Indonesia's Mount Raung volcano erupts blasting ash, debris 12,460 feet into the air

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© Aris Yanto
Indonesia Mount Raung sent an explosive eruption of ash into the air Friday, putting people who live near the volcano on high alert.

The ash spewing from the volcano on Indonesia's main island of Java sparked chaos for vacationers as airports closed and international airlines canceled flights to tourist hotspot Bali, stranding thousands.

Mount Raung in East Java province, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) from Bali's international airport, has been rumbling for several weeks. The level of activity increased in the past week and on Friday it blasted ash and debris 3,800 meters (12,460 feet) into the air.

Government volcanologist Gede Suantika said the eruption forced authorities to close five airports due to the risks posed by volcanic ash, though two airports on Lombok island reopened Friday afternoon. The Transport Ministry told airlines to avoid routes near the mountain. It said a decision about reopening other airports would be made later Friday.

Suantika said lava and ash fall from the 3,332-meter (10,930-feet) -high mountain on Indonesia's most densely populated island also caused the government to urge people to stay away from a three-kilometer (two-mile) -high danger zone around the volcano.

Evacuation of residents living near the volcano is still considered unnecessary, but authorities are urging people to wear masks.

Bulb

Scientists find high-precision atomic clocks useful to monitor volcanoes, improve prediction of eruptions

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© webwire.com
An international team led by scientists from the University of Zurich finds that high-precision atomic clocks can be used to monitor volcanoes and potentially improve predictions of future eruptions. In addition, a ground-based network of atomic clocks could monitor the reaction of the Earth's crust to solid Earth tides.

Atomic clocks measure time with unbelievable accuracy. The best atomic clocks are so precise that they would lose less than one second over a period of 10 billion years. However, they are generally only used in laboratories. Science and industry have yet to take full advantage of their unprecedented ability to measure time. An international team including Dr. Ruxandra Bondarescu, Andreas Schärer and Prof. Philippe Jetzer from the Institute of Physics from the University of Zurich discusses potential applications for atomic clocks.

Their analysis shows that the slow down of time predicted by general relativity can be measured by local clocks and used to monitor volcanoes. General relativity states that clocks positioned at different distances from a massive body like the Earth have different tick rates. The closer a clock is to a massive object, the slower it ticks. In a similar manner, subterranean objects influence the tick rate of local clocks that are located above the Earth's surface. New lava filling a magma chamber beneath a volcano makes a clock located above that volcano tick more slowly than a clock that is located further away. Volcanoes are currently monitored using GPS receivers. The resulting data often has to be integrated over a period of several years before an estimate of the volume of new magma can be made. A network of local, highly precise atomic clocks may provide the same information within a few hours. This would make it possible to monitor processes inside volcanoes more closely and to make better predictions for future volcanic eruptions.

Hourglass

Fear of volcano eruption in Manipur's Ukhrul district as continuous flow of ashes, smoke eminate from village swamp

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© thenortheasttoday.comA continuous gush of smoke and ashes from a swamp at a villag in Ukhrul.
A continuous flow of smoke and ashes from a swamp at a place near Old Wahong village of Manipur's Ukhrul district has left villagers fearing of natural calamity in the form of volcanic eruption any time, a daily reported Tuesday.

Villagers said that smoke radius of about two feet along with ashes have been seen gushing out from the earth's surface at Shitru area, since last two weeks.Shitru is located a place border Manipur, Nagaland and Myanmar.

Villagers and onlookers feared volcanic eruption at the area in a short time.However, with majority of the villagers preoccupied with cultivation of seasonal crops, and coupled with incessant rainfall, they are yet to inform State authorities about the mysterious phenomenon till date. Yet, they are clueless and at the same time quite apprehensive in case the smokes and ashes turn out to be a prelude to a volcanic eruption.

It may be mentioned that in 2013, a mud volcano erupted at the neighbouring village of New Tusom due to the shifting of tectonic plates of India and Myanmar.

Calendar

Fuego volcano activity intensifies; Guatemala issues danger warning

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© Johan Ordonez/AFPThe Fuego Volcano, seen from Alotenango municipality, Sacatepequez departament, about 65 km southwest of Guatemala City, erupts on July 1, 2015. The volcano spewed lava and columns of ash into the air and authorities have raised the alert level in the area to orange.
Guatemalan authorities issued a danger warning Wednesday in response to intensifying activity in the country's Fuego Volcano.

The volcano, 50 kilometers (30 miles) southeast of Guatemala City, was belching "fiery clouds" over the course of the day, said David de León, a spokesman for the government's disaster response office.

The danger warning issued by the government was one step short of a declaration of emergency requiring evacuation of the communities around the volcano.

He said the mountain has been shaken by explosions that have rattled windows and rooftops and spewed columns of ash to some 5,000 meters (15,000 feet) above sea level.

Guatemala's civil aviation authority was advised to take precautionary measures.

In February, a strong eruption forced authorities to close the international airport because of the falling ash.