Tuesday Tidbits: Eyjafjallajökull, Yasur, mud on Mars and more

Finally, a chance to catch up a bit ... !


Yasur erupting in May of 2010.

Some news from the world of volcanoes:

More like this

The steam-and-ash plume from Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland, March 22, 2010. Overnight, the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in Iceland added to its oeuvre, producing what is being reported to be a 8-km plume. Images of the plume (above) suggest (to me) that it is very water-rich, so likely this is the…
A shot of the summit area of Eyjafjallajökull, showing the twin steam-and-ash plumes from the lava flow and active vent. Picture taken by Dr. Joseph Licciardi (UNH). Over the weekend, the newly reinvigorated ash eruptions from Eyjafjallajökull combined with favorable winds meant that ash from…
Ah yes, a reminder that there are other volcanoes erupting around the world than Eyjafjallajökull - but yes, it is true! Here is the latest USGS/Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program Weekly Volcanic Activity Report! Highlights (not including Iceland) include: Another volcano in the Kuril Islands…
News! The summit crater lake at Gorely in Russia, taken on June 21, 2010. Image courtesy of KVERT. Eruptions readers have been abuzz about how KVERT will be closing shop (yet again) at the end of June. This would, of course, leave no local monitoring and expertise in the very active Kamchatka…

The pic of Sakurajima may be mislabeled. The ash plume looks like it is emerging from the main crater while the so-called "pyroclastic flow" looks to me like steam emerging from the smaller Showa crater. That is my impression anyway.

By mike lyvers (not verified) on 24 Aug 2010 #permalink

It's interesting the fact that Chaitén is covered by snow, indicating a cooling of the dome. In the OVDAS site, Caldera camera (frozen for a long time), you can see the base of the dome with snow.

By Guillermo (not verified) on 24 Aug 2010 #permalink

@Guillermo
Before the eruption, did Chaitén show a perennial icecap, or it just forms in winter (when not erupting)? Could melting mean an eruption at sight?

By Renato Rio (not verified) on 24 Aug 2010 #permalink

MÃla's cams showing a significant steam plume for the first time in days. Could that be related to recent EQ activity?
Wednesday
25.08.201003:32:2163.694-19.5581.1 km2.190.014.2 km WNW of Básar
Wednesday
25.08.201003:32:2063.639-19.3661.1 km1.690.025.7 km W of Goðabunga

By Renato Rio (not verified) on 24 Aug 2010 #permalink

just checked the Ãórólfsfelli cams. FLIR is back in action, and yes there is a steam plume again.

@Alastair:
FLIR is back, I forgot to mention. Have you tried the cam from Ãorvaldseyri? Contrast is now too sharp, but earlier you could neatly see the rising plume. Maybe the crater lake is boiling now.

By Renato Rio (not verified) on 24 Aug 2010 #permalink

All this recurring steaming would suggest (to me anyway) that water is not just sitting in the crater bowl but penetrates deeper and deeper into the mountain. Her next eruption could prove to be, erm..., "interesting".

By Henrik, Swe (not verified) on 24 Aug 2010 #permalink

Thanks, @Sherine:
I got this from El tiempo, Colombia:
"The eruptive event occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, after which the alert level was raised from orange to red indicating that another eruption could be recorded in minutes, therefore she reiterated the call for residents to attend to shelters. According to Dr. Martha Calvache, deputy director of Ingeominas, the incident happened around 4:00 am and the organization and the state is monitoring the volcano.
The signal of the Galeras has lasted for nearly an hour, one of the largest that have occurred in the area, as added Calvache."
www.eltiempo.com

By Renato Rio (not verified) on 25 Aug 2010 #permalink

They say that although weather conditions at the site are good, yet they don't know the kind of material extruded from the volcano.
www.elespectador.com

By Renato Rio (not verified) on 25 Aug 2010 #permalink

I get the feeling that Galeras could turn nasty since the residents flat out refuse to go to shelters with the words "nothing will ever happen"...

Erik just opened a thread for Galeras. I'll paste your comments over there.

By Renato Rio (not verified) on 25 Aug 2010 #permalink

April 18 photos of Eyja. I found while looking for photos of glacier Ok. The photographer just happened to be on the spot, shooting clothing company ads. Is the second photo (looking down into the snow-coated cone) a photo of Eyja.?
http://www.partytow.com/e/?p=7922

Hello
Last news from Galeras, but I do not see this report on the site Ingeominas :
August 26th, 2010
This morning the alert-level was reduced to ORANGE.
Seismic activity went on for about 12 hours after the eruptive at 4 AM local time, but intensity
was redused during the day. However, another seismic event happended again late afternoon, similar
to the one at 4 AM. Ashfall is reported within 30 km from the crater, and there are possiblilities
that a new crater has opened up. Up to 3.000 tonns sulfur dioxide up to 400m above the top was partly
visible duringthe day. Of the 8.000 inhabitants to be evacuated, most of them refuse to live their homes
so far. Magma is still floating near the opening, and therefore reason to be prepared for new intensity.
Source : http://www.vulkaner.no/v/volcan/galeras-e.html

By Sherine, France (not verified) on 26 Aug 2010 #permalink

I read this at RÃV News, but not quite sure of what it means:
"New cracks were found in some of Sprengisandur up, but they are believed to have formed in the spring. Páll Einarsson, mineral physicists believe cracked delayed by attacks by the eruption under Vatnajökull Gjálp in 1996. " (Google translated)
http://www.ruv.is/frettaskyringar/innlendar-frettir/nyjar-sprungur-a-sp…

By Renato Rio (not verified) on 26 Aug 2010 #permalink

Two of the Mila cams are down now, so I went exploring and found that Weather Underground has a satellite view that might be useful, if Eyja. becomes active again. I had to zoom and drag the map to find the glacier with Eyja.
http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?lat=64.12999725&lon=-21.89999962…

Below the map is a slider that will give you animation if moved to the right, for more frames. Unfortunately, I didn't think of using this site during the eruption, and I'm not sure how useful it would be. I do use the radar images when a storm is predicted for my location, to see how fast it's approaching. The image refreshes perhaps twice an hour.

Looking at Wunderground for Catania Italy, I can see many small craters after zooming and dragging to Mt. Etna. Some craters have black around them (ash?).
http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?lat=37.47000122&lon=15.05000019&…

Erik: Just saw the Nasa image of Chaiten, too bad the Chilean webcam has been inoperative since 6/20. I started reading about volcanoes when your blog started (and Chaiten erupted). Congrats on the great work.

I love your site lol