basaltic eruption
eklemetti | May 19, 2008
It has been rather quiet on the volcano news front over the weekend. A couple tidbits:
- There are some new data showing the sulfur dioxide flux from Mt. Etna (Italy). The image above is an eruption of Etna from 2001 (and it makes a great wallpaper).
- I've heard very little about Chaiten lately, mostly because I don't think much has changed. The last update provided by the SERNAGEOMIN was on 5.16 (in spanish) and pretty much that is exactly what it says: the volcano continues to erupt. Apparently some USGS folks will be arriving on the scene soon as well. Most of the town of Chaiten has…
eklemetti | May 16, 2008
The latest eruption at Kilauea has increased the amount of vog on the big island of Hawai'i. Vog is more or less the same as the anthropogenic "smog" produced by car/industrial exhaust, but produced by volcanic gases (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide amongst others). It definitely doesn't make for good air quality, especially with the current lack of strong tradewinds in Hawai'i right now.
eklemetti | May 15, 2008
At first it seemed like the new eruptions at Mt. Etna (Italy) were petering out rather quickly. Instead, now it seems that there are fears that a new rift might be opening on Etna, which might mean more vents for lava to erupt. Apparently there has also been some seismic activity to go along with the new eruption and rifting, which shouldn't be too surprising.
It is also noted that Stromboli, another one of the Aeolian volcanoes, is erupting now as well. Busy time for Italian volcanoes!
eklemetti | May 10, 2008
Etna, one of Italy's (and the world's) most active volcanoes, has started erupting again. Saturday night the volcano erupted lava flows, although that is pretty much all the details in the article. The last series of major eruptions at Etna were last fall, but the volcano never tends to stay quiet for long. For those of you who want to take a peak, Etna has a nice live webcam.
eklemetti | May 5, 2008
For those of you who have missed it, Halemaumau Crater at Kilauea (Hawai'i, USA) have been experiencing new eruptions - some of them explosive - for the last couple months. These are the first eruptions at Halemaumau since the 1980s and the first explosive eruptions at Kilauea since the 1920s. Much of the area around the crater in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park are closed due to the volcanic gases and the potential for more explosive eruptions to throw material out of the crater. These explosive eruptions are likely caused by the interaction between the magma below the surface intersecting…