evacuations
eklemetti | August 30, 2010Classes starting today, so I have to be brief:
Unique twin ash plumes from Sinabung in Indonesia, erupting on August 29, 2010.
Sinabung
The Indonesian volcano continues to experience explosions, which one last night (well, last night here in Ohio) that prompted an ash advisory for aircraft up to 6,100 m / 20,000 feet, although most reports I've seen pegged the ash column at closer to 2,000 m / ~6,500 feet. Eruptions readers have found a bevy of links for footage and information about the eruption, including a remarkable image gallery from the BBC that shows the volcano exhibiting two ash…
eklemetti | August 29, 2010
Sinabung on Sumatra erupting on August 29, 2010.
Eruptions readers were quick on the news about the new eruption at Sinabung in Indonesia. There isn't much known about the eruptive history of the volcano - checking out the Global Volcanism Program, the last activity at Sinabung might have been an explosive event in 1881 with persistent fumaroles up until 1912. However, most news sources are quoting 400 years as the last known eruption of the volcano, apparently information from the Indonesian government.
The eruption itself appears to be an ash-rich explosion with ash fall reported up to 30…
eklemetti | August 25, 2010Today was a doubleheader for volcanic eruptions in the news:
Today's explosive eruption from Mt. Etna. Image courtesy of the INGV.
As I briefly mentioned earlier, Galeras in Colombia had an "atypical" eruption - apparently meaning it was non-explosive - that has prompted evacuations and a change in the alert status to "Red" for the volcano. Various news sources don't have a lot of new information yet, but you can check on the report on the INGEOMINAS page (spanish) - and they have links to some of the Galeras news (audio, spanish) from their main page. Some of the latest reports from…
eklemetti | August 25, 2010
An undated photo of the crater at Galeras.
I am literally out the door, so I will fill this article a little more after my prior academic obligations, but there are reports of an eruption at Galeras in Colombia overnight. 8,000 people living near the volcano have been evacuated as INGEOMINAS moved the alert status at the volcano to "Red". Not much out there on the details of the eruption beyond this intriguing statement:
Diego Gomez from the Pasto Observatory of Vulcanology and Seismology said that due to the atypical, non-explosive eruption, another eruption is imminent.
Galeras the most…
eklemetti | August 6, 2010
Karangetang in Indonesia erupting in June of 2007.
This year we haven't had a lot of news about volcanic activity in Indonesia. This is not to say that eruptions haven't been happening, rather they just haven't been in the news. If you check out the current status of the volcanoes of Indonesia, you'll see that no less than six volcanoes are on orange (Level 2) status and another fourteen are on yellow (Level 1 - and there is a Level 0 as well). So, it is a active arc as arcs go (compare that to the Aleutians or Cascades).
This means that it should come as little surprise that Karangetang on…
eklemetti | June 13, 2010
Volcano Island in the caldera lake at Taal.
The Philippine government is upping its concern about an eruption at Taal - and cracking down on tourists and resorts trying to get near Volcano Island in the volcano's caldera lake. Tourists are only allowed to take boat tours in the lake that go halfway to the island - which doubles as the most recently active vent at Taal - and if resorts on the lake bring tourists any closer, they may face repercussions from the government. Of course, this still isn't stopping tourists and natives from going to the island anyway. Now, one thing interesting to…
eklemetti | June 10, 2010
A partially-eroded scoria cone in the Taal volcano caldera.
As I mentioned earlier this week, PHIVOLCS has raised the Alert Status at Taal in the Philippines to 2 (out of 5) after increasing tremors and gas emissions from the volcano's crater lakes. Now, the Philippine government is taking this threat very serious, sending divers, helicopters, rescue equipment and medical teams to the area near the volcano in case an eruption occurs. Provincial officials in Batangas have asked 5,000 people living near Taal to voluntarily evacuate - however, as with many evacuations, people are reluctantly to…
eklemetti | June 1, 2010
Tungurahua in Ecuador erupting on May 31, 2010.
Two volcanoes along the edge of the north Pacific had explosive eruptions over the weekend. We have some more details on both of the eruptions, so I'll pass them on:
Bezymianny
KVERT is excited because they claim to have predicted the explosive eruption of Bezymianny almost to the day. They had been closely monitoring the volcano and issued this statement on May 20:
According to satellite data by AVO and KVERT staff, a temperature of
the thermal anomaly over the lava dome of Bezymianny volcano began
increasing from May 19 (from -1 (9:49 UTC) to…
eklemetti | May 31, 2010Quick news on Memorial Day (in the US at least):
Ash soaked by rain from Tropical Storm Agatha on the roofs of homes in Guatemala after the late May eruption of Pacaya.
Sixteen scientists were evacuated from islands in the northern Marianas due to the eruption of the unnamed submarine volcano south of Sarigan Island. The eruption is continuing to be monitored closely by the USGS and National Weather Service as the plume - which is most steam with minor ash - could disrupt air traffic in/around Saipan. The latest USGS CNMI update:
Seismicity at a single nearby station on Sarigan Island…
eklemetti | May 29, 2010
Dark ash covers an American Airline 737 on the tarmac at the airport in Guatemala City.
Two volcanoes are making headlines right now (and neither is in Iceland).
As I mentioned yesterday, Pacaya in Guatemala erupted (video) causing widespread disruption of life in the nearby Guatemala City and costing two people their lives (including a TV reporter who got too close to the vent). Almost 2,000 people have been evacuated from the region near the volcano. The BBC has posted some impressive video of the eruption of Pacaya, showing the strombolian explosions sending basaltic tephra high into the…
eklemetti | May 28, 2010This week has been destroyed by workshops and my last death throes with a paper I am submitting on my research in New Zealand. And to think, I thought it might settle down a little after the students left.
To news!
Ash fall on a taxi cab near Guatemala's Pacaya.
Pacaya in Guatemala erupted yesterday causing evacuations of people near the volcano and the closure of Guatemala City's main airport. Pacaya is a mere ~25 km from the capitol of this Central American nation. Tragically, a news reporter from one of the capitol's TV stations died when they were struck by volcanic debris, again…
eklemetti | May 24, 2010For all of you going into withdrawal now that Eyjafjallajökull seems to have quieted down, there are two eruptions of note that aren't in the North Atlantic:
Undated image of the Barujari cone at Mt. Rinjani in Indonesia.
Arenal in Costa Rica - which is almost always sputtering away - had a more significant explosive and effusive event today. The volcano produced enough ash, bombs and gas emissions - along with 8 lava flows (or avalanches, depending on the source) - to prompt the evacuation of the National Park around the volcano. Arenal has had numerous strombolian eruptions over the last…
eklemetti | April 28, 2010
An undated painting of the island volcano of Ischia near the Bay of Naples, Italy.
Guess what? It is the end of the semester (well, school year) here at Denison, so I might be a little busy for the next couple weeks.
Here are some news bits (with special thanks to all who emailed me some of these links):
Boris might have more information or opinion on this, but Italy is back in the news concerning the threat of volcanism to the country. This time the volcano is Ischia, off the coast in the Bay of Naples. Guido Bertolaso of Italy's civil protection agency is quoted as saying that the "magma…
eklemetti | April 20, 2010
Gaua erupting in February 2010. Image courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory.
As a certain famous Icelandic native would say, "there is more to life than this."
Some other volcano news from around the world:
The situation at Gaua in Vanuatu is worsening. Ash from the current eruption is contaminating water and food supplies on the island. Authorities are planning on evacuating 3,000 people from the island if the eruption that started in 2009 gets worse, but there has already been significant ash fall, mudflows and explosions.
Shiveluch on the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia continues…
eklemetti | April 16, 2010
The ash plume from the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption.
To say that the Eyjafjallajökull eruption has become the most significant volcano-related news story of the year would be an understatement. There has been wall-to-wall coverage on every major media outlet, dissecting everything from the effect of ash on jets, to the effect of ash on people, to wildly premature commentary on the climatic effect of the eruption to the potential place in history of this event. The eruption is affecting a wide swath through society: the European economy may take a hit of billions of dollars due to…
eklemetti | April 14, 2010
The steam and ash plume from the Eyjafjallajökull subglacial eruption that started early morning, April 14, 2010.
Well, after the brief respite when there was speculation Eyjafjallajökull-Fimmvörduháls eruption might be over, we now know what was going on. After the original fissures ceased activity, the magma found a new route to the surface, this time underneath the Eyjafjallajökull glacier. Eruptions readers last night watched as an earthquake swarm arrived underneath the icecap, which prompted Icelandic officials to start evacuating people from the area around the volcano (photo…
eklemetti | April 13, 2010
The Eyjafjallajökull-Fimmvörduháls eruption on April 7, 2010.
Just as we were speculating that the Eyjafjallajökull-Fimmvörduháls eruption might be over, Icelandic officials may have ordered an evacuation for towns (icelandic) in the area (but information in english is scant). There have been a recent swarm of shallow earthquakes underneath the Eyjafjallajökull ice cap - and if there is any chance that this could be signs of a new eruption under the ice, evacuations are justified. This could mean a jökulhlaup could be generated. These glacial floods are highly destructive, so getting…
eklemetti | March 24, 2010I'm still playing catch-up after my week in the desert, so I've seen a lot of articles I've wanted to mention ... but a certain other volcano has taken up a lot of my time. However, I will attempt to make amends for that now.
By the way, would you believe Ubehebe Crater was closed? How do they close a volcano, anyway? However, I did get a great snap of a welded tuff on the road outside of Shoshone, CA.
A strongly welded tuff near Shoshone, CA. The dark interior is remelted volcanic ash/tephra surrounded by less welded pink tuff with abundant pumice clasts. Denison student David Sisak is on…
eklemetti | March 22, 2010
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 expanding(?) fissure interacting with snow, ice or groundwater, producing steam explosions. These explosions have some minor ash component to them, mostly from the shattering of rapidly cooled lava, but are dominated by steam.
The eruption appears to be continuing into its third day unabated. Flights…
eklemetti | March 21, 2010
The fissure vent eruption on Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland on March 21, 2010.
The big news this morning is the eruption that started last night at Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland, producing a 1-km fissure vent. The pictures and videos I've seen so far have been quite impressive, with the classic look of a "curtain of fire", where basaltic lava erupts explosively from a linear array of vents - you can see the geometry in the image from the BBC/AP (above). Especially clear is the dual nature of the eruption, with both the explosive fire fountains and the effusive (passive) lava flows from the root…