Redoubt
eklemetti | August 12, 2010Earlier this summer, we had a chance to ask Sally Kuhn Sennert of the Smithsonian Institution/USGS Global Volcanism Program questions about her job as the main writer of the well-loved Weekly Volcanic Activity Report. Well, now here are the answers!
Sally Kuhn Sennert of the Global Volcanism Program in front of Mt. Rainier, Washington.
Q&A Sally Kuhn Sennert:
Q: Could you describe how you go about putting together the weekly update?
A: If time permits, I would start to gather information on Friday when particular sources post their weekly summaries. The majority of the information…
eklemetti | June 20, 2010News for Monday!
Ngauruhoe in New Zealand, showing the dark lava flows of basaltic andesite on the slopes of the young volcanic cone. Image by Erik Klemetti, taken January 2009.
A couple pieces of news from two Russian volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula: (1) last week's report of activity at Gorely appears to be semi-substantiated with new photos on the KVERT website (Russian). The images from June 6 and 12 (2010) shows steam plumes coming from the volcano - one as tall as 500 meters. Now, this doesn't imply that an eruption occurred, but it might suggest activity on on the upswing. KVERT…
eklemetti | April 16, 2010Hard to believe, but there is other volcano-related news in the world ...
So, with all deference to Eyjafjallajokull, here it is:
Dome collapse on Colima in Mexico, image taken March 30, 2010.
The new Smithsonian/USGS GVP Weekly Volcano Activity Report was issued, with news about increasing signs of activity at Egon in Indonesia, a possible plume at Miyakejima in Japan and more dome growth at Soufriere Hills.
A study on the economic effect of a new Vesuvius eruption was released and the finding show the potential for a staggering $24 billion of economic damage directly related to an…
eklemetti | April 12, 2010Lots to do!
Tourists flock to the Eyjafjallajökull-Fimmvörduháls in Iceland.
The media does love the term "supervolcano", and a number of Eruptions readers sent me a link to the article on the dreaded submarine "supervolcanoes". I would delve into this article from Live Science, but it sadly again does a dreadful job with a lot of this - remember, "supervolcano" is a made-up word by the BBC with no strict definition, so trying to say there are a dozen supervolcanoes worldwide is just silly. And why does it take multiple paragraphs and multiple mentions of "scientists" before they get a…
eklemetti | April 5, 2010
The steam plume from the new dome on Redoubt, taken in January 2010. Image courtesy of USGS/AVO, taken by Dennis Anderson.
News comes out of Alaska that a small earthquake swarm has begun under Redoubt. This is the second such swarm since the volcano's 2009 activity ceased. Most of the seismicity appears to be near the summit of the volcano, which would suggest that magma might be moving underneath the new dome that is still steaming.
AVO describes the unrest:
"This morning, at roughly 01:44 AKDT (0944 UTC) a series of small repetitive earthquakes began occurring in the vicinity of the…
eklemetti | January 28, 2010Some news for the last Friday in January:
Volcanic lightning captured over Redoubt in March 2009.
Tungurahua in Ecuador continues to erupt. Yesterday, the volcano spread ash over much of central Ecuador. Apparently people in Ecuador aren't taking the hazard of ash too seriously, with many ignoring recommendations to wear masks when the ash is falling. Over 50 explosions have been recorded over the last 24 hours at the volcano according to the Ecuadorian Instituto GeofÃsico, most of them small to moderate.
We also have a new USGS/Smithsonian Institute Volcano Activity Report. Much of the "…
eklemetti | January 6, 2010Two volcanoes down, two volcanoes up!
Fire fountain on Nyamuragira in the Congo, January 2010.
Down
Mayon
Activity at Mayon has continues to drop - although PHIVOLCS warns that an eruption could happen at any moment and without much warning. About a quarter of the evacuated families have no returned home since PHIVOLCS gave the OK to return home on January 2 - but Philippine officials are still on alert in case evacuations have to be reinstated.
Redoubt
The resurgent Redoubt is no long ... er ... resurging? AVO lowered the alert status to Green - meaning normal/background levels of activity…
eklemetti | January 3, 2010A pile of news for the new week!
The glow of new lava flows from Nyamuragira in the Congo, taken from the Virunga Park Headquarters, January 2, 2010.
Mayon
PHIVOLCS may lower the alert status at Mayon to Level 2 after almost a week of lower seismicity and no ash explosions since December 29th. Schools that were being used as evacuation centers were also returned to teachers and students for the start of classes after the Christmas holiday. However, the Albay provincial government is now considering a plan to permanently move everyone who lives within the 6-km danger zone around Mayon, even…
eklemetti | December 31, 20092009 is over! If you missed the Volcanic Year in Review, check out my summary of the volcanic events that captivated many of us over the past year. However, only one event will get the coveted 2009 Pliny for Volcanic Event of the Year. A lot of you wrote in with votes and comments - I thank you - and a number of events stood out in your mind. Here we go:
Honorable mention
A few volcanic events got multiple votes:
- Soufriere Hills on Montserrat.
- Mando Hararo in Ethiopia.
- Chaiten, Chile and the new research on the eruption.
- The earthquakes in western Saudi Arabia under the Harrat…
eklemetti | December 31, 2009Here it is, my attempt to recap a year's worth of volcanic events. By no means is this supposed to capture every event, but rather the highlight/lowlights and what most captivated me during 2009. I'll be announcing the winner of the 2009 Pliny for Volcanic Event of the Year tomorrow.
Waimangu Geothermal Valley in New Zealand, taken in January 2009 by Erik Klemetti.
January
The year started out with a trip to New Zealand (well, for me at least) and vistas of the Waimangu Valley, formed in the 1886 eruption of Tarawera on the North Island. We were also still thinking about the late 2008…
eklemetti | December 29, 2009Not much new to report today, so I'll just add some notes to the two volcanoes in the news right now: Mayon and Redoubt.
Mt. Redoubt in Alaska, taken on September 23, 2009. Image courtesy of AVO/USGS, taken by Game McGimsey.
Mayon:
The volcano continues to show signs that a major eruption is in the works, but nothing new occurred over the last 24 hours. 2 km / ~5,000 foot ash plumes were produced from the new dome/flow complex, causing a potential aviation hazard, and the lava flows continued to be erupted. In evacuation news, animals are now being evacuated from the hazard zone around the…
eklemetti | December 28, 2009
The most recent image on the AVO website of the dome at Redoubt, taken in November 2009. Image courtesy of AVO/USGS, by Cyrus Read.
Not much information on this, but AVO just raised the alert status at Redoubt in Alaska to Yellow for the first time since late September. A series of small earthquakes were detected near the summit dome starting at 10 A.M. today, prompting the change of status.
The link to the complete text of the change in status doesn't seem to work on the AVO site, so here it is:
2009-12-28 09:53:11 - VAN/VONA
AVO is raising the Aviation Color Code to YELLOW and the Volcano…
eklemetti | September 30, 2009The big geology news right now is the M8 earthquake in American Samoa that generated a killer tsunami (which made it all the way to the Bay Area in California).
Mammoth Mountain in California's Long Valley region.
In more benign, volcano-related news:
The aviation alert level at Redoubt in the Alaska has been returned to Green/Normal, which means that for all intents-and-purposes, the eruption that started earlier this year is over. The new dome totals ~91 million cubic yards of lava, slowly adding back to the north side of the volcano.
Eruptions reader Doug C. pointed out to me that there…
eklemetti | September 23, 2009Some brief tidbits for your Wednesday:
The view of Mt. Saint Helens from the Johnston Ridge Observatory.
There is a decent article about research being done at a dissected caldera system in the Italian Alps' Sesia Valley. The caldera in question is the Permian in age (248-298 million years old) so don't expect to find it in the GVP database, but the outcrops of this ancient caldera are especially well exposed, allowing for a cross section of volcano and plutonic rocks across 25 km of crustal depth (all of which is now at the surface thanks to hundreds of millions years of tectonics). It…
eklemetti | July 13, 2009
Anak Krakatau erupting as seen from Rataka Island. Image taken by Marco Fulle of Stromboli Online.
I frequent the Astronomy Picture of the Day website run by NASA on a daily basis. Yet somehow today I didn't check the site until well into the evening and was greeted by one of the best astronomy-volcano images I've seen in a while. Marco Fulle of Stromboli Online captured this image of Anak Krakatau erupting (in 2008 or 2009 ... its unclear in the caption) with Ursa Major rising over the volcano. There have been quite a few volcano-related images on APOD, but alas, they don't have a "volcano…
eklemetti | July 10, 2009Another fun weekend for me analyzing zircon on the SHRIMP-RG at Stanford University! I really know how to live it up during the summer.
Some news bits:
The 2009 dome at Redoubt in Alaska steaming on July 2, 2009. Image taken by Cyrus Read, courtesy of USGS/AVO
In another sign that Redoubt's 2009 eruption might be at an end, AVO has ceased 24 hour staffing of their operations center. They still warn that Redoubt might still have more activity up its sleeve, but as of now, things are pretty quite. The latest update on Redoubt reports that the new dome continues to steam away and seismicity…
eklemetti | July 1, 2009A wrap up of the week's volcanism, brought to you by Sally Kuhn Sennert and the USGS/SI Global Volcanism Program.
Highlights, not including Sarychev Peak, Redoubt and Shiveluch (busy week in the north Pacific), include:
A small ash cloud was spotted at Bagana in Papua New Guinea.
The Tavurvur cone at Rabaul (PNG) continues to glow at night and produce small ash/steam plumes.
The Santiaguito dome at Santa Maria in Guatemala produced 8,000-10,000 foot / ~2.9-3.3 km ash plumes, along with a lahar that carried blocks over 1.5 m downstream from the volcano.
A 25,000 foot / 7.6 km ash plume was…
eklemetti | June 30, 2009
Redoubt steaming in early 2009. Image courtesy of Calvin Hall.
It has been a while since we spoke of Redoubt, but now it seems the reason why might be that the eruption is ending. AVO lowered the Alert Level at Redoubt to Yellow from Orange, indicating that they believe the volcano is less likely to have a large eruption. This doesn't mean that it is out of the question, but rather that signs seem to be pointing to the idea that the eruption is waning.
AVO sums the change:
Seismic, satellite, gas, and deformation observations over the past few weeks indicate that growth of the lava dome at…
eklemetti | June 29, 2009
Shiveluch volano in Russia.
Just like last summer seemed like a busy time for the Aleutians (Cleveland, Okmok and Kasatochi), this summer could be dubbed the "summer of Kamchatka-Kurils" (alright, it isn't that catchy, sorry). The biggest news was/is, of course, the sizeable eruption from Sarychev Peak in the Kuril Islands, but not to be outdone, Shiveluch on the Kamchatka Peninsula has starting playing catchup.
KVERT is reporting that Shiveluch produced a 7 km / 23,000 foot ash column on Monday, with increased seismicity to go along with the explosions. These explosions are generating the…
eklemetti | June 26, 2009
Chaiten in Chile erupting in January 2009. Even after over a year of activity, Eruptions readers are still captivated by the volcano.
Thanks for sending me your questions about volcanoes and volcanism. I'll try to tackle some hear - but as always, keep the questions coming! Send them to
For those of you who have submitted a question but don't see the answer here, do not fret. Likely it just means that I needed to do a little more research into the question and will get to it in a later mailbag!
So, without further ado ...
Mark M.: Here in the Appalachians we have very dense crystalline rock…