Gaua

Wednesday Whatzits: Mixing it up at Hood, alert lowered at Taal and plumes over Vanuatu

eklemetti — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 02:09:35 +0000

Wednesday Whatzits: Mixing it up at Hood, alert lowered at Taal and plumes over Vanuatu

Mt. Hood in Oregon, taken August 2008. Image by Erik Klemetti. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Quick news!

I'm not going to go into too much depth right now about the recent study published in Nature Geoscience on Mt. Hood in Oregon - I plan to talk about it more in a few weeks. Why is that? Well, the lead investigator on the study, Dr. Adam Kent of Oregon State University, is a friend of mine (and occasional Eruptions commenter) so I plan to get the details from him before posting. I was also peripherally associated with some of this work - mostly in the field acting as a pack mule and offering my witty observations. Nevertheless, the long-and-short is that magma mixing seems to be a strong control on eruptions at Mt. Hood, where mixing of two different magmas (one felsic, one mafic) can trigger an eruption. This mixing could be only weeks before the eruption, suggesting short time intervals between the trigger of an eruption and the eruption itself. Interestingly, Mt. Hood seems to play by its own rules in this respect relative to what we know about how other Cascade volcanoes behave.
Lava continues to flow from Kilauea into the area around Kalapana, although it has slowed. Only two breakouts were noted near Kalapana on August 1, suggesting that less lava is flowing. However, lava continues to reach the ocean to the southwest of Kalapana.
PHIVOLCS lowered the alert status at Taal to level one after signs of eruption waned, with only 5 earthquakes over the last 3 weeks. However, the restrictions for tourists remain in place for the time being as new measures are created, especially when it comes to approached the main crater. At the crater, steam explosions can still happen unexpectedly and the concentrations of volcanic gases can be dangerous.
The NASA Earth Observatory posted an image of the plumes from Ambrym and Gaua in Vanuatu. You can see the thin, wispy plumes of mostly steam and volcanic gases (which possibly some very minor ash) drifting to the northwest.

eklemetti Tue, 08/03/2010 - 22:09

So if there is an earthquake swarm at Mt Hood it would be best to take notice earlier rather than later.

Here is the abstract of an interesting paper. I wonder if the full paper gives any specific info on plate tectonic differences below Mt. Hood? (From mantleplumes.org)

Xue, Mei; Allen, R.M., Mantle structure beneath the western United States and its implications for convection processes, J. Geophys. Res., 115, No. B7, B07303, 2010.

@2: No, it's a 'Big Picture' type article. Better reads on the cold mantle down-welling process under Western US:

Dripping 'Blob' Under Western U.S.: A Hidden Drip, Drip, Drip Beneath Earth's Surface. Science Daily May 2009

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090526171813.htm

John D. West, Matthew J. Fouch, Jeffrey B. Roth, Linda T. Elkins-Tanton. Vertical mantle flow associated with a lithospheric drip beeath the Great Basin. Nature Geoscience 2, 439 - 444 (2009) DOI: 10.1038/ngeo526
(full paper below)
www.iris.edu/hq/esreg/priv/download_file/127

Western USA mantle structure and its implications for mantle convection processes. (same authors as paper cited by Pyromancer)

seismo.berkeley.edu/annual_report/ar07_08/node14.html

"Nevertheless, the long-and-short is that magma mixing seems to be a strong control on eruptions at Mt. Hood, where mixing of two different magmas (one felsic, one magma)"

I am assuming you meant one felsic, one mafic...or did you mean that a felsic magma can interact with any other type to trigger an eruption?

@VolcanoMan - Oops, thanks for catching that. It was supposed to say "mafic". Will fix it now.

TJÃRNES FZ:

I have been waiting for someone with a bit of knowledge to write about the long series of quakes we have been seeing at TFZ (about 10 km north of GrimsÃ¶y).
It has after all been going on for more then 2 weeks now without letting up.
The action is not situated at the site of the 1868 underwater eruption, it is to the nort-west to it. Lurking did a nice picture of it a week ago that seemed to show that it was a pipe pattern to the quakes.

So, anybody with a take on this? Is it an eruption, or a what?

Looking forward to any answer.

Hey that's an amazing insight on the subject, thanks so much! never heard it more clear.

A sense of humor... is needed armor. Joy in one's heart and some laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life.

Just texted my mom to see if she wanted to get pedis after work. It was only after I sent it that I realized iPhone corrected 'pedis' to 'penis'. I asked my mom if she wanted penis after work. Brilliant.

I hope that guy that "wants to be a billionaire" makes $999,999,999.00 and then gets hit by a bus

You must never promote a journey of revenge without giving a lunatic : Confucius

Things you mentioned made . Nevertheless, think about this, what happens if you offered a little more? I mean, I do not want to teach the way to write your site, but if you actually added something which can grab people's focus? Simply like a video or a graphic or few for getting viewers psyched about what you are talking about.

Very useful article. Myself and my neighbor were getting ready to do a little study regarding that. We bought a helpful guide on that issue by our own neighborhood library and many publications are not as descriptive as your content. I am very thankful to discover such info which I was searching for a long time.

Wednesday Whatzits: Volcanoes of Italy, EyjafjallajÃ¶kull update, video of a Guatemalan eruption and Gaua from space

eklemetti — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:11:22 +0000

Wednesday Whatzits: Volcanoes of Italy, EyjafjallajÃ¶kull update, video of a Guatemalan eruption and Gaua from space

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 chamber is loading up" that the volcano. I'm still not entirely sure what that means, but Bertolaso implies that Ischia could be a bigger threat to the area than Vesuvius. Ischia last erupted in 1302 AD and tends to erupt explosively, forming dome complexes. It has also produced the 56,000 year old Green Tuff ignimbrite.
Speaking of Vesuvius, another statement from Bertolaso called Vesuvius the "the biggest public safety problem there is in Italy" and warned that over one million people will be in danger when the volcano erupts again. At the same time, it was announced that Italy will begin monitoring undersea volcanoes near their coast.
The European airlines affected by the EyjafjallajÃ¶kull eruption will be getting monetary relief from the EU for their estimated $3.3 billion dollar loss due to the airspace closure. We'll see how that changes the tenor of the political debate on the ash. The volcano continues to puff away. The current assessment from the Icelandic Met Office suggests the volcano has reached a steady-state in the current eruption:

Overall assessment: Plume elevations and magma discharge levels remain similar to the preceding four days of activity. Lava continues to flow north from the eruption site toward the head of the GÃgjÃ¶kull glacier. Despite light ash-fall occurring up to 45 km west of the eruption site, today's explosive activity and ash production represents a fraction of conditions during the height of the eruption (14-17 April). There are no measurable indications that the eruption is about to end.
Magma flow: No measurements possible today; however, the intensity of the eruption suggests that the discharge level is similar to the preceding four days (i.e. 20-40 tonnes/s).
Meltwater: Continuing discharge of water from GÃgjÃ¶kull due to ice-melt at the eruption site. Discharge at the old MarkarfljÃ³t bridge, 18 km from GÃgjÃ¶kull, is estimated at ~100 m3 s-1, of which ~30 m3 s-1 is baseflow.
I mentioned the eruption at Santiaguito in Guatemala yesterday and if you want to see some up-close (probably too up-close) video of an eruption of the volcano, check out this tourist video. Even looking at the conditions on the domes before the explosion, you have to wonder why anyone would think it was a good idea to hike up there. If there are any rich benefactors out there who want to suppose volcano research, the "volcano observatory" at Santiaguito might be an excellent candidate to fund.
Finally, activity continues to increase at Gaua in Vanuatu - and you can see a great image of the eruption at the NASA Earth Observatory. The ash-and-steam plume has become thicker and taller, with frequent volcanic bombs as well. Evacuations of the island are underway as the threat increases.

eklemetti Wed, 04/28/2010 - 07:11

*Watching video*

*Sigh...* Dutch people -_-'

Santiaguito is a major tourist attraction these days, despite the hazards the volcano poses. Guides lead tourists to the top of the dome. One of my best friends went there last year and he even got to walk where the eruption in the video took place. So he got beyond the place where this video was made 0_o' ! When he got back to the Netherlands, well... I didn't refrain from telling him that he should never have trusted those guides. Monday's eruption showed why...

video - A new visual definition of nervous laughter...
thanks for the new posts, enough to keep us all busy for some time to come.

Think the lava has reached the bottom of the glacier now, can just make it out.

healthy steam plume coming from the base of the falls on the ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfelli cam when the clouds allow a look Re 534 previous thread

Yeah about 5-10min ago when it was clearer, I caught a glimpse of a lot of steam coming up, billowing style, from the base of the glacier. Can't see much now.

Anyone for fluoride in their drinking water?

Hi from novis Lena. Is it common with EQ on/in myrdalsjÃ¶kull?
just see hraun.vedur.is/ja/englishweb/myrjokull.html

I detest clouds! The suspense of not seeing anything is horrible.

Re Ischia, it is surely correct to call public attention to the hazard this volcano is presenting to an all-too-dense population on this very touristic island off the Italian coast near Naples. Like INGV president Boschi's appeal for funding to monitor the Marsili seamount, here we have a similar manoeuvre, given that the Marsili appeal seems to have been successful (our good friend Silvio B.* just promised to give funding for the monitoring of Marsili and other submarine volcanoes in Italy). Ischia has not erupted for 700 years, which is a long period for humans but not for a volcano. Currently there is no indicator that an eruption is imminent - the Osservatorio Vesuviano of the INGV is monitoring Ischia along with Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei, and the information is presented here (in Italian):
www.ov.ingv.it/ischia.html ... currently there are no significant variations in the state of the activity of the volcano (same at Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei).

But it is important to call public attention to the risk of future eruptions from these volcanoes, and while Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei are now known, also in the broad public, to be highly dangerous volcanoes, Ischia has been somewhat off the screen thus far. So it's good it is being named as a potential source of trouble - even though it might remain silent for a few hundred years, like Vesuvius; although things might start moving in a few weeks, in a few months ... no one knows in this moment.

ValahnÃºk cam showing a large 2 steam plumes masking a black one

Tremor under Katla - first I've seen since the start of the month.

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/

Wow. If you do a search for videos from tourists at Santiaguito you'll get a lot of results and tour companies. Crazy and intense! I have no problem with people playing with their own lives, god knows I have, just as long as they don't play with the lives of the rescuers who would be tasked to go get them at the end of the day.

This one is for those tourists getting too close to the edge;)

"One of the few good things about modern times: If you die horribly on television, you will not have died in vain. You will have entertained us."

Kurt Vonnegut

The Bay of Naples is certainly an interesting place - Vesuvio, Campi Flegrei, Procida, Isola d'Ischia, Capri. Connect the dots. What lies between?

I'd sure like to dip a thermometer into the water running out of the tip of GÃgjÃ¶kull.

Hm. Gaua steams along like Stanley on the NASA pic.

@Henrik the bay of napoli a caldera?

These might be of interest right now;-)

Two abstracts on the forms that lava meeting ice create:

europa.agu.org/?uri=/journals/jb/2000JB900214.xml&view=article

geology.gsapubs.org/content/26/4/351.abstract

And here's a link to a complete article on observations of lava/ice structures during a Vatnajokull eruption in 1996

http://www.raunvis.hi.is/~mtg/pdf/Nature_MTG_FS_HB_1997.pdf

Gina, I've never seen any mention or hint of it being so. Ever. It's just that all those volcanic centers arrayed in such a fashion makes me wonder about the overall geology of the Bay of Naples area.

It is puffing like a percolator coffee pot a large volume of water gets hot is ejected really fast then calms down and repeats

I think what i saw initially was a large ice fall the crevice in the rock now goes all the way up no separate water tunnel over the keyhole But how thick is the ice on top of that rock

Icelands eruptions volcano list since 1900s

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/1874

With EQ frequency if another volcano blows then we can see where in the historical time frame did it last erupt or a new one.

I had no idea it was even possible to climb Santiaguito itself. Almost ten years ago, I climbed Santamaria, camped at the top and watched and listened as Santiaguito roared and steamed far below (and Fuego erupted in the distance at the same time). Going onto the active dome itself certainly didn't look sensible.

As for EyjafjallajÃ¶kull, I guess some magma found some more ice to melt at about 11.15 today - there was a pulse of meltwater which started around then. You can see it on these two frames from the Vodaphone webcam, 25 minutes apart:

http://extras.vodafone.is/trailers/fimmvorduhals/mx10-4-235-80/2010/04/…
http://extras.vodafone.is/trailers/fimmvorduhals/mx10-4-235-80/2010/04/…

Flow has virtually stopped and a large chunk just fell off above the outlet

there is a wee steam plume about 3/4 of the way to the cloud bottom on the left side it gets to the clouds then a huge gout of high velocity water gets ejected and the plume goes away until the water spout stops
there seems to be a volume of black muck in the initial ejection of water but it may be the lousy lighting
it is extremely violent the water is arcing higher than the portal it is ejected from

The water is really gushing out from the big opening at the lower end of GigjÃ¶kull; at the upper end there is a huge open channel in the ice spewing steam. Quite spectacular.

I'm noticing that the opening is slowly but visibly getting eroded in the process!

It sure would - that's a huge amount of water running very fast and most likely contains lots of hard stuff: sand, stones, mud...

A very small steam plume appeared above the opening, visible on Mila's ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfelli cam.

Unfortunately it went away as I wrote the message - sorry.

Eruption Blog visitors count
http://www2.clustrmaps.com/counter/maps.php?url=http://scienceblogs.com…

left hand column on this blog shows a map and click on an that page gives you all the countries (scroll right hand side) and count of visits per country with the countries abbreviations. Interesting.

Does anyone know the topography under the GigjÃ¶kull glacier?

Looks like the lava stream may have reached the edge of a steep cliff underneath the ice and periodically sends hot material over the edge. If it keeps going like this we might see some incandescence coming from the glacier area sometime tonight or early tomorrow.

Can people in US still access live voda cams? they don't seem to load right now.

@Mr. Moho #26. You saw it, I saw it. And as I type it's appearing again.

Mr. Moho did you notice that the water ejection got more violent when the plume went away

i would like to know how far the water is going outward before it starts falling

sooner or later the channels that are allowing this surging will be eroded :(

@birdseye 30 I lost vodaphone a couple of hours ago.

@30 birdseye It's open to the US but seems to be extremely busy right now. No closeup but the long view is similar to the ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfelli cam.

Mr. Moho & parclair, I've seen those puffs of steam as well.

If the outflow of water is an indication of the stability of the glacier and if the lava flow keeps going like it appears to do right now, it might trigger a larger scale collapse of the glacier tongue sooner rather than later.

Yesterday's time-lapse animation is ready: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Ytq1mzaKA

A short section of today covering the JÃ¶kulhlaup is in progress and should become ready during the next hours.

cheers,

Philipp

tremendous steam plumes from the midway hole from time to time - she's breathing pretty heavily, a forced draft from below helping? Tho it looks more as though the exit expulsions are being forced by a big downdraft..?

@36 Philipp That's a great time lapse video. At that kind of speed I think it makes it easier to see what was going on.

The reason for the plume lessening as the ejection gets more violent is that the steam will be sucked under with each water rush. And I expect eating out the glacier from underneath.

My guess anyway.

@36 Philipp,

Thanks, great animation as always.

Comparing yesterdays movie to the current state shows nicely how much further the lava flow must have come. The area that creates most of the (currently) visible steam was barely active yesterday.

@28, JB... Can anyone guess why so many visitors from tiny Finland of 5.5M people? ;)

Hang in there, new steamer doing nicely....below & to left of the big one

Philipp, thank you for the animations. I look forward to todays!

http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2010/04/28/iceland-volcano-picture-to-b…

Germany sends in equipment

A plume of steam rising from the middle of the down slope of GigjÃ¶kull - a new opening in the ice, I suspect.

That wee plume Gina mentioned is not looking that wee anymore...

another blowhole starting to the right...great animations Philip, thanks - , todays' should be interesting - dang, it'll be dark soon!!

I get the vod cam but it is so busy that it tries to load but can't.

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-fimmvorduhalsi/
Poro cam long view - you can get a close up view by using your keyboard commands.

(Mac I do not remember but look up your keyboard commands)
PC
CTRL +key (enlarges area you want a closeup view)
CTRL -key (reduces the area back to normal)

Hold the ctrl key down and then push ONE TIME ONLY enlarge or reduce. Wait for the page to enlarge or reduce and then repeat command. But only once until the page reacts.

#41 - count for Finland - I'll assume everytime you access or refresh your page it gets counted. With Europe losing its airspace that would count for high traffic and this blog got national press in the USA.

@Henrik 13
The Goulf of Napoli, my city, it is not a caldera.
For example the island of Capri and the Sorrento's Peninsula have a calcareous sedimentary origin, and some regional faults, make them as a morfological Horst beetween two graben basins (the Napoli's Gulf and the Salerno's Gulf).
But the same faults, are a preferential route for magma and all the Volcanoes of my region are built on some of these faluts or on the conjunction of some of them.

The 3 main volcanoes are Vesuvious, The Campi Flegreii and the island of Ischia. The island of Procida is considered part of the campi flegrei's caldera.

But all of these volcanoes have different magma's chemistry and they don't have an unique magma chanber as some articles presuppose...

Dangerous place were built a kind of "megalopolis". here lives more thann 2 millions of people considering Napoli and all other cities around.

But it is a wonderful place to visit. Napoli is a "city in a painting" :)

In the Mila

http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-fimmvorduhalsi/

Does anyone else see the lime green spot halfway between the big vent on top, and the melt outlet?

The JÃ¶kulhlaup from today has been uploaded and is now being processed by youtube, it should become available over the course of a few minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8CW1P3mf54

good night!

Philipp

yeah I see it, at first i thought a ccd artefact but it is fairly constant. Second guess is lava showing through a window in the ice..red filtered out.
Maybe a mix of both, or none of the above...

Looks lime green from here also.

the cam has lost it's battle with available light :(
now time to hope the fireworks are good
i find the interaction of water/ice and fire fascinating

@parclair et al - I tried to clean it off my screen....

When i look at the the front of the glacier (on the Thoro webcam) and go fullscreen,
there is a "schadow line" arround the front face of the glacier.
beginning at the top hole, where the water comes out, going up to the left in a 45Â° angle.
Then going left horizontally, and at last going down beside the rock and big piece of (wet)ice.
That last one seems to be 1 big piece,
Now, the water level right next to the big piece of ice (let's name it legg) is rising, or the
ground is beeing eroded.
Whatever it is that is another attack on the glacier i think.
Water is getting very near to the "legg"
If ice begins to melt from the "legg" bottem up, more and more weight will begin to "hang"
So a pulling effect in front and crevasses from behind, something is gonna be moved.
The exithole in front has again lost a few bits and pieces today.
Of course; these lines could mean nothing at all.
Just amazing!! Thanks to everybody involved, while being glued to this place and the cams
very often.

@birdseye LOL I decided I'd been looking at the screen too long, and went and did a chore.

@Philipp: Nice film, thanks. BTW: From which side do you grab these images?

Not sure if this sort of estimate has been posted before.
According to this Google Maps view (assuming the scale is correct):
http://maps.google.com/maps?source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=eyjafjallaj%C3%…
the width of the glacial tongue at its thinnest, where it passes east of the split boulder that forms the outflow tube, is approx. 180m. This makes the outflow exit about 30m wide and the large steam hole higher up about 60 to 70m in diameter. These estimates are even slightly conservative. Can other posters confirm that IÂ´m not way off mark? Am a bit surprised at the size since from pictures it all seems smaller.

Bjarni (#59)

I'm not surprised. If you look at the Vodofone picture (in daylight) you can see roads in the area. They're not very eyecatching because they're dirt roads and sort of blend into the landscape. The size and width of the roads give you an idea of who big a car or a jeep would look in the image -- very tiny indeed compared to the holes and cracks meltwater is pouring from.

Earthquake at Katla 4 hours ago. Eruption eminent in all likelihood. Shown where it says Mid: http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/stodvaplott.html

Is it quiet or cloudy? I can't decided. Cloud usually means at least some light reflection but tonight all I see is inky darkness and I don't like it one bit!

An opportunity for an early night methinks. lol

Universalgeni Katla eruption is not..."eminent in all likelihood" because of one EQ....if you see a dozen or more in an hour....then maybe we will worry;)

@60 Anna Looking back at some pictures I can't find one road. :( I'm sure they are there like you said, I just can't see them. I can only guess that it's because they are so small. I am sure this is MUCH bigger than it appears on the computer. Getting out the magnifying glass soon thought. ;>)

at 60 meters diameter the volume of water would be huge for the time it was flowing at full speed when it was surging up over the exit hole

Universalgeni "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus" ;)

Unless I'm reading this wrong, there was some lightning today on the volcano.
andvari.vedur.is/athuganir/eldingar/vikan_is.html

@dan florida think that's last week....

@68 According to the legend it was on the 28 (I think, colors hard to differentiate a little). Also didn't see anything there yesterday.

map of predicted ash for tomorrow
www.metoffice.gov.uk/aviation/vaac/data/VAG_1272497324.png

Shockwaves? You want shockwaves? This news video is absolutely amazing!

http://vefmidlar.visir.is/VefTV/?channelID=&programID=&mediaSourceID=9f…

@69 I was going by web- translation of the legend - what I saw was just a map of Iceland with red squiggle on the top of Eya...? and legend under.

Slow night. Should be some glimmerings in around an hour.

Must be really cloudy. Haven't seen even a hint of glow on any cam. Mist/fog in the air on the Hvolsvelli cam. Might be ash.
And jeeze... what is with all the lights on every night? Those are farms aren't they? Don't they sleep on farms? Go to bed! Y'all have to be up at sunrise to err... um... farm stuff.

The Katla cam has a little light. V, little

ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfelli cam becoming watchable. Doesn't appear to have snowed overnight. Lot of water down there. No major steaming evident, but possibly some venting just below the cloud line.

Lightening up on Poro cam - can see there's still steam rising from outlet and lots more water below... expanded out to left of image

I think my Vodaphone link died of stress

78

I think my Vodaphone link died of stress

Posted by: renee chicago | April 29, 2010 12:46 AM

Not loading for me either.

Actually, things look quite quiet on the ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfelli cam. There's a lot of water, but now it appears to be coming out of the base of the cleft instead of gushing out higher up in a waterfall. No real steaming to be seen, and the crater is shrouded in cloud. I hope the sun comes out so we can get some definition of features. Anyone know the weather report?

It' supposed to clear up today but cloudy again later

EJ is being so very quiet and lady-like...it makes me wonder what she has in store for us

The first of two complete time-lapse videos from yesterday has finished uploading: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd0_UYJUKfM it shows the area of the GigjÃ¶kull glacier. It covers the whole day and has a slightly higher framereate than the short video I alread posted of GigjÃ¶kull from the 28th.

Weather looks set to be fine for about a week starting very shortly. Very cold for the time of year and I expect Iceland will have snow even at lower levels.

a wonderfuil ridge sits over Iceland sending air into western europe and further. If Volcano becomes ashy again , Europe will know it.

I dont think she will get "ashy" again. Atleast not to the same extend as before when she had a fresh supply of ice.

But she has sent us all a few surprises in the last weeks so one can never be sure.

Apr 29, 8:40 UTC: no gushing melt waters, no billowing steam from the up-slope furrow of GigjÃ¶kull. Nothing like yesterday. Waiting for a new batch of lava, perhaps.

Lady Eyja is asleep
curled up in a blanket of cloud
I wonder what sheÂ´s dreaming about...

Wake up Eyja!

Valahnuk cam appears to have changed significantly - terrible image quality at the moment but is the view from it now the top of the glacier??

The British Geological Survey published a nice cut-out model of EyjafjallajÃ¶kull: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/highlights/iceland/3dVolcanicModel.html

Steam seems to be rising up the water flow on Thoro cam. Or is it just regular haze?
Maybe Eyjaf is just going back to sleep, for now. Tucked in her white, soft, blanket.
There was no plume or fire actvity this night. Maybe Erik was right and we should turn our attention to another volcano. The lady is back to hibernation? Or just leaving space open to Queen Katla?

here is the wide-angle view from yesterday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIrWRe5W7-Y

I like the French reporters - Le Figaro gave "The Daily Mail" a spanking about their silly claims that there was no reason to ground air traffic (a truly revolting article by the Mail which included an undated "file photo" showing an infrared satellite image of the earth - as if the photo were meant to prove there was no volcanic ash). Now if only everyone would learn to read French they can see some real news and a far more intelligent view of what happened, why, and what people want to do now.

There are certainly alot of seismic activity to the north at Tjornes fracture zone. Isnt there an underwater volcano at that location?

@Daniel, #92 Read this comment from Boris Behncke, which answers your question: http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/04/eyjafjallajokull_eruption_upd… comment #289:
[...]@Passerby & Henrik, volcanism on the TjÃ¶rnes fracture zone is highly unlikely because such fracture zones are just some sort of jumps between different segments of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, they are not part of the ridge (that is, there is no rifting along the fracture zone). The TjÃ¶rnes fracture zone is like the San Andreas Fault, a transform fault where two plates glide past each other horizontally. This setting does not seem to be very likely to produce volcanism.

But on the other hand, the seismic activity along the TjÃ¶rnes fracture zone may be an indicator that one of the two rift segments it separates is opening.
Posted by: Boris Behncke, Catania, Italy | April 27, 2010 3:11 PM[...]

Renato Silveira (#89), I doubt she is done. All of yesterday, there was vigorous melting visible as a thick blanket of steam hiding everything above ~1200m from view and also all the water running into the Markarfljot visible at the foot of the glacier. Yesterday's flow was reported as 100-120 cu.m. (base flow 30) and temperature +11C as opposed to the normal +1Â½C. Tremor is still high and JÃ³n Friman's seismographs, which he so kindly has made available to us, still show what I am given to understand is harmonic tremor which indicates movement of magma. When all of these signs abate, then and not before, I am willing to believe she is done.

Philipp! Thank you for your wonderful timelapse youtube movies! As has been remarked, they give a very good summary of what has gone on during the day, keep them coming please!

Dario Leone (#39). If I remember correctly, didn't you mention some weeks ago that you lived in Campi Flegrei, inside the Solfatara Crater? The reason I wonder about the Bay of Naples is its geographical shape, location of known volcanic centres and resemblance to other large calderas. At least one of those centres has produced sizeable bodies of ignimbrites of different composition in geologically recent times (Monte Epomeo Green Tuff around 55-33ka, Campanian Ignimbrite 35ka & Nepoletan Yellow Tuff 12ka).

waiting for lava flow
like watching paint dry
but still here we are

Clearly Haiku is not my forte :)

Hm. The Vodafone cam is down in Iceland too.

Geophysicist MagnÃºs Tumi was in a lengthy interview on TV last night, talking about eruptions in Katla among other things. There seems to be this general perception that Katlas's next eruption will be disastrous, that the present eruption is merely a "rehearsal". Not likely, MagnÃºs Tumi says.

Katla has erupted 20 times in historical times (since the 900s), 6 have been BIG and the rest Small or Medium:

920 Medium
934 BIG
11?? Small
1179 Small
1245 Small
1262 BIG
1357 Medium
1416 Medium
1440 Small
14?? Small
1500 BIG
1580 Small
1612 Small
1625 BIG
1660 Medium
1721 Medium
1755 BIG
1823 Small
1860 Small
1918 BIG

A medium Katla eruption is similar in size to the present eruption in EyjafjallajÃ¶kull, perhaps a tad bigger. A BIG Katla eruption is 4 to 5 times bigger. Big or small, a Katla eruption will probably cause quite a bit of damage locally (jÃ¶kulhlaup) but it's unlikely to cause disruption in air traffic in Europe ...

Eruptions in Eyja have been few and far between and she's really unpredictable it seems.

Vodafone hasn't updated its picasa album for today either so perhaps the webcam is broken.

Katla has shown some increase in seismic activity. This may be within normal parameters I am not sure. But as far as i understand the station which is the most interesting is "GOD" which means Godabunga. This one is right on top of the dragon and would not be affected too much from EF. So an increase here, which has occurred since yesterday, should indicate a Katla related seismicity. I am not sure what the amplitude means but an increase is an increase. In this case from an average of ~600 up to a steady average of ~800.

This might all mean nothing but it does arouse my interest. And that there was an EQ beneath Katla yesterday makes it even more so.

NASA ash plume height

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=43831

@ Madscientist 91

Do you have a URL for the Figaro article? I'm collecting various newspaper sources for this eruption as a way of teaching A level general studies science and society - I've got the dreadful Daily Mail articles. They'll be a great example of biased reporting. However, I'd love to include the Figaro article as well but I haven't tracked it down. At least, speaking French I can go a rough translation for the non-linguists in the group and leave it as is for the others.

Thanks.

@Henrik 94

Yes, Napoli is built partially inside the Campi Flegrei Caldera.
Older houses and monuments of my city are built with bricks made by Campanian Ignimbrite and Nepoletan Yellow Tuff. These two very big eruptions were emitted by the Campi Flegrei Volcano. I live exactly on the eastern flank of the Caldera and about 20/25 km from the Vesuvio.

True feelings exposed
the Lady hides now in clouds
Composing herself.

Vodafone camera is out - the pictures stop at 0158 last night - and Mila camera at Thorolfsfell is obscured by snow, I think. Double BLAH!

@101 http://en.rian.ru/world/20100428/158784925.html

It sure is a good thing that we don't have to worry about volcanoes and ash clouds in the United States.
Hey! You in the back. Stop looking at the Cascade Range and Yellowstone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rjYCwtPBwQ

Video just few days before the big one at Santiaguito :P

Meanwhile you find two EQ at Katla which happens at the same time:
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/

@ XRDGUY106

As Eyjaf and the cams seem to need their rest, at present, perhaps you'd like to see Yogi Bear having a whale of a time on Madison River:
http://quake.utah.edu/helicorder/ymr_webi_3d.htm

Is that white-water rafting or a bit of snow showing on the graph?

Yes, it's possibly snow-melt, or a herd of buffalo nearby, or maybe just all those school kids on a riotous day out!

Meanwhile, this is something I may be dealing with shortly.

quote

The leak, now estimated at 5,000 barrels per day, threatens coastal wildlife, pristine beaches and estuaries in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

A mass oil sheen has already been created by the leak on the surface of the sea. The crude slick is now almost the size of the US state of West Virginia, and BP and the coastguard are desperate to contain it before it reaches land.

BP says its the largest oil spill containment operation in history, involving dozens of ships and aircraft.

According to the Vodafone cam page, a hardware failure interrupted the show, but they hope to have it fixed RSN.

It seems the vodafone cam AND archive are offline, therefore no timelapse for today!

I am planning a weekend trip to NY for June, and am thinking about appending few days in Iceland - would it be worthwhile? Will Eyjaf still be putting on a show (nobody knows that). Will ThorsmÃ¶rk be accessible? (nobody knows that) Will it make sense to visit FimmvÃ¶rduhals and see what changed since my last visit last year? It is a gamble, not sure yet what to do...

Forgive me if this has already been posted (this is Via the volcanism blog). A high res picture of Eyja. What's remarkable is one can see the settling of the glacier and the steam vents. Truly remarkable:

http://www.pitt.edu/~mramsey/data/iceland/ASTER_19apr10_VNIR.jpg

New EQ at EJ

And another teeny one under Katla - that's three showing on the map now for the last day.

She was showing activity yesterday too...

And now the last two EQ at EJ and Katla from today are removed from the map?!

Now they're messing with us ... the little earthquake for today at the southern edge of the Katla glacier has been removed from the map and table.

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/

For a little background:-)

There was an earthquake swarm leading up to the eruption. Soquel kinkly put together a movie of the earthquakes. If you watch this, you'll see what a swarm looks like. There's other cool data there too!

http://islande2010.mbnet.fr/2010/03/eyjafjallajokull-levolution-des-der…

Heh. Soquel KINDLY put together the movie. altho' kinkly might be appropriate for we volcanophiles;-D

They were there I saw them! First we lose the Voda and now the quakes

The 2 Quakes on Katla and the one on EyjafjallajÃ¶kull are still on the map for me.

There were 3 EQ at Katla and 2 at EJ...

And that's just a new one at EJ... ;-)

Another now shows fof EJ the info is different if you follow the link and then choose Earthquakes all regions on the very top of the left hand side

@120 parclair Thanks for putting EQs in perspective from these 2 videos which are timelapsed from before the initial eruption.

http://islande2010.mbnet.fr/2010/03/eyjafjallajokull-levolution-des-der…

I better understand the "swarm" concert and the large number of EQ events that occured leading up to the first eruption of EYJ. I also understand better why they do not say Kala is showing any signs of erupting although there have been some EQs even in this area previously during EYJ initial eruptions.

It is interesting to observe the EQ data daily and I understand Jon's helicorders are down for a few days.

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/…

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/gosplott.html

http://www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/tremoren.htm

@120 parclair Thanks for putting EQs in perspective from these 2 videos which are timelapsed from before the initial eruption.

http://islande2010.mbnet.fr/2010/03/eyjafjallajokull-levolution-des-der…

It is interesting to observe the EQ data daily and I understand Jon's helicorders are down for a few days.

en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/#view=map

hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/gosplott.html

www.simnet.is/jonfr500/earthquake/tremoren.htm

on ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfelli
wonderful snow storm must be snowballs falling if i can believe the white streaks
also hard to see but there is major surges of water I watched one take the almost empty river with it's boulders showing to a flood with huge ripples where the boulders were

@120 parclair Thanks for posting the EQ link, great site - I also had noticed that EQ's were showing and then suddenly not there on the vedur site - no cacheing explains it, so, good for the French Connection.

What was that said earlier about the weather clearing up?!! LOL Looks like it is not going to cooperate right now. At least you can see something on the Poro cam, but not much.

Waiting bated breath
Cold cloud snow
Not stopping

@birdseyeUSA, #129: These quakes appear on this list automatically and are being manually curated later on. Which means that an expert is looking at the data and then decides, if this is a real signal. Thats why quakes are sometimes disappearing, sometimes they are changed in their order of magnitude and sometimes one quakes is even divided into two.

Warm water
11 Celsius
Fog springs up

It will be interesting to finally see what is left of the grim's tongue what with all the outflows and this nasty ice melting weather

RE earthquake swarms

From my first skimming of the following article, it appears that Katla can have a swarm for a short time (hour to a couple of hours) and then erupt. I also found interesting is that some (most?) eruptions are never visible like the Eyja has been. We've been tremendously lucky to see this:-D.

http://www.evropusamvinna.is/Apps/WebObjects/HI.woa/swdocument/1015721/…

Just for the record, for those who are writing Haiku, the format is 5-7-5. Syllables that is.

Parclair, you may not be trying for Haiku, but if you are . . .

I see nothing, nada. Cloudy and rainy today and it's going to be cloudy and rainy tomorrow. But there's a good chance the weather will clear up a bit tomorrow night. I'm hoping the lava stream will make a grand entrance tomorrow twilight time! But chances are it won't be till Saturday or Sunday.

Well, i have a little personal experience with volcanoes.
(being across Cook Inlet from some of the most active for
many years) And the trouble with a volcano is:
When there is something to watch, then You can't see it.
You're either too close, or clouds or ash or fog or night or something gets in the way.
Yes, we were very fortunate to see so much this time.

Best!motsfo

@ Victoria-- there's another form 3-5-3 which is what I"m using. ;-)

As for Haiku, I'm not using any form. LOL

I got an interesting thing in my email about Eyjaf so I am sending it along. I hope it will post:

http://wwwobs.univ-bpclermont.fr/SO/televolc/hotvolc/Islande_Avril2010/…

I hope it works.

@Chris 131 Thanks for the clarification! We 'out here' are all so fortunate that there are instruments and cameras so available, and people who are happy to share their knowledge. EyafjallajÃ¶kull and all of you who are her interpreters seem to be cooperating, to provide an opportunity for the spread of knowledge and understanding beyond the scientific community. Blessings on you!

For anyone new: I have created a map showing the locations of the webcams, peaks, and other features. It may help you to better understand what people are talking about. Click on my name to see it.

I have also created a second map showing the lava flows from FimmvÃ¶rÃ°uhÃ¡ls fissures. A link in the "i" icon on the main map will take you there.

#120 and #134 Parclair

http://www.evropusamvinna.is/Apps/WebObjects/HI.woa/swdocument/1015721/…

Page 7 picture with Red Dot
"This uplift and outward displacement from a centre inside the Katla caldera (marked by a red star) suggests magma inflow in a magma chamber, which is possibly located at 3â5 km depth"

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/

Makes the current EQ Blue dot inside Katla crater more interesting as it appears closer to the articles Red Dot reference.

Parclair FANTASIC ARTICLE - SUMS IT ALL UP from Historic Time to 2008.

@Victoria Heh. after I wrote you, I went back and looked at my latest. Note to me: NEVER write haiku until 2 cups of coffee. 3-6-3 snicker.

Okay, I will be annoying. Haiku must have a 5-7-5 form to be Haiku. Otherwise it is poetry, but not Haiku.

That is all. Had to say it.

I'll stop commenting on this now.

@139 Diane I got: when I tried your link

Not Found

The requested URL /SO/televolc/hotvolc/Islande_Avril2010/indexEN was not found on this server.

In Finnish 'haiku'
is a puff of smoke rising
which fitting here is

@Victoria... interesting about the haiku, I didnÂ´t know the rules. IÂ´m still waiting for a poem from the icelanders in the old poetry form as in the Edda. Link to this http://runeberg.org/eddais/ Available in icelandic and swedish.

This is from HavamÃ¡l no 28 in swedish and lower down in icelandic.

Klok den synes,
som kunnig Ã¤r
att spÃ¶rja och spÃ¶rsmÃ¥l besvara.
Hemligt aldrig
kan hÃ¥llas sÃ¥dant,
som gÃ¥r ifrÃ¥n mun till mun.

FrÃ³Ã°ur sÃ¡ Ã¾ykist
er fregna kann
og segja iÃ° sama.
Eyvitu leyna
megu Ã½ta synir
Ã¾vÃ er gengur um guma.

Found the english translation too

28. Wise he is deemed who can question well,
and also answer back:
the sons of men can no secret make
of the tidings told in their midst.

http://web.telia.com/~u85906673/asar/havamal/havamal.html

http://translate.google.com

# 147 Swedish translation to English is better than Icelandic to English. The following from Snotra

Swedish translated:

Wise it seems,
who is knowledgeable
to ask and answer questions.
Secret Never
may be such,
that goes from mouth to mouth.

#147

Erik, this is only a new phase of the war conducted by Bertolaso against Boschi....: he wants the money for monitoring for himselfâ¦

I only hope that somehow money will arrive for monitoring all the tyrrenian volanoesâ¦.

But it would be better that those resources will go to INGV and the italian marine geology research insitutes than to Bortolasoâ¦.

Wet, fresh grass and ash.
Clouds blank everybody's view.
That's Iceland today.

#74: The cam is placed within the village HvolsvÃ¶llur.

"Scientists have discovered a cluster of underwater asphalt volcanoes rising from the sea floor just off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif."
physorg.com/news191775179.html

Erik it also looks like the Fuego volcano in Guatemala may be erupting.
earthtimes.org/articles/show/321295,volcanic-ash-hinders-guatemalan-air-traffic.html

noticias.terra.com.br/mundo/noticias/0,,OI4407020-EI8140,00-Erupcoes+deixam+Guatemala+em+alerta.html

For those interested in Haiku:

This is a Yale article about teaching the 5-7-5 form Haiku. It's easy to read. The actual discussion of the form start with "Why start with the Modern...." and is followed by "Concepts within the Haiku container" It has a valuable lesson in "A really bad Haiku" which illustrates the principles in the earlier section.

http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2001/3/01.03.09.x.html#f

The following two articles discuss a 3-5-3 and a 2-3-2 form of Haiku (and why some poets use these forms).

www.ahapoetry.com/keirule.htm

poetry-magazine.com/poetry/poetry-009/08page.htm

I've found Haiku to be a great way of distilling experience.;-)

In case some of you missed it, Boris Bencke gave us the following reference during our discussions of the potential magnitude of the eruptions. Someone else pointed out that is is part of a larger paper, Explosive Volcanism: Inception, Evolution, and Hazards. I've started reading it and though dense (I'm using wiki a lot) it's fascinating:

http://books.google.it/books?id=2j4rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA170&lpg=PA170&dq=expl…

With Haiku wisdom
Volcanologists create
Perfect fire of words

No sky
no earth - but still
snowflakes fall

"May this island be / joy and beauty to us all," / geologist said.

Parclair,

Why not go for 1-2-1?

@Victoria: 5/7/5 is the canonical form, but don't diss the others. I happen to like 4/5/4 as well. But if you really want a 1/2/1...

Nay!
Katla!
Stay!

Good one!

How about.

Volcano blog
Daily log here
Bye Haiku

still grey fog hovers
billowing steam, lava flow
figment of mind's eye

lurkers, stalkers
waiting for clear sky
create Haiku

As night turns view black, / tired eyes spot nothing but / logos in corner.

black of night
nothing to see here
move along

As much as I'm procrastinating, perhaps now is a good time to catch up with my laundry :)

Well, since there's nothing to see of the volcano, raindrops on the Hvolsvelli webcam create some psychedelic patterns....

Hoping all day long
To glimpse Islandic dragon
Shrouded in thick mist

Read the Heading on the EYJ Tremors site - I guess they really want people to understand that Katla IS NOT GOING TO ERUPT - NO INDICATORS

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/gosplott.html

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v453/n7199/full/nature07075.html

Great article about underwater volcanism in North West Passage, one of first time a pyroclastic flow has been observed under water

earth mind soul life death
where do they all meet?
online volcano haiku

@170 That's what the MET said when the cluster starting around EJ volcano, it's not going to erupt LOL

I guess they just have probably received too many emails asking if Katla is going to erupt :P

Oh, screwed that one up. Forgot 7 in the middle. Oh well, I really ought to be working anyway!

http://gallery.me.com/thorleifur#100082&bgcolor=black&view=grid

Iceland great pics...

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/22602

Ash Cloud Discussions

www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=18036&channel=0&title=Volcano+had+l…

Not much change in Air quality

http://www.examiner.com/x-7095-NY-Israel-Conflict-Examiner~y2010m4d29-P…

Guess he forgot about Indonesia :P

Dan #145 rats. I forgot part of the addy.

http://wwwobs.univ-bpclermont,fr/SO/televolc/hotvolc/Islande_Avirl2010/…

Let me know if this works.

#173 Katla

I think the confusion lies in that the URL has Katla 2009 in its http address. People perhaps assume Katla is involved in this data collection but now we know it is not from their statement above the data graphs. This was or is an emergency. In emergencies no agency is funded adequately to address the expectations and demands of its citizens which less from the global population.

@diane 177 Nope, stll no happiness.

EyjafjallajÃ¶kull is a splendid looking mountain and it has a an immortal place in Icelandic literature. Not least because one of the greatest heroes of the Icelandic Sagas (Gunnar) lived nearby.

Consider this poem by JÃ³nas HallgrÃmsson (1807-1845):

The sun's imperial pageant in the west
purples the Eyjafjalla Glacier, standing
huge in the east beneath its icy crest.
It dominates the summer dusk, commanding
the screes beneath it, sketched against the cold
sky like a reef where tattered clouds are stranding.
Hugging its roots, cascading waters hold
hoarse conversation with the trolls where wary
Frosti and Fjalar hoard their secret gold.
Northward, you see the Summit Mountains, very
sober and formal in their blue-black frocks,
but girt with green where steep and valley marry
and helmed with snow above their sable rocks.
They stare at tarns whose streams will soon be plying
their way through meadows filled with lazy flocks
and sprinkled thick with little farmsteads, lying
deep in the shadow of the sheltering heath.
Far to the north, its snowy peak defying
the heavens, Hekla stands on guard: beneath
its bulwarks, bound in dungeons deep as night,
Terror and Death are gnashing greedy teeth,
while high above them palisades of bright
obsidian glitter, glassy as a mirror.
From there you look on scenes of pure delight:
Wood River glides through leafy glens, then, nearer,
murmuring more softly, makes its leisured way
through farmlands ripe with radiant harvest --- dearer
than gold --- and grassy meads where cattle stray.
High on the hillsides, fragile blossoms gleam;
golden-clawed eagles glide above their prey ---
for fish are flashing there in every stream ---
and whirring throngs of thrushes flit and trill
through birch and beech groves lovely as a dream.
Now, from the farmstead highest on the hill,
two mounted men ride solemnly, descending
down toward the ocean. Though the air is still,
the winds at peace, a raging sea is sending
its swell against the sand-shoals, where it raves
in angry warfare, ancient and unending.
Anchored offshore, a ship from Norway braves
the whirling surf, its sail still furled, and turning
dragonhead prow to face the furious waves.
Aboard this boat, their spirits proud and burning,
two brothers now must leave their native land,
destined to suffer years of homesick yearning,
far from their loved ones, on a foreign strand:
outlaws and exiles, sent abroad to hide
and pay the penalty the laws demand.
Handsome and strong, his halberd at his side,
Gunnar is leaving HlÃÃ°arendi's hall;
beside him, girt with grey-blue sword, astride
a blood-red stallion, sitting staunch and tall
and tied to Gunnar with intense devotion,
Kolskeggur rides, a man admired by all.
Thus, in a comity of mute emotion,
the brothers guide their horses from the farm:
Kolskeggur gazes out across the ocean,
while Gunnar, glancing backward, finds the charm
of home so master him, he does not care
that savage foes have sworn to do him harm:
"Never before has Iceland seemed so fair,
the fields so white, the roses in such glory,
such crowds of sheep and cattle everywhere!
Here will I live, here die --- in youth, or hoary
helpless old age --- as God decrees. Good-bye,
brother and friend." Thus Gunnar's gallant story.
For Gunnar felt it nobler far to die
than flee and leave his native shores behind him,
even though foes, inflamed with hate and sly,
were forging links of death in which to bind him.
His story still can make the heart beat high
and here imagination still can find him,
where Gunnar's Holm, all green with vegetation,
glistens amid these wastes of devastation.
Where fertile meads and fields were once outspread,
foaming Cross River buries grass and stubble;
the sun-flushed glacier, with its snowy head,
sees savage torrents choke the plains with rubble;
the dwarves are gone, the mountain trolls are dead;
a desperate land abides its time of trouble;
but here some hidden favor has defended
the fertile holm where Gunnar's journey ended.

(English translation by the American Dick Ringler -- great job).

Parclair #179 I typed a comma instead of a period. LOL One more time....

http://wwwobs.univ-bpclermont.fr/SO/televolc/hotvolc/Islande_Avil2010/i…

I hope they will let me post it again!

I give up. I don't know why it isn't working here when that is the addy on the site. Arg! Oh well, I tried.

@Anna-- The poem is beautiful. Not only does it describe what we've been seeing on the webcams, but it contains information a volcanologist could use to define the volcano.

But the language---I know a translation is only a pale imitation of the original, but I get more of a 3-dimensional feel for the area.

It's a sad story, isn't it?

@Diane ... you're missing the R in Avril

try this...

http://wwwobs.univ-bpclermont.fr/SO/televolc/hotvolc/Islande_Avril2010/…

@ 180: Would that be the same Gunnar as in Njal's saga? BTW in regard to fiction or film, I would recommend Hrafn Gunlaugsson's second film (I forgot the title), it uses the harsh geography as a powerful backdrop to the Kurosawa-style plot.

Speaking of EyjafjallajÃ¶kull, I wonder if anybody noticed the increase in tremors over the last few hours. Unfortunately all webcams are dark... so maybe it's the bad weather? Wind readings on JÃ³n FrÃmann are low, though.

@SP #175: Not much change in air quality at the ground in most places - which is to be expected. Just don't insist on flying.

@beedragon Huzzah for the save

@diane Yes a really interesting post. I really like the snow/tephra photo

Beedragon #184, thank you, thank you, thank you! My typing is not the best. LOL I tried three times after all. I think I could easily invent a new language if I left my typing uncorrected. LOL

BTW, Beedragon, a case of your favorite e-beverage to you! :-)

Sisterhood: Eyja and Katla
volcanoes by seablogger

Letâs review the volcanic situation in Iceland. Eyja was fogged in today, but it was last seen erupting from two craters in the summit icefield. The new crater still has ice close to its rim, and its activity has been strongly phreatic, with constant steam explosions throwing molten material high in the air. Lava bombs have been landing occasionally outside the crater, which has ice walls at least five hundred feet high, and probably a rock-pit extending far deeper, though it has not been visible in footage I have seen, as the heavy plume hides any view within.

Eyjaâs older vent is less violent because the ice has melted well back from its rim, and less water is intruding. I have not seen any reports saying lava has risen to the surface or flowed out. Meltwater from the eruption has mobilized numerous lahars (hot mud-flows) that have ripped apart the glacier in the north-trending valley below the older crater, which is near the northern rim of the caldera. Lava would proceed that way if it emerged, and eventually it would reach the wide flat vale that opens to the west and south. That land was wonderfully verdant pasture, but it has been overwhelmed by the lahars, and a number of farms are ruined.

Seismic tremor has been somewhat variable in recent days, but it remains strongly elevated. Magma is still moving in the volcanic system, but much of the tremor may result from degassing of lava in the upper part of the volcanic conduit, and from constant phreatic activity in the new crater. There have been very few earthquakes since the swarm that accompanied the onset of the summit eruption. However the recent quakes have shown a new and striking pattern. There have been two pairs of small temblors, each pair nearly simultaneous â but only one quake of each pair took place under the summit of Eyja. The companion quakes were centered ten miles away, under Katla caldera.

This brings to mind the well-remembered pattern of Eyjaâs major quake swarm preceding the March eruption. Most quakes were centered beneath Eyjaâs comparatively small caldera, or under the col of lower ground to its east, where lava actually broke through. But a fair number of the small temblors also occurred under Katla caldera, at widely-scattered locations, but most frequently near the northwest rim, closest to that col where Eyjaâs breakout occurred. The lava of that first eruption was basalt. Katla is predominantly basaltic. Eyja has a different chemistry. It is is andesitic, and the current summit eruption has shifted chemistry toward Eyjaâs norm.

Katla is a large volcano with a much more turbulent history than Eyja. By historic standards it is overdue for eruption. Eyja has erupted only a handful of times since Iceland was settled circa 900 AD. On each occasion Katla also erupted some months later. It is quite reasonable to expect an eruption from Katla within the next year or two, and possibly much sooner. It is also reasonable to conclude that Katlaâs deep source has fed the eruption attributed to Eyja, and perhaps most or all of Eyjaâs other eruptions.

It may be that the smaller volcano has arisen from a mixed melt â partly from Katlaâs source, and partly from remelt by intrusion of superhot Katla magmas. This would account for the difference in chemistry between two volcanoes that share a common source. In any case, we can be quite confident that Iceland will see lots more volcanic activity from the Katla complex this year. Europe will be lucky indeed if this active period does not have more significant effects than the thin and harmless remnant of ash which so disrupted the lives of so many people a few weeks ago.
7:56 PM, Thursday, 29 Apr 10 |

http://www.seablogger.com/?p=21143&cpage=1#comment-172060

Today's official report from the Icelandic Met Office has been posted:

http://en.vedur.is/media/jar/Eyjafjallajokull_status_2010-04-29_IES_IMO…

@anna, 180, the hair is still up on the back of my neck. That poem will surely inhabit my dreams tonight.

Tremor readings for EyjafjallajÃ¶kull are at the moment at record levels since the last explosive events. Is anybody able to confirm if there's some kind of flooding ongoing?

@186/194 Mr. Moho I've noticed the gradual rise also. I know nothing about this stuff so I can't speculate on it's origins. Unfortunately it look like another bad viewing day.
Hopefully someone can explain how to read this:
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/eyja_trem_auto.png

Daylight is coming back and Hvolsvelli cam is showing a grey solid mass of clouds. Is EJ still hiding from us? What is happening!? IÂ´m so curious.

Maybe if we all blow at our monitors in unison we can clear the clouds out of the ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfelli view?

Ah, just checked the weather forecast for VÃk southeast of EJ. IÂ´t looking bad for days, letÂ´s hope for glimpses of action at least. http://www.vedur.is/vedur/athuganir/kort/sudausturland/#group=18&statio…

@R.deHaan (#191). It's quite obvious that this chappie Seablogger is not a scientist, much less a volcanologist. There are two grave errors; a) Katla & EyjafjÃ¶ll share a common deep source - in that sense, so do all volcanoes... and b) Correlation is causation. It's quite obvious that he is confident that as Katla is overdue anyway, an eruption will occur that proves him correct about the link between the two.

No, "Seablogger" is just another another of those individuals who hope to appear sagacious by couching the blatantly obvious in terms favourable to an increase in public admiration for their sagacity. Thanks for posting it as an example of the worms that crawl out of the woodwork.

An interesting read for those of you bored of watching cloud cam...

www.vedur.is/media/vedurstofan/utgafa/skyrslur/2009/VI_2009_013.pdf

My knowledge of geology is fairly limited, and I had no real interest in it until a few years back in Thailand when I noticed the large crystals in the rock I was sitting on. Which then got me checking and reading more.

Anyway what I wonder if anyone can answer is why some volcano's explode so rapidly?

My own reasoning is some sort of sudden degassing, or that the rock is brittle and fractures suddenly. The only other thing I can think of is water suddenly getting in ala Krakatoa. Which then makes me curious how you can have two volcanos very near and yet almost completely different in behaviour.

Another thing I was thinking of as an explanation might be mixing of magmas causing sudden degassing, eg. diff temperatures/pressures etc.

Just throwing my ideas out there, hoping for enlightenment. Since everyone talks about Katla errupting suddenly - but I never see anyone say how/why.

@195 Dan, that link is to a short-period display of the same instruments as this: http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/Katla2009/gosplott.html - only here the time frame is from the beginning of the top crater eruption. IMO it represents tremors caused by the eruptive activity - those explosions are big bangs, and even man-made bangs show on seismograms - and does it better than the short-time plot, as it gives more perspective to the magnitude changes of the tremors. Note that the scales show different magnitudes.

Well, let's discuss the Katla - Eyjafjalla "connection" then! Here's what we know:

There's been four eruptions of the Eyjafjalla volcano since Iceland was settled - 920AD(?) VEI 3, 1612 VEI 2, 1821-3 VEI 2 and 2010- VEI 4(?). In between, there have been non-eruptive intrusion events such as the 1994 and 1999(?) ones. Katla has erupted far more frequently, 27 times since 920AD, so in that sense of course an eruption of Eyjafjalla will be followed by an eruption of Katla. The interval for the three past events is - 920(?) same year (note that the E date is given as ? and it is not clear which volcano erupted first), 1612 same year Oct 12th (although no dates are given for E, its eruption preceeded K by anything from days to the better part of a year), 1821-3 E eruption ended on Jan 1st and Katla eruption began on June 26th, half a year later. (Source: Smithsonian Institution)

From the information available at Nordic Volcanological Center, we know that they have separate "plumbing systems" of different nature. Eyjafjalla has a series of sills at 5-7 km depth and possibly a small magma chamber at 1Â½-2 km depth whereas Katla has a large magma chamber at shallow depth, 2-3 km, below a caldera. The current eruption of the Eyjafjalla volcano is different in that the magma of the main eruption is similar in composition to the usual Katla samples.

IF there is a connection between the two volcanoes, I can come up with three possible explanations:

a) A common, deep source at ~20-25km depth. This is not a very good explanation as a mechanism that explains why eruptions of Katla are seven times more frequent than eruptions at Eyjafjalla must be provided. Also, an explanation must be found as to why an eruption of Katla never has been followed by one of Eyjafjalla.

b) A physical connection, sill or fracture, that runs from Eyjafjalla upwards until it enters Katla's plumbing and magma chamber where the primitive basalt magma triggers an eruption. Since the GoÃ°abunga "cryptodome" intrusion is about 2/3 of the distance from E to K and is credited to Eyjafjalla, this explanation is at least possible if not plausible. However, if such a physical connection existed, one would expect it to receive some sort of prominent mention in the Norvol papers and data.

c) Pressure release. As magma intrusions occur regularly, the crust would be in a constant state of uplift and tension. An eruption of Eyjafjalla where this pressure is relieved over a large area - and we know from the Norvol data that such an area, 20-25km in diameter, exists - might conceivably (by leverage) place further stress on the crust over Katla and its shallow magma chamber, sufficient to trigger a breach and a subsequent eruption. This to me anyway, seems very far-fetched and I'm not even sure its a scientifically sound hypothesis.

My amateur opinion is that all these models are far too elaborated and far-fetched and that Ockham's Razor provides the correct answer - the observed correlation between eruptions of the Eyjafjalla volcano and Katla are due to coincidence.

@scarlet #171

Thanks for the link. Just a small point - the abstract discusses the first example of a pyroclastic deposit under water and under 3,000m, but doesn't mention a pyroclastic flow. (I haven't read the whole paper as I don't have a login.)

Pyroclastic just means 'relating to, consisting of, or denoting fragments of rock erupted by a volcano'. A pyroclastic deposit is simply a layer of bits of rock ejected by a volcano that haven't lithified, i.e. haven't been cemented together.

What the abstract says is that, contrary to expectations, enough volatiles can build up in magma at that depth to overcome the pressure of the water column above it and to cause an explosive eruption.

This doesn't mean that there was necessarily a pyroclastic flow; you can happily get pyroclastic material without a flow.

Wikipedia's article on pyroclastic rock seems pretty good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyroclastic_rock

Ooh. Can get a few glimpses through the clouds on the ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfelli cam. Meltwater looks like it may have increased. Also maybe fresh snow higher up.

@Henrik: Eyja-Katla connections. I would counter that Occam's Razor might state that it is rather surprising that the three previous historic Eyja eruptions have always had a Katla eruptyion following them within a year. That seems statistically very unusual - a quick play in excel shows this to be the case. I have also seen yet to be published good evidence for near-synchroneity of the 920AD event (both perhaps erupting simultaneously), which strongly argues against mere coincidence for the Eyja-Katla connection. This paper will be coming out rather soon I think.

I agree with some of your reasoning on mechanisms though - difficult to say what the mechanism is, particularly given that it needs to be one where activity in Eyja can precede Katla, and not the other way round. I'd maybe favour destabilising of the larger Katla magma chamber in some way, as it may be a directional mechanism as Eyja doesn't have much of a magma chamber. But a very interesting system it is indeed!

Thanks for the heads-up, Ragutis! The appearance today is different from yesterday, but that's understandable as with the lover figure for the flow reported by Norvol http://www2.norvol.hi.is/page/ies_Eyjafjallajokull_eruption ~130 cubic m per second, the glacier loses some 11 million cubic m per day (0.011 cu km).

@Scott 200: There are a lot of variables for individual eruptions. Use the slider on this to vary the amount of silica in the magma.

http://www.alaskamuseum.org/features/volcano/index.htm

@Andy, to a certain degree I agree but... (herein lies a tale I am sure) I'm pretty certain that the paired 920AD eruption wasn't present on the www.volcano.si.edu until very recently. Also, the dating on Eyjafjalla is done by "Tephrochronology" whereas the Katla date is based on "Historical Records". Normally, there is a margin of error when using methods such as tephrochronology, but in this case, none is given. Also, the 920AD eruption was a small VEI 2 and thus limited to Iceland which would make the identification less certain than had tephra been found in Scandinavia and the British isles as well. Therefore the 920AD date given for Eyajafjalla is not scientifically sound! Most likely, it has been lumped together with the 920AD Katla eruption because someone believes that when E erupts, K follows - therefore E's eruption must have been in 920AD, prior to that of K!

That still gives us two coinciding eruptions, 1612 and 1823. Until someone provides a reasonable, non-metaphysical mechanism that explains just how E may set off K but K doesn't set off E, Ockham's Razor (William Ockham) disposes of the correlation as coincidence.

@Gordys, that is a neat little demo, thanks. I never thought about viscosity itself.

The statistical problem with Eyjafjalla-Katla is that nothing shows causation. It is like - assuming - oil changes are more frequent than tyre changes in a car, that the oil change must influence the tyre change. (Ignoring the common cause that it is in for a service).
Eg. if an oil change is every 600 km and a tyre change every 3600km - then amazingly the probability that an oil change will be following by a tyre change is 1/6...even though mechanically they dont even have to have correlation. An extreme case would be cars in the artic that are left idling at night through the winter.

So there are some subtleties - even if my example is not the best. Playing around though you can end up with some stuff like the probability of an eruption of Katla given Eyjafjalla is 4/27=0.148 and P(Katla)=0.026 and P(Eyjafjalla)= 0.0039 still the causation is meaningless to interpret I didnt even bother doing correlation.

There are other problems too, such as basing the numbers on the last 1010 yrs, when from what I know the area is ~700k yrs old. So maybe what we know might not be that true. (The last 1000 yrs being abnormal).

The only interesting stuff I was able to calculate was that Eyjafjalla "should" erupt approximately every 6.5 Katla eruptions. Which if you follow probability means that Katla wont be due to erupt after Eyjafjalla until another 2 or so eruptions of Katla are done. Complicated by the fact that Katla might be overdue and depending on how you count those incidents in the 90's etc.

And conversely Eyjafjalla should erupt every 256.4yrs - making it early...

So while the probability is fun and may offer a few clues, in the case of volcanos it's use seems very limited to me when there are so many unknown factors.

BTW, looks like a lot of water where that glacier used to be...

Not sure if this footage has already been posted or not, maybe of interest :

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?lang=en&cl=19395169

Just done a program to calculate the probability of the observed pattern of Katla eruption following Eyjafjallajokull eruptions. It was set for a 1100 year period with 20 Katla eruptions (min 10, max 100 years between eruptions), and 3 Eyja eruptions (min 150 years between eruptions), the eruptions are otherwise random. I got the following results, with 10 million iterations for each test:
K follows E by <10 years every time: 1.36%
K follows E by <5 years every time: 0.24%
K follows E by <3 years every time: 0.066%
K follows E by <2 years every time: 0.02%
K erupts same year as E every time: 0.0003%

So it looks like there's a connection between the volcanoes of some sort, given the <3 years max between E and K eruptions in the historic period, with K following E.

Parclair (#183) The poet was a natural scientist actually. He was for several years in government employ and travelled extensively in Iceland.

Birger (#185) Yes, it's the Gunnar of NjÃ¡ls Saga. He lived in Hlidarendi which is not far from the MÃºlakot of web-cam fame. The poem is called GunnarshÃ³lmi (Gunnar's Holm), by the way. GunnarshÃ³lmi is a patch of land near MarkarfljÃ³t River. It was believed that this is the place where Gunnar turned his horse back and decided not to leave the country (he'd been outlawed).

Oops, looks like my results were messed up by using the "less than" character and I didn't preview - sorry!
K follows E by less than 10 years every time: 1.36%
K follows E by less than 5 years every time: 0.244%
K follows E by less than 3 years every time: 0.066%
K follows E by less than 2 years every time: 0.02%
K erupts same year as E every time: 0.0003%

So it looks like there's a connection between the volcanoes of some sort, given the less than 3 years separation between each of the historical E eruptions and the subsequent K eruption, with K always following E.

Why do I suddenly remember this series: white lie - lie - real bull - statistics - weather forecast - sociological study - political campaign speech...

The MÃla-ThÃ³rÃ³lfsfell cam offered a glimpse a few minutes ago and it seemed to me a lot of water is flowing now.

Geo-scientists now think they've underestimated the amount of lava coming up in the past few days. The new estimate is 20 m3 (50 tonnes) per sec. They have no idea how far the lava flow extends from the glacier though.

http://www.mbl.is/mm/frettir/innlent/2010/04/30/50_tonn_af_hrauni_a_sek…

Vodafone cam is back - check it out.

... and now the people in the EyjafjÃ¶ll district are getting more ash fall.

http://www.ruv.is/frett/oskufallid-er-byrjad-aftur

A hilarious pic from the Vodafone cam: http://extras.vodafone.is/trailers/fimmvorduhals/mx10-4-235-80/2010/04/…

Henrik, the best I can do is assure you the physical evidence is clear that the eruption in 920 was near-synchronous, with Katla following Eyja - it's something I've seen in the field, but it's not mine to publish the details, here or elsewhere. It's certainly not assumption! So that, allied with the other two close eruptions in 1612 and 1821-23 (based on historical observation, not tephrochronology) rather strongly argue for a link. It doesn't *prove* a link, as coincidence is still possible but unlikely, (however you spell Ockham, Occam is also in common usage). It also doesn't mean that it will happen every time - so far there's no indication of any activity in Katla.

The Vodafone cam seems to be working again, and is showing a lovely shade of gray.

Does anyone know if flow data from the MarkarfljÃ³t is available online?

@PeakVT - this site has some flow data http://www2.norvol.hi.is/page/ies_Eyjafjallajokull_eruption

They haven't updated for the 30th yet, but here's the report from the 29th:

Meltwater: Web-camera views show continued discharge of water from GÃgjÃ¶kull due to lava-ice interactions. On 28 April, the discharge of MarkarfljÃ³t was measured twice at the old bridge, ~18 km downstream from GÃgjÃ¶kull. The flood that began at GÃgjÃ¶kull at ~11:30 GMT yesterday reached a peak discharge of 250 m3 sâ1 two hours later at the bridge. Both yesterday and today, mean discharge from GÃgjÃ¶kull was 130â150 m3 sâ1, which is higher than in previous days. The electrical conductivity of KrossÃ¡ and SteinholtsÃ¡ remains high (see report from 28 April for details).

In between clouds on Porolfsfelli, it looks like the roof of the meltwater chute has finally collapsed.

What else will we find when the clouds disappear?

@anna Reykjavik - off topic question, related - in 2000 I bought a plate in an antiques store in Reyk., a 'smoking' volcano surrounded by a slain dragon, a falcon sitting on the dragon - have been unable to find any direct literary/mythology connection. Any ideas? Someone's imagination?

voda cam - Exit is 'breathing' again, water level down

looks like another series of mini-hlaups

After staring at the screen for umteen hours (i have such an exciting life) i've lost perspective. Just how wide is that neck of water in the middle ground??
Any guesses?
Thanks,
Best!motsfo

I suspect the meltwater channel has collapsed and blocked the lower end - when that lets go, there's gonna be one helluva gush. The former lake looks like a mud pool on the Vodafone camera.

I hope somebody would go and clean & refocus the Mila webcam at Thorolfsfell, not much of a picture at the moment; Vodafone picture is much better, but not a real-time stream.

@motsfo
my guess in about 100-120 meters based on the water vent that was posted as 60 meters (the one that was a nice neat round hole above the huge split boulder)

I have nothing to refer against, so all I can do is make a totally wild-assed guess: 50-100 metres wide.

13.59 GMT Steam column rising in the channel not far from the drop. Lava front this far now?

Again, based on the lower average figure for yesterday's flow, the glacier is losing some 11 million cubic metres per day via MarkarfljÃ³t alone. Anyone see a figure for the amount of glacier evaporated as steam per second or day?

Both of Jon's helicorders are online.

beedragon Canada@222 - I'm looking for something closer to real-time, like the USGS Daily Streamflow Conditions website. Thanks, though.

@227motsfo www.igsoc.org/annals/22/igs_annals_vol22_year1996_pg160-166.pdf (if I read right) shows about 200m across glacier at outlet (1996)

-PeakVT
Could this be what you are looking for?

http://vmkerfi.vedur.is/vatn/index.php

BirdseyeUSA@234
Wow, Impressive! Fast draw with the info/You Rock!
Really Impressive.
Thanks: i was beginning to feel like i could step across it.
Thanks for the reality check.
Best!motsfo

New post:

http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/04/friday_flotsam_10.php

@Henrik, Swe | April 30, 2010 1:32 AM

What's wrong with you?
Why is it so difficult to discuss content without patronizing sneers, even insults!
Seablogger IMO made an interesting observation about the recent quakes that happened at the same time in both volcano's!

That's was the reason why I posted his article!

As far as I know, NO OTHER person here made this observation!

I am really flabbergasted about this kind of response!

Grow up!

@motsfo that was from a scale drawing in pdf., referring to glacial face at lagoon, not lagoon outlet channel....extrapolate..?? i don't have handy topo sheets :D Someone else probably has a better measurement.

Birdseye (#224) No idea!

steam coming from the old water vent in the glacier tongue

Gina, I don't think so, because it does not change over time on the live feed - which I hope were better. However, I think there is considerable sinking in the glacier from the big hole upwards.

I see it too Gina.. :)

But now there sure is steam! Both in the big hole upslope and at the lower exit hole.

@Gina, yup. on zoom view, lower cam, got some nice grabs of good steam - comes & goes .

Wow! Like an old steam engine, puff-puffing along!

Also a big spike in the 0.5 - 1 Hz at GOD.

@motsfo (#227)

"After staring at the screen for umteen hours (i have such an exciting life) i've lost perspective."

If you look at the area just left of that neck of water you'll see a road. It lies along that knobby hill and is cut off by the river. The road will give you a sense of perspective.

Also, if you check Google Earth you'll see a handful of photographs of GÃgjÃ¶kull. One is called "Melting glacier in ThorsmÃ¶rk nature reserve", it's a view across the glacial lake (that has now disappeared) towards those boulders, or what to call it, where the water is now flowing out. It's interesting to compare the photograph to the present day view from the Vodafone cam, the new layer of gravel/sediment just by the opening must be about 20 m thick.

aack - voda cams either overloaded or down again, and no cache from today....

Oh, but there is... from 1144 hours onward.

@klutsi..Patience, I tell myself, patience! I looked too soon...

@ KUltsi - sorry! Typo! I invert all the time.

Anna or someone local: have you got any data on the water level and/or temperature in MarkarfljÃ³t at the moment?

@kultsi The Icelandic Met Office website says(Hydrology-flow) that you can read the flow meters on that site,but perhaps only in the Icelandic version, I haven't found it yet in English....

Well, was that it? I mean no steam from the upslope lava trench, not much water (relatively!) from the exit hole... What cannot be seen, yet, is the amount of activity in the crater.

@R. de Haan (#238)

So sorry if your feelings got hurt, but... You made the cardinal mistake of posting a text by someone else (unless, of course, you yourself are "Seablogger") without any comment or hint as to why whatsoever. In such a situation, the reader is perfectly free to come to whatever conclusions about the text and to your motives in posting it and you have absolutely no reason to complain if the reader didn't look at the text in the way you wished but failed to express. The fault is yours alone.

In that situation, I had two choices after reading the text: a) you had posted it because you shared the views of the author, or b) you posted it because you wanted to draw our attention to an example of the insufficiency of current journalism. I choose the generous interpretation, alternative b) in which you had seen through the charade instead of swallowed it hook, line and sinker. It seems I was wrong.

You tell me to "Grow up", which I find rather amusing. In the famous words of Igor (Marty Feldman) in the Mel Brooks movie "Young Frankenstein" - "Too late!". I am 52 years old, a retired major of the Royal Swedish Guards who after retiring picked up MA:s in English (linguistics) and History. I have taught at university level. I have been the MD during the reconstruction of a club with seven European and nine national championships. I have been a consultant for two works in History, one concerning Poland in World War II, the other the Battle of Jutland (WWI Naval). Under the circumstances, I find your injunction to "Grow up" rather amusing, but I am sorry I did hurt your feelings.

To the rest of the community, I apologise for the display of bad manners in ennumerating my accomplishments.

@ Henrik SWE 256

"So sorry if your feelings got hurt, but... You made the cardinal mistake of posting a text by someone else (unless, of course, you yourself are "Seablogger") without any comment or hint as to why whatsoever".

1. Make your apologies to the author of the article which I am not!

2. A Cardinal mistake? Forwarding an article about a volcanic eruption at a blog about volcano's? Did I miss something?

3. "I am 52 years old, a retired major of the Royal Swedish Guards who after retiring picked up MA:s in English (linguistics) and History. I have taught at university level. I have been the MD during the reconstruction of a club with seven European and nine national championships. I have been a consultant for two works in History, one concerning Poland in World War II, the other the Battle of Jutland (WWI Naval)".

Thanks for posting your most impressive CV! Congratulations.
I am confident that volcano experts all over the world will envy you for such detailed expertise in their field!

@#254 birdseye, I found the data! Starting point at http://en.vedur.is/#tab=vatnafar and graphs for MarkarfjlÃ³t at http://vmkerfi.vedur.is/vatn/VV_Frame.php?r=26598&load_graph=1&direct=1…

Didn't they say something about +11 degrees C yesterday? The graphs don't confirm that. Today's high level does not coincide with max temperature, so there might have been considerable amounts of melt water from elsewhere - that would be at or close to 0 deg C. So, the flow from GigjÃ¶kull is still considerable, although not at jÃ¶kulhlaup levels. What is missing, is the reaction time from actual jÃ¶kulhlaup at GigjÃ¶kull to water level rise at MarkarfljÃ³tsbrÃº

VigdÃs @ 235 - ah, yes, exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

I believe most have moved to the new blog here:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/04/friday_flotsam_10.php

Kultsi @ 258 - there are several measurement sites on the MarkarfljÃ³t, and one does show a rise of 8Â°C. You have to follow the link VigdÃs posted.

@PeakVT - if you look at my links, the first one is the one Vigdis posted, while the other is directly to the _only_ MarkarfjlÃ³t measuring site. The graph for that site shows a max water temperature of 7.11 at 1300 hours.

Kultsi @ 262 - your first link is not the same as VigdÃs posted at #235, and your second shows only the MarkarfljÃ³tsbrÃº station. If you go to the full site, you can see that the maximum temp on the 28th was over 12Â°C at MarkarfljÃ³tsbrÃº, and over 13Â°C at MarkarfljÃ³t, ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfell. The rise between midnight and noon on the 28th at MarkarfljÃ³t, ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfell was over 8Â°C.

Henrik "there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today." I think Beatty should have been brought up on charges;)

Randall, you are absolutely correct. Beatty, Beresford's "Nelson has come again" who had been promoted out of turn to the most coveted command in The Royal Navy, at Dogger Bank and Jutland proved beyond doubt that he had been promoted several steps above his incompetence level. Aided and abetted by those who had backed him, he set about revising the records that so inconveniently revealed his lack of professional ability, this from the position of Admiral of The Fleet/First Lord, in the process proving himself to be a first-class cad and bully as well. Proof of the damage he caused to history is that every year, there are new books in English which try and arrange the facts in a hitherto unthought of manner in order to prove a British victory. Strewth!

It's a pity that the planet Venus isn't more volcanically active. It would be absolutely wonderful with a "Deccan traps" type of eruption on Venus. A totally guilt free super eruption!

Iâm not positive I entirely agree with you on this post. Still I am always amenable to innovative concepts. Probably will have to feel about it. Great blog anyway

He who pays the piper calls the tune

I'm still learning from you, while I'm making my way to the top as well. I definitely love reading everything that is posted on your website.Keep the stories coming. I enjoyed it

Yo. First of all - nice blog! Secondly this article was also good and interesting to read, but I don't think everything you have said is real truth. I will need to google about few things you have mentioned in your artcile to make sure. But anyway thanks for the great effort and good luck on writing other articles. P.S sorry for bad English, I aren't English native speaker.

Tuesday Tidbits: Evacuations in Vanuatu, Shiveluch erupts and more

eklemetti — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:37:47 +0000

Tuesday Tidbits: Evacuations in Vanuatu, Shiveluch erupts and more

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 to erupt, with its latest eruption producing a 7.5 km plume to accompany the seismicity and rockfalls of recent days.
The Observatorio VulcanolÃ³gico y SismolÃ³gico Nacional in Costa Rica noted that the the lake levels at Irazu and Poas volcanoes are both extremely low, while the latter and Turrialba are producing large steam plumes.
An article I missed from almost a month ago says that Chile will be developing a new Emergency System after the criticism of the response to the M8.8 earthquake and the Chaiten eruption (amongst others). There is also a brief article on the continuing attempt to rebuild the city of Chaiten.
And if you haven't had your fill of ash stories, there is a good story (spanish) in El Pais on ash fall over South America from the abundant volcanoes along the Andes.

eklemetti Tue, 04/20/2010 - 10:37

"It's always something!" â Roseanne Roseannadanna

Anyone buy this?

http://scienceray.com/earth-sciences/locals-believe-katla-volcano-in-ic…

FYI-All. The stinkstorm is in full swing about sizes of ash particles, when you can fly, when you cant and who is going to be liable for it if they get it wrong. The ash is very fine, but the various insurance companies are letting the operators know in very terse emails and letters that if there are ANY incidents of any kind they will cancel the policies to the carriers who are flying through it. E.g. Power by the Hour engine lessors. I can get the mental picture. Its like leasing a car with tires, battery, maintenance and insurance. You lease it and on the way out you quietly mention that your new Chevy Malibu is going to be used for off road racing and you grin on the way out.

This hasnt happened before (eruptions) except in limited cases and the real difference is the types of aircraft engines that are being used. The newer ones will be far more sensitive to ash than the older ones as will the airplanes themselves. Thus if they come up with a standard (years away) the newer airplane engine operators will be at a disadvantage to the older ones because of the more open clearances in the engines..They can suck more down and burp it out. But we arent talking about the difference between miniscule and large pumice balls either. Type of ash is also going to have to be considered.

Now they want to be compensated for "the call". Well for me the CALL was made as a prevention to loss of life. They can go take a flying...... . None of these test flights were scientific "tests" and they pulled off a PR blitz to get them flying. Scientific in the airline industry in something like this is going to take years to develop and it may even be impossible due to the composition of ash. Going to have to take particles of sizes, wet them, heat them, shoot them in quantity, simulate altitudes...Anyone got a spare billion or two around to build that test bed?

There is something called condition monitoring or CM. The condition monitoring idea is to pull the components off of aircraft and replace them before they fail. For an ash standard to be produced it will likely have to be flown in a test cell and all sorts of conditions simulated to get a result. Each time that engine is going to have to be torn down to check the effects. It goes without saying that its like throwing sand down the car engine. How many before the SOB breaks? And it aint gonna be good on it and it will have to be built to new each time they do it. New blades, new bearings, seals.

They will have to produce a result for every component and blade section, pumps, electrics. All of this to produce a standard that will produce a CM that will produce a TBM (Time Between Maintenance) thats likely going to be so short that it will not be worth it. Its like funding a study that we all know will have the result we were looking with the only thing in question being how bad.

So, did they just get lucky or more like stupid?

There is a word for that-Politics.

@Kruger

Nup lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMZzTr6wwJo&feature=player_embedded

Stock footage of Gaua

And great video of recent footage

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunday-night/video/-/watch/19084493/

I'll be there in about 1 month, I'll post my videos (Amrybm and Yasur not Gaua)

@Scarlet Great video!

Eh... I must be daft or something. Any one know how old Lake Lake Leta is? Summit collapse? Holocene era? Earlier? (the lake is that kidney bean shaped one in the photo)

I do not know the dynamics of the volcano in Gaua. This might be a lead up to major eruption. But as I don't know the dynamic and I have almost no data. This is just nothing but a speculation.

Gaua sits in the middle of a lake at the moment, (I mean the new cone sits inside the giant old one, which is a lake) so could be quite explosive.

http://www.survivorfever.net/gaua_risques_grandeCrop.jpg

http://www.volcano.si.edu/reports/usgs/index.cfm?wvarweek=20100407#gaua

It's not really the rebuilding of ChaitÃ©n. It's the building of a new town (Nueva ChaitÃ©n) at a safer place 10 km to the north.

Gaua has been the site of a false alarm and evacuation in 1973-1974. The volcano did produce some explosive activity then, and a series of strong tectonic earthquakes at the nearby subduction zone prompted a seismologist to predict a devastating eruption likely to destroy the island. Thereupon the population was evacuated. The cataclysmic eruption never happened. The same scientist later predicted some major action at Stromboli after a series of subduction-related tectonic earthquakes below the Aeolian arc. Also this did not happen - if not with an 8-year delay, because Stromboli did erupt on a larger scale in 2002-2003 (and again in 2007). However, such a time lag is far too long to seriously consider a correlation especially at a volcano that erupts constantly on a rather modest scale.

But this time, it looks like the situation at Gaua is getting more serious. If not a cataclysmic (like, Krakatau-type) event, a major eruption could certainly threaten the lives and property of the population on this rather small island. And the volcano is indeed a cone in a lake, so that explosive magma-water interaction cannot be excluded especially if fracturing occurs on the side of the cone.

There has been a lot of speculation in the media wether there is a connection or not between Lady Eyaf and her big sister Katla.

I would like to ask you guys who knows alot more about the mechanics than i do if this might be true:

There are two volcanoes within close proximity of eachother. EyafjallajÃ¶kull which historically has set off Katla on 2-3 occasions.
Can the reason be related to inflating / deflating?

What I mean is that during the quiet years both Eyafjalla and Katla inflate due to increase in pressure from the magma reserviors
beneath them. Now that Eyafjalla has erupted the pressure releases and by logic it should deflate right? And since Katla has not
erupted it should by the same logic have more strain due to the deflation of Eyafjalla (like a rubberband between Eyaf and Katla).
And the magmatic pressure continues to build beneath Katla until she blows her top. And then she calms down and Katla deflates
back down to "normal" levels and settles right beside Eyafjalla.

This is just a theory i thought of and I might be dead wrong. I realize that there might be other factors involved also as elevation of
the two, if they share "plumbing" or not and so on...

But if EyafjallaÂ´s reservoir is more shallow that KatlaÂ´s then that would explain why Eyafjalla blows first and Katla a while after due
to increase in strain.

Just my 2 cents..please correct me if im wrong..:) Im here to learn..

@Boris, whats your take with the increased level on Yasur (with lava hot spot visible from satelitte) and Ambyrn ash eruption just recently. Are these volcanoes related in any way with Gaua?

Scarlet, that's a good question - but there's no good answer for it. All that can be said is that it's possible, but note that Yasyur and Ambrym are, like Stromboli, volcanoes that are continuously active and they have fluctuations in their activity, and what we see currently at these two volcanoes does not seem to be extraordinarily strong activity.

But it is true that sometimes there seem to be regional fluctuations in volcanic and seismic activity, which affect more than one volcano, like what we had here in Sicily in the fall of 2002 (6 September: earthquake in Palermo, 27 October: large eruption at Etna, 4 November: submarine (phreatic) explosion at Panarea, Aeolian Islands, 30 December: major eruption at Stromboli). So we will have to wait and see if this increase becomes more conspicuous.

Yasur and Ambrym (as well as Lopevi) have shown high activity on many occasions in the absence of any activity at Gaua, so I doubt they are linked. As I understand it, the current activity at Yasur and Ambrym is within the normal range of variation of these highly active volcanoes.

The ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfelli cam is currently showing what appears to be a new flow of meltwater down the left side of the glacier. Also, it looks like the top vent up top slope of de glacier may be steaming. Comments?

So does Ambrym tend to be more of a strombolic type of volcano with Lava lakes, but sometimes it goes into a big eruption like a few weeks ago, then it just quietens down. It's also one of the largest producers of SO2 in the world, is this because the lava lakes are so close to the surface or just the chemistry of the gases? It also seems to produce ash plumes on and off, are these from different craters, I mean does the crater with the lava lake produce the ash plume or a different one?

Did anyone see this study today, http://austrianindependent.com/news/Green_Austria/2010-01-18/433/New_st…

The Deep Hot Biosphere: The Myth of Fossil Fuels (Thomas Gold) is worth a read, very interesting theories talking about the microbes in deep earth, I especially like his concepts on earthquakes.

Ambrym usually has 2, sometimes 3 lava lakes in its various craters so it pumps out lots of gas. When the lava lakes get buried by avalanches from the crater walls, ash emissions result. It is one of the most spectacular volcanic sites in the world.

@Mike so it's essentially after a collapse of a crater well which blocks the vent and causes the ash eruption, especially because so much SO2 is being pumped? So the recent ash eruption about 1-2 months ago was probably due to a collapse? There isn't much info on it I guess it's not that monitored....

You're right, its not that monitored. Many volcanophiles don't even know about Ambrym, which to me is surprising. It is a primitive place though with malaria rampant.

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/en/photos/vanuatu/ Great photos here of it. So lots of Malaria, hmmm maybe I should see my Doctor before I go LOL. Do people live on that island (or mammals, you need hosts of malaria)

Have you been Mike?

Looks amazing on the pics such a colourful place

Yes I've been there. The lava lakes were very vigorous when I was there in 1997. I'd love to go back. Take an antimalarial and get yourself in shape if you want to go there.

@Kruger #1 Youâve got it just about right. It might just be possible to establish max. limits for the amounts of different types/sizes of ash particles that a specific engine type can ingest before the need to pull it in for condition monitoring, but I can think of no way of measuring what you have ingested over the course of a flight. Perhaps some system of hours in different zones, i.e. clean air, slightly ashy air, very ashy air, crap air. But who is going to say where the boundaries are, and when conditions have changed. Canât expect your average politician to have any idea what we are talking about, especially when they are being lent on by the bean counters.
Oh, all four engines have stopped, we're going to be stuck up here all day now.

@Mike One way we could get around the aircraft problem would be to bring back the Zeppelin. I think Germany still uses them a bit http://spot.colorado.edu/~dziadeck/airship/germany.htm

Sure it takes a bit longer, but it's quicker then boat, and if the engines stall, at least you don't die ;)

If Iceland is going to erupt for the next x number of years, this is an option.

Turrialba is really cranking out the SO2 today, the steam plume is positively blue today. No wonder all the vegetation has died on the mountain over the last three months.

http://www.ovsicori.una.ac.cr/videoturri.html

Boris speaking of Gaua....Do you really think it could end in a possible Krakatau type event?

"But this time, it looks like the situation at Gaua is getting more serious. If not a cataclysmic (like, Krakatau-type) event"

Are we talking about a possibility of the whole caldera erupting or just Mt Garet? If we are talking about a 6 x 9 km caldera eruption then I am going to change the channel from EJ to Gaua. Please correct me if I am wrong but....the eruption of a 6 x 9 km caldera would be roughly the equivalent of any Katla eruption?

Speaking of SO2, there has finally been an SO2 alert issued for the Icelandic volcano eruption:

http://sacs.aeronomie.be/alert/?alert=20100421_170001_001

Gaua, on the other hand, has been cranking out SO2, as evidenced by this USGS EO photo of a long swath of VOG that stretches out over the South Pacific. I commented on reading an SO2 alert here, but I thought it might be Ambrym rather than Gaua, as both continuously active volcanoes have been intermittently releasing SO2 in the area.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=43667

Cool photo.

Something may be happening up on Kamchatka....Kly for sure and maybe Sheveluch.

WX satellite picking up huge thermal blooms....

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/BEZY/ELLR/ellrloop.html

#22-Yeah, I can hear the rhetoric now by those guys in the EU now. The US is a rank amateur to the buyoffs, politics, and willingness to bend in the wind of a situation that the EU is capable of.

Fact is that it violates the principles of safety. We can get that on a good day, much less on a day where ash is clearly into the engines. The call from the Tom Cook could have just as easily been a MAYDAY call and squawking 7700.

Control -Thomas Cook xxx with you in rapid descent, right engine on fire, number 2 out, 132 souls on board, negative control of the plane, all electrics out. Position is 32 miles west of the airport descending from three, three thousand with information India. Request all traffic below us be cleared... We are a dead stick aircraft and trying to restart using aux generator power and are in a dive. Will advise.

Three minutes later-Control Thomas Cook xxx, unsuccessful restart on the number 2, fire out on #1, position 18 miles west of the airport passing 9000, slight control on aircraft, we will be taking a chance on the M Northbound between >>>> and >>>>. Please clear all traffic immediately.

And we all know what the result is.

But hey, once someone goes down -has a bad problem or St. Elmos Fire inside the cabin then they will be standing up and saying," I was the sole voice of reason. I told them we shouldnt do it, blah, blah, blah."

Maybe I should play them tapes of people going down and let them sit in that hot seat. Its the longest couple of minutes in your life I can tell you.

Ce qui sont votre des conditions pour se syndiquer votre poteaux ? Nous serions intÃ©ressÃ© dedans traduisant un couple de votre contenu dans Bengali pour mes emplacements visionneuses, et dÃ©couvrir ce qui votre position sur ceci seraient. Nous soyez sÃ»r d'inclure pleines rÃ©fÃ©rences de source

SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Report for 1/13-19/2010

eklemetti — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:15:22 +0000

SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Report for 1/13-19/2010

This week's USGS/Smithsonian GVP Volcano Update!

Highlights include:

A volcano I had never heard of in the Kuril islands is showing signs of life: Kharimkotan. Satellite images show a thermal anomaly at the summit of the volcano - its last known eruption was in 1933.
Ash, sulfur dioxide and steam continue to erupt from Nyamuragira in the Congo, although lava flows have abated.
Crater C at Arenal had sporadic strombolian activity - which is par for the course for the Costa Rican volcano.
I must have missed this, but since December 14, the ash erupted at Gaua in Vanuatu has become denser and darker - and is still being emitted.
Increased fumarolic activity was spotted at Planchon-Peteroa in Chile, but this apparently common in the height of summer (in the southern hemisphere).

eklemetti Wed, 01/20/2010 - 09:15

Kharimkotan (or Harimkotan) is a small but interesting volcano, because during its 1933 eruption there was a large sector collapse producing a debris avalanche that rushed into the sea and generated a tsunami. Luckily this happened in a rather sparsely populated area. There is a short article by Belousova and Belousov(in pdf) available on the Internet:
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/bibl/vulk/xarimk/harimkotan.pdf
and a more recent (2007) abstract by Belousov and Belousova is here:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007AGUFM.V31E0711B
The 1933 collapse was followed by a Plinian eruption and finally a lava dome grew within the collapse amphitheater. There has been no eruption at this volcano since then.

The description (and photo) of Karimkotan reads like a history and/or prediction for Mt. St. Helens

OVSICORI has posted a PDF dated Jan 20 that describes (with a nice photo) a robust or vigorous column of gas and vapor coming out of the "Nueva Abertura" at Turrialba.
http://www.ovsicori.una.ac.cr/informes_prensa/2010/BoletinVTurrialba200…

There are also (2) avi files of the vent degassing (with audio) under the "Noticias y Eventos" section in the center of their homepage.
http://www.ovsicori.una.ac.cr/

My my my, I can feel the nostalgia. Those Golden days are still worth remembering. You presented a true picture of Alfred Rugby and i hope they will keep our heads high

Im not sure i agree with that, but over all yeah

Came clueless, left worried. Thanks for the post. - All sorts of computer errors are now turning up. You'd be surprised to know the number of doctors who claim they are treating pregnant men. Attributed to Isaac Asimov

Hi there, what if actually is at bay product nevertheless , anyway, i have been looking around on the market your blog post connect with one another appears to be like particularly pretty much fresh. I am thankful for building a new kinds of blogging site in addition , fighting making it look great, each my personal handle something available e mess it up. Exactly how a difficult endeavor was considered this tool to create your websites? Ought to personal just like me with out a get accomplish this, in addition to the integrate family group post book pages while not having destroying that it each and every?

i enjoyed reading this blog, but it is obvious to me that you're

Wednesday Whatzits: Haiti, Tungurahua erupts, Martian lava flows and a pile of updates

eklemetti — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:42:39 +0000

Wednesday Whatzits: Haiti, Tungurahua erupts, Martian lava flows and a pile of updates

Somehow I haven't posted a bunch of interesting items collected over the last few weeks, so I need to catch up. A pre-emptive hat tip to everyone who has sent me links or notes that might seem familiar in this post.

Tungurahua in Ecuador erupting in 2000.

First off, those of you looking for information on the Haitian earthquake that devastated the capitol Port Au Prince, Highly Allochthonous has post on the tectonics of the quake. Right now, it is hard for me to come up with a worse location in terms of devastation for a quake to have hit in the Caribbean Basin.
Back in volcano news, a lot of the eruptions that were in the news last week have settled down - or at least stayed the same. PHIVOLCS lowered the alert at Mayon to Level 2 (from 3) based on the reduced seismicity and volcanic gas emissions - but they offered the usual caveat that the volcano may go back up to 3 at any moment. Meanwhile, Turrialba in Costa Rica continues to give off copious gas emissions but no repeat of the explosions from last week. There is a report by OVSICORI on the changes in the crater (albeit as a PDF in Spanish). Nyamuragira also continues to erupt, but the eruption is diminishing, with lava flows reaching down the slopes but still within the Virunga National Park.
We had been hearing rumblings that Tungurahua in Ecuador was coming back to life and overnight the volcano erupted. The volcano had already been experiencing explosions and earthquakes, but this eruption produced a 3 km / ~10,000 foot ash column along with reports of lava at the summit. No one was injured in the eruption.
The NASA Earth Observatory has posted a number of great images over the last couple of weeks, including the plume (and tephra deposits) of the Gaua eruption in Vanuatu and a stunner of a shot taken above Soufriere Hills, showing all the new pyroclastic deposits formed since the volcano made a comeback this fall.
If you're looking for extraterrestrial volcanism, NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter team posted an image of lava flows in the Athabasca Valles. The shot shows evidence of phreatic cones (eruptions with a large water component) along with 100 meter deep lava flows.

eklemetti Wed, 01/13/2010 - 04:42

Once more, the tragedy within the tragedy is that the Haiti earthquake does not really come as a surprise for geologists: less than 2 years ago, at the 18th Caribbean Geological Conference, a group led by University of Texas geologist Paul Mann warned of an earthquake of up to M 7.2 right in the area now stricken by disaster:
http://www.ig.utexas.edu/jsg/18_cgg/Mann3.htm

No further comment

That is quite the report, Boris. It is sad to think that Haitian officials might have known that an event like this could very likely happen, but lack any resources to mitigate against it.

Reasonably strong SO2 signal coming off of Mount Nyamuragira

Aver. long. : 24.6 deg.
Aver. latit. : -0.9 deg.
Aver. sza : 37.5 deg.
Max. SO2 vcd : 15.3 DU

http://sacs.aeronomie.be/alert/?alert=20100113_153001_001

Geologists may have warned about the possibility of a quake like this, but now it is a moot point. Thing is, they need help and need it now and it is going to take some time to get the help there. Fortunately, there are several nations who are rising to the occassion to get the help there and that is the bright spot. Since they had very little infrastructure, not much could have been done to prepare for something like this.

Let's all remember them in our thoughts and prayers.

Can anyone else see the Easter Island face carving in that eruption plume (complete with the round stone on top)? :) Obviously the pagan gods are angry about something again...

Yep. I see it now that you mention it, MadScientist. As for pagan gods? I don't believe in them. Cool pic, though.

MadScientist: Maybe they're telling us that old Thor Heyerdahl was right all along in his theory that the Polynesian Islanders came from South America :o)

So Doc, What is the eruption looking thing north and east of of Port-au-Prince/ it sure looks like a lava flow at night.

We noticed what looks like lava NE of Port-au-Prince tonight as well. We are stationed at the airport and had a good view. Big debate among the Soldiers here is whether it is actually lava or not. Don't believe there is an active volcano in Haiti- could it be coming up from cracks that were formed by the earthquake? We would love your insight.

I saw something about this topic on TV last night. Good article.

I'm still learning from you, while I'm trying to reach my goals. I absolutely enjoy reading everything that is posted on your site.Keep the posts coming. I loved it

2009: The Volcanic Year in Review

eklemetti — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:45:45 +0000

2009: The Volcanic Year in Review

Here 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 earthquake swarm at Yellowstone, which didn't lead to anything in 2009. British scientists suggested that Antarctica has been experiencing subglacial eruption, which might account for some of the melting of the ice on the southern continent. However, what really got our attention in January was the Mt. Redoubt in Alaska, with the volcano being put on alert by AVO on January 26th - leading to months of speculation about what might happen. By the end of the month (4 days later), the volcano was all over the news and concern about the Drift River Oil Terminal was high.

February
It was the Redoubt wait that dominated the volcano news during February. Earthquakes, steam and speculation were the order of the day. We also got news of recent eruptions at NW-Rota 1 from Dr. Ed Kohut off on a research cruise in the Pacific. Chaiten was still going strong, but the social fallout from the relocation of the town of Chaiten was proving to be a major problem was well. Finally, volcano monitoring made a surprise splash at the end of the month when Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal suggested that monitoring volcanoes was "wasteful" - he learned quickly that badmouthing volcanologists is not a good idea.

March
We had to wait most of the month, but right after AVO thought things were winding down at Redoubt, the volcano goes and erupts anyway on March 23rd. It wasn't a little eruption either, throwing ash to over 50,000 ft / 15 km and eventually closing the international airport in Anchorage. March ended up being a double feature, with the surprise - and very impressive - eruption of Hunga Tonga - Hunga Ha'apai in the island nation of Tonga. This eruption started as an undersea eruption noticed by commercial pilots in the area and quickly became a classic island-building event. We also had a lot of noise about the earthquake swarms in the Bombay Beach area long the San Andreas fault in southern California. March also marked my move from Wordpress to ScienceBlogs - so I send a special thanks to all the readers who came with me and all my new readers - if you can believe it, Eruptions will be just short of half a million visits in the 10 months since coming to ScienceBlogs!

Llaima in Chile erupting in April 2009.

April
April ended up being my busiest month - with over 50 posts in the month alone. A lot of that was, again, dominated by Redoubt's activity that continued throughout the month. We also saw impressive eruptions of Llaima in Chile and new fissure eruptions at Fernandina in the Galapagos Islands. I addressed some concerns people have on the dangers of geothermal drilling causing an eruption (short answer: probably not). We also got an inside look at the USGS Volcano Hazards Program and I got all worked up about some questionable volcano journalism (what a surprise).

May
May marked two anniversaries: one was for Eruptions, the other, more important one marked one year of eruptions at Chaiten in Chile. The eruption that got me on this blogging track was still going strong after a year, with at least three domes growing inside the Chaiten caldera. Of course, we were also still waiting for the big dome collapse at Redoubt as well, but little came of that. We also got the first glimpse of West Mata erupting in the Lau Basin of the Pacific - the media would really get fired up about this in December when video was released. However, the most exciting event of the month was the earthquake swarm and potential threat of volcanic eruption in the Harrat Lunayyir region of Saudi Arabia. At times, I felt like I was the only person covering the event, getting reports from people on the ground in Saudi Arabia - but when all was said-and-done, no eruption came.

June
We had two volcanoes headed in opposite directions in June. First, Redoubt settled down for the summer. Second, Sarychev Peak in Russia blew its top in a spectacular fashion - disrupting air traffic all across the Pacific. The eruption was a major sulfur dioxide event and provided one of the most stunning volcano images - well, ever. The eruption did a number to the small island of Matau. Sarychev Peak wasn't the only volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula making noise: Shiveluch also had a major eruption. In June, we also got the first taste of the "Mt. Saint Helens: Supervolcano" controversy and media disaster that would come back later in the year. Finally, my colleagues at UC Davis, Naomi Marks, Peter Schiffman and Robert Zeirenberg, made the news by drilling into an active rhyolite magma in Iceland - nice way to end the month!

Sarychev Peak erupting in June 2009.

July
Volcanically speaking, things quieted down during summer after a very busy spring. The biggest news for July was likely eruption at Mando Hararo in Ethiopia - adding more fissure volcanism in the East African Rift. Of course, it might have been most fascinating to Eruptions readers because one of your own might have been the first to notice the eruption actually occurred. Over in Hawai`i, a rockfall captured on camera temporarily "snuffed out" the Halema`uma`u vent, but it didn't take long for lava to retake the crater. Mayon offered foreshadowing of things to come with evacuations prompted by the beginning of the current eruption.

August
August was especially quite around these parts - thanks partially to my move from California to Ohio, but also to the fact that, well, not much happened (so much for 2009 being an "anomalously volcanic" year). We started the month with some news that there might have been a volcanic eruption on Venus. I've since lost track of the research on this event - anybody have any new theories in what happened on our sister planet? Kamchatka was in the news, mostly because it was such a volcanically active area in 2009 - 5 volcanoes were erupting at once during August - and a new geyser was found as well. And if you need something to read in the long winter months, check out my favorite volcano books.

September
Things picked back up once the fall began. I dabbled in the world of "manmade volcanoes" (short answer: bad idea unless they erupt a dinosaur). In what now seems premature, the eruption at Soufriere Hills on Montserrat was declared "over" after 6 months of quiet at the volcano. We all know what came two weeks later. The international media was all over the proclamation that Australia was "overdue" for a volcanic eruption - a notion that most people think is fear-mongering at its best. There was some suggestion of something happening at Mt. Rainier - but what exactly is still a mystery. Finally, after 6 months of eruptions and noise, AVO lowered the warning level at Redoubt to green (normal). The eruption was over ... or is it?

Nevado del Huila in Colombia steaming from the summit in 2009.

October
With Redoubt out of the picture (for now), a couple of new volcanoes took to the streets. Gaua in Vanuatu erupted, prompting evacuations of people living near the island volcano. We also saw more activity at Huila in Colombia - it was a busy year for volcanic eruptions in Colombia, with eruptions at Huila and Galeras, along with signs of life from the slumbering volcano of Machin (enough to prompt the Colombian government to ponder diverting a major highway to avoid it getting cut by a Machin eruption). A study in Nature was published showing that the magma erupted during 2008-09 at Chaiten shot through the crust - and then you got to ask Dr. Jonathan Castro, coauthor of the study - all about Chaiten. I also attended the GSA Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon, where I found out some fun information on Toba, New York kimberlites and Mackenzie Pass.

November
Two non-events dominated a lot of the discussion during November. First was the attention paid to the idea that geologists could "destroy Naples" through exploratory drilling into the Campei Flegrei. Second was the non-eruption of Karkar in Papau New Guinea - we all thought a major eruption occurred, but now it looks like the satellites might have been a bit confused, thanks to reports from the ground. Dr. Boris Behncke answered your questions about Italian volcanoes. Both Gaua and Soufriere Hills were full-steam-ahead when it came to their respective eruptions.

Mayon erupting in December 2009.

December
As 2009 closed out, all eyes turned to the Philippines and the eruption of Mayon. The volcano produced some impressive lava flows and avalanches, but as of December 30, the big explosive event that PHIVOLCS is thinking is in the cards has yet to arrive. Large-scale evacuations have occurred, but keeping people out of the danger zone has been problematic. Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island actually erupted first in November, but the December eruption was captured in time-lapse video, showing the growth of the fissure vent eruption on the basaltic shield volcano. Soufriere Hills stayed in the news, causing power problems on Montserrat and ash from the volcano cancelled flights as far away as Puerto Rico. And in a bit of a surprise, as 2009 closed out, Redoubt was put back on Yellow Alert status after new signs of potential activity.

So there is 2009 in a nutshell ... any predictions for 2010 (volcanically speaking)?

eklemetti Thu, 12/31/2009 - 04:45

Tags

Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai

NASA Earth Observatory

Piton de la Fournaise

Pliny

Politics of volcanoes

Volcano Hazards Program

volcano monitoring

Volcano Research

volcano scientist

volcanoes in the media

Newer Volcanic Province

volcanoes in the media

No mention of Anak Krakatau?

I gather it's died down for now, but it was quite spectacular early in the year. I've been wondering what its recent eruptions have done to its height, but I find it difficult to find much about it.

David - Yeah, not everything made "the list", but Anak did its usual - some spectacular Strombolian eruptions.

If its not too late in the year, I'd like to formally propose a theory. I believe that renewed volcanic activity is directly caused by volcanologists declaring the prior eruptive phase to be "over".

I'll propose a test for this theory as soon as I find a recently dormant volcano where nobody lives, since nearby residents would likely come after me if I used them as guinea pigs.

This follows my previous theory: that lightning actually never struck twice, until people made the phrase popular.

@Fritz: good thinking Ollie!

Personally, I don't believe any volcano or crater is actually extinct. Dormant, yes. But extinct? I could be wrong, of course. But when a volcano comes up in a corn field in Mexico, wouldn't you think one could come up just about anywhere? It would be pretty difficult for magma to come up in the Sierras, but it could happen.

Anyway, I look for Redoubt to wake up again and I also look for the crater at Kilauea to begin fountaining sometime. It may not because it fills and drains, but you never know. It was really roiling the other day. And then Kamchatka. Somebody there will erupt and it just remains as to who.

I notice that there are repeated small quakes at Mammoth Mt. and I suspect they are techtonic. For it to start getting restless is a long shot.

And what about the Sisters in Oregon? Has the inflation there deflated? It sure made the news when they discovered it with GPS.

That's enough for now.

Happy New year Erik and all who post and come to this site. Love it.

My prediction is that one or two volcano surprises in 2010 will help bring the eruptions log up to a cummulative count of 2M visitors for all of 2010. In fact, the New York Times included a link to to the Eruptions blog (re. the carribean flight cancelations due to Soufrier activity) yesterday. Also, that human caused climate change deniers will increasingly look to volcano science,(rather, psuedo science), to support their assertions that it isn't happening.

Y'all might be interested in Alaska's new volcano playing cards: http://www.dggs.dnr.state.ak.us/pubs/pubs?reqtype=citation&ID=20401 . 52 historically active volcanoes = playing with a full deck. :)

I am pretty certain that Etna will be back in the news in 2010 ... tonight it's displaying its usual glow from a vent near the summit, and the full moon is shining on Sicily, where we have an unusually mild (not to say, warm) winter.

And then, thanks Erik for all the effort put into this blog, and the occasional fun you let us have. I wish you and everybody else here a wonderful, spectacular, splendid, volcanic 2010.

@Boris, I forgot about Etna. I think it will do a good show sometime in 2010. I wish the SE Crater would go back to the Stomboli eruptions like it did in the mid '90s. It was so cool. And before Etna Treking took down their cams, my DH and I watched the eruption in 2006 (not sure of the year LOL) for six hours! That was so neat to watch blocks come down over the rim. We just couldn't take our eyes off of it. Then all at once they shut down the cams. Now they are back, and not as good as they were, but at least they are there.

As long as Etna doesn't do a lot of damage, let'er rip.

Thanks for answering all our questions, too, Boris.

Guessing the future is very chancy. While anything can happen from Rabaul to Redoubt to Ranier or Mayon to Machin to Mammoth Mountain and the Philipines, Indonesia, Kamchatka, Alaskan Islands, South and Central America all have the ability to unleash large eruptions --- I'll just make a guess/prediction that Africa will have some exciting activity because the continent is slowly rifting apart.

I suppose the finding of the extra hot magma in the area may have caught my imagination and just led me to think that the volcanic activity in the area has some legs to it and there may be a long-term upswing in geological activity in the area and so we may continue witnessing the start of what will be a large lava field that will cover a vast area.

I will guess that Machin might hold off for a few years in erupting.

I'll keep watching Lazufre, but I guess any volcanic activity there will be more than two years away - or maybe even hundreds of years provided it keeps growing.

An American science TV show had an episode on Vesuvius. They pointed out that eruptions at Vesuvius have historically trailed big earthquakes by a number of years. Now, the eruption that destroyed Pompeii was also proceeded by a strong quake about 15 or 17 years earlier (can't exactly remember). This was something I viewed on yet another American TV show. Some scientists wonder if last years deadly earthquake in Italy could already have pulled the trigger on the next Vesuvius eruption. (My hunch is that Vesuvius will probably stay dormant for at least the next three years - even if the trigger was pulled.)

Ranier will probably make it into the news - even if it doesn't erupt. Some scientist will make some statement about how dangerous it is. It can easily send a lot of material into a nearby town - and the healthy might be able to flee by foot when the automated alarm goes off.

So my only guess is activity at the rift valley in Africa.

The Galapagos Islands are the most incredible living museum of evolutionary changes, with a huge variety of endemic species (birds, land and sea animals, plants) and especially active volcanoes.

First of my volcanic related predictions would have to be the threat of lahars in relation to the current eruption of mayon. Think it woul be wise to relocate people whilst they are out of the danger zone so to speak....

Wild guess predictions would be a eruption of Mauna Loa. Think that one is due. Maybe one of the New Zealand volcanoes could spring into life...White Island perhaps..
Vesuvius remains ever present in my mind but I'm saying nothing regarding that one.

I think I would like to see some spectacular eruption in some unpopulated area...Erebus maybe

Unfortunately my pin for a disasster falls on the Eastern seaboard area of America not gonna say unless prompted but thats the general area.

Happy New Year and keep up the good work Erik!!!!

Vesuvius may well stay silent for many centuries - consider that before it erupted in AD 79 to destroy Pompeii and other Roman towns, it probably was quiescent for 800 years, and the second worst of its eruptions in history, in 1631, was preceded by nearly 500 years of inactivity. Now we're at 66 years, so that's not very much in comparison.
I'd rather be worried about those Italian volcanoes that there is much less talk about, especially abroad - like Campi Flegrei, on the other (western) side of Naples (last eruption was in 1538) and Vulcano on the southernmost of the Aeolian islands (last eruption 1888-1890). Both have shown significant unrest in the past few decades, and my guts tell me at least one of them will erupt before Vesuvius will come back to life.
Mauna Loa? It seemed to be building up to an eruption a few years ago, but presently there seems to be very little going on there, so I don't really expect it to do something very soon.
Somebody named Unzen as a candidate for an eruption in the near future. My guess is it will not erupt for several centuries - the previous eruption (prior to 1990-1995) was in 1792, so that one seems to erupt quite infrequently.
I'd imagine some other Japanese volcano to do something major this year - it's been quite a while since there's been a significant eruption in Japan (10 years, since Miyakejima's caldera collapse and Usu's phreatic eruption/uplift in 2000). Back in the 1970s and 1980s there would be one major eruption in Japan roughly every 3 years.

Let's hope that one in the Canary Islands doesn't slide into the ocean! The eastern sea board would be history. As for Mammoth Mt., I don't think that one is going to do anything. I would be more concerned about the resurgent dome in Long Valley. But the tiny quakes are coming and they seem to be on the fault.

Just about anything can happen. Even Lassen could do something, though it is very remote that it will do anything except just sit there and be a nice climb for somebody who wants to climb a volcano. Been there and done that---twice. Nice climb. 15% grade at most, 5 mile round trip, 2000' gain in altitude. I wish I could do it again.

Yellowstone. That beautiful place that has geysers that put on shows and seems safe enough. Well, it is at the moment even if it is putting out a lot of C02.

And this global warming thing...why is it that they forget how much S02 and C02 is being released into the atmosphere from all the volcanoes that are fuming and spewing and erupting? What was it Boris said about Etna releasing 800 tonnes of C02/day? Or was it more? Anyway, that is only ONE volcano! How about Kilauea?

Oh well, we will have a good time watching to see where the next eruption will be and I just hope it doesn't cause a lot of havoc.

Take care when any of you are on any of these volatile mountains. But if you have a chance, climb Mt. Lassen. You won't be sorry you did.

For parochial reasons more than anything, I think something might happen in NZ/Kermadec Trench. There is a lot of rifting in the TVZ (18 mm) a year, currently there are about 5 active earthquake swarms in the TVZ (one of them under the major vent of the last Taupo eruption (Horomatangi reef in the middle of the lake) and one right under Mt Edgecumbe north of Mt. Tarawera. Four of the swarms are on precisely the same fault lines as the most recent eruptions in the zone. An intriguing one is just south of Taupo in a geothermal area also in a graben setting (Roto Aira). And there have been a couple of small earthquakes in the Auckland volcanic field recently (not a seismically active region at all). The AVC intrigues me a lot - a young mafic field erupting through lithic crust in a region without any obvious seismic activity. Most strange. BTW it is also said to erupt about once every six hundred years.

.. and to extend my insular thinking a little further north. The rates of subduction up around Tonga are huge and there is major earthquake activity up there too. I think we could easily see more island building or submarine activity from that region too, not to forgot the entire Bismarck Island/New Guinea/Indonesia chain where the same applies.

oh bugger...lol of course I meant the western sea board in my above comment, thanks dianne for bringing that to my attention. East lol that would be unbelievable!!!

Living in Chile, the LLaima and Chaiten eruptions were high point over the past several months. I'm in the process of finishing a book on the Valdivia Earthquake of 1960 (Mw 9.5) and am including a chapter on volcanism which resulted from the events at that time and have been searching for photos of the Cordon Caulle eruption that began May 24, 1960. If anyone has anything appropriate I'd be very grateful and will include all appropriate citations.

We've had our guesses for the eruptions of 2010. Now they're starting: today (2 January 2010), both Piton de la Fournaise (RÃ©union island, Indian Ocean) and Nyamuragira (Congo) went into eruption.
http://www.jir.fr/index.php?id_article=232698&page=article
http://www.ipgp.fr/pages/03030807.php
http://www.fournaise.info
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100102/ap_on_re_af/af_congo_volcano_1

Well, Stephen, They have been talking about that volcano in the Canarys (or is it the Azores)that if the part of it that is very precarious slid into the ocean, there would be a tsunami that would probably wipe out the eastern coast.

I agree with you about the west coast. We get a lot of quakes here and there was a swarm just at the foot of Mt. Lassen that had about 90 small quakes. There was a new one on Mammoth Mountain this morning and I check to see how deep they are and they are shallow---about three miles down. I think there are about 20 of them right now. Since there is a fault right there, I think they are techtonic rather than magmatic.

Anyway, I think there will be a lot more activity near Tonga, also. They do get a lot of quakes there. That entire area is so active because of the trenches and subductions that there could be a lot of volcanic activity with just the right amount of shaking and how the waves interact with the volcanoes.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens and where. I just wish I could go see some of the eruptions---at a safe distance, though. :-)

Speaking of quakes, there was a 6.2 in the Mariannas region this morning at 12:45am my time. And Tonga area had a 5. It seems that Tonga has one almost every other day in the 5 range.

We will definitely see more of that.

I know that volcanos and earthquakes are around for centuries, but I can not help thinking of these words "earthquakes in one place after another, when you see all these things occuring, know the end is near" All these things being things which humans can not control and an intensity in activity not previously witnessed.Can it be we are witnessing a time in history which will be catastrophic and affect every nation on the planet? Whether a person is spiritual or not will not alter the facts.Can it be said that both earthquake and volcano activity has increased alarmingly in the past few years? I dont know, I'm no expert but keen to know what the experts do think, honestly.

I know that volcanos and earthquakes are around for centuries, but I can not help thinking of these words "earthquakes in one place after another, when you see all these things, know the end is near" All these things being things which humans can not control and an intensity in activity not previously witnessed.Can it be we are witnessing a time in history which will be catastrophic and affect every nation on the planet? Whether a person is spiritual or not will not alter the facts.Can it be said that both earthquake and volcano activity has increased alarmingly in the past few years? I dont know, I'm no expert but keen to know what the experts do think, honestly.

Plumes a-poppin'!

eklemetti — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:57:56 +0000

Plumes a-poppin'!

Maybe I should just apologize right here and now for that title, but dang, I liked it.

Anyway, I've seen a lot of plume images cross my browser/inbox over the last day, so I thought I'd post a few of them.

Soufriere Hills, Montserrat
The renewed activity at Soufriere Hills has produced a bounty of plume images over the last week. The NASA Earth Observatory posted an image of the plume, which sometimes reached as high as 3.7 km / 12,000 feet (if not higher). Eruptions reader Alex Waning sent me some images of the top of the plume at ~3.7 km / 12,000 feet taken from a flight near Montserrat on December 1 (see below) - they seem to suggest that the plume is very steam-rich and almost gets lost within the typical clouds for the region.

Plume from Soufriere Hills in Montserrat. Image by Alex Waning.

Tavurvur (Rabaul), Papua New Guinea
Another nice and recent plume image posted by the NASA EO folks is from the Tavurvur crater at Rabaul. The two craters at Rabaul are very clearly visible in this image, with the active, northern crater producing the white/grey plume on November 30, 2009. The plume is relatively small (1.5 km / ~5,000 feet) and part of the explosive, strombolian activity at the Tavurvur crater.

Ambrym, Vanuatu
Finally, Ambyrm volcano in Vanuatu has been producing a diffuse plume of steam and sulfur dioxide. The volcano is one of the most active in Vanuatu - in fact, this basaltic volcano with a caldera has been erupting since May 2008. Ambyrm was joined by Gaua as erupting volcanoes in the Pacific island nation.

eklemetti Tue, 12/08/2009 - 02:57

Tags

Ambrym

ash plumes

Montserrat

NASA Earth Observatory

Don't forget the continually erupting Yasur as one of the currently erupting Vanuatu volcanoes. Yasur has been erupting for centuries without a break.

What is the purpose of this post if you don't mind me asking?

Very well written story. It will be valuable to anybody who utilizes it, including myself. Keep doing what you are doing - looking forward to more posts.

SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Activity Report for 11/25-12/1/2009

eklemetti — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:27:36 +0000

SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Activity Report for 11/25-12/1/2009

We get a new update from the Smithsonian/USGS Global Volcanism Program ...

Highlights (not counting Soufriere Hills or Gaua) include:

The Weekly Report mentions the mystery eruption/noneruption of Karkar in PNG. Specifically, they report:

The report also stated that ash had merged with a thunderstorm cloud and had become unidentifiable.

Two ash plumes (11/25, 26) that reached at least 9.1 km / 30,000 feet were reported by the Darwin VAAC ... but as we know, it is far from clear that anything actually happened at Karkar last week.
Activity has quieted significantly at Chaiten in Chile, with only a "diffuse plume" from the dome complex that started forming in May 2008.
Karymsky, a recent MVP, produced a ~3.8 km / 12,000 foot ash column as its eruptive activity continued.
Ecuador's Sangay produced two ash plumes over the last week, one reaching as high as 7.9 km / 26,000 feet according to reports from pilots in the area.
Rabaul in PNG was busy shaking windows 20 km from the volcano as the Tavurvur cone produced a number of explosions, along with ash and an incandescent glow at the crater.

eklemetti Wed, 12/02/2009 - 09:27

Tags

Global Volcanism Program

Smithsonian Institution

Soufriere Hills

USGS

I've been here in the past yet this is among the best blog posts yet. keep writing!

My sweatpants to me this cold morning, "I haven't seen you in months and now you think you can just get inside me?"

Lost a twenty dollar bet on the Raiders. I was sure the Tusken Raiders were in all 3 âStar Warsâ prequels.

Personally i think what your location is picking your company subject, I actually do your blog site is a reflection of yourself, explaining an expression inside your ideas on their own. This kind your main unbiased and therefore receptive for some other ideas. Some with the using the net public would definitely be a hardly any immature

What a great story, and not just for the success of the team. The way they all work and volunteer together is wonderful, and teaches more about life than many of their classes.

I have vomit on my pants, and it's not mine.

Thing you are talking about seems sensible. Nevertheless, think about this, what if you integrated a little bit more? I mean, I don't want to teach how you can run ur blog, however if you added more stuff which could get peoples focus? Just as a video or perhaps a image or maybe few to get viewers interested regarding what you mentioned.

Hi, I thought that what happened in last season finale left me hanging forever but this season is worse! I love this show though. The this season began very slow but it's got more exciting fast. I totally am confused about how they are gonna end the show. We all know whatâs going to happen but stillâ¦What do you guys think? If you want to watch favorite episodes of Dexter, visit my Dexter blog to check it out, Watch Dexter Online. Keep up the great work!

I'm still learning from you, while I'm making my way to the top as well. I absolutely enjoy reading all that is posted on your site.Keep the tips coming. I enjoyed it

The Christmas travel plans of thousands of are in disarray after snow left Heathrow Airport all but shut. Thousands have been forced to sleep overnight in airports and there is disruption to road and rail travel with the Met Office warning of more snow ...

Monday Musings: Gaua evacuations, more activity at Soufriere Hills and the destructive force of Toba revisited

eklemetti — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 07:53:00 +0000

Monday Musings: Gaua evacuations, more activity at Soufriere Hills and the destructive force of Toba revisited

Back to work after Thanksgiving Break ... lets clean up a few news items I missed trying to figure out the non-eruption of Karkar.

Undated photo of the summit area of Gaua, Vanuatu.

There was an actual eruption - or, more correctly, a continued eruption - of Gaua in Vanuatu. The current activity has prompted the evacuation of 300 villagers from the island and they will not be able to return until activity wanes. Tourists were also told to stay away from the volcano, but the airport on the island has not been affected by the eruption, which might suggest the activity is relatively localized. However, ash from the volcano is falling on the forests and nearby villages, causing eye and throat irritation. Vanuatu has asked New Zealand for assistance in monitoring the activity at Gaua as well. The volcano is currently at the second highest alert level.
The NASA Earth Observatory posted a nice shot of Bezymianny in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. The image captured not only the steam plume from the degassing volcano, the ash from explosive eruptions on the snow, but also the shadow on the volcano.
Soufriere Hills on Montserrat continues its revival after 10 months of silence. The volcano in the western Caribbean dropped ash on the capitol of Montserrat and pyroclastic flows from the collapsing dome at the summit nearly reached the ocean.
There have been a few pieces lately about a recent study in Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology by Martin A.J. Williams (U of Adelaide) and Stanley Ambrose (U of Illinois) that suggests that the great Toba eruption in Indonesia ~73,000 years ago destroyed forests in India - almost ~4,800 km / 3,000 miles away. The study that the volcanic aerosols from the eruption caused such a severe volcanic winter and the ash disrupted forest processes that much of the tropics was deforested. I'll try to post the link to the article as soon as I can track it down. (The articles are ambiguous as ever - one implies that the researchers determined the existence of the caldera in this study.)

eklemetti Mon, 11/30/2009 - 02:53

Tags

NASA Earth Observatory

Toba article citation:

Environmental impact of the 73 ka Toba super-eruption in South Asia. Martin A.J. Williams, Stanley H. Ambrose, Sander van der Kaars, 1, Carsten Ruehlemann, Umesh Chattopadhyaya, Jagannath Pale and Parth R. Chauhan. December 2009 Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 284(3-4}:295-314

Item 15, Journal issue index
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00310182

This is just a question for Erik. Did you get the pics I sent you and if not, the email eating machine is at it again. If you did get them. let me know what you think. It is a real volcano and if you want to know where it is, I will email you with what detail I know about it.

Pray for a variety ear and you'll encounter you will lie most a sift threshold

I'm still learning from you, but I'm trying to achieve my goals. I certainly love reading all that is written on your blog.Keep the information coming. I enjoyed it

i want to learn how to create such incredible posts and create just as many commentors, my site doesnt get any visitors.

Thought ill tell you your blog appears a bit different in Firefox on my laptop using Linux.

Thursday Throwdown: Updates from Gaua, Reventador, Soufriere Hills, Mayon and Cleveland

eklemetti — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:51:59 +0000

Thursday Throwdown: Updates from Gaua, Reventador, Soufriere Hills, Mayon and Cleveland

I did an excellent job of forgetting my notes from GSA 2009, so no wrap up on the meeting until tomorrow, but we do have some new volcano news to digest:

The crater of El Reventador in Ecuador in an undated photo.

Ecuadorian officials have called for evacuations around El Reventador. The Ecuadorian Geophysics Institute says that the volcano's "activities were measured at a level considered high, with permanent seismic signals indicating explosions while the southern side of the volcano crater could be seen as incandescent.". Three provinces near the volcano were put on alert ~~evacuated~~ as a precaution as activity at the volcano increases (in spanish).
Gaua in Vanuatu continues to rumble as well. The Geohazards Observatory in Vanuatu have warned residents of the island that lahars could be produced if volcanic material mixes with the lake waters from the crater lake on Gaua. They also raised the alert level to two (on a scale of five). Mount Garat, part of the caldera system, has been producing ash and sulfur odors for the past month. Local officials have also submitted a plan for evacuation if the eruption worsens.
Mayon in the Philippines has also shown signs it might be headed for a larger eruption - although it didn't stop people from doing the Mayon Trail Run, a 21-km run near the volcano. Most troubling, volcanowise, is the increase in seismicity and sulfur dioxide emissions. In the meantime, a non-eruption-triggered lahar came down the slopes of the volcano last week.
After Cleveland's brief outburst a few weeks ago, the volcano has settled back down again. The Alert Level as Cleveland was reduced from Yellow/Watch after nothing came after the explosion on October 2.
The NASA Earth Observatory posted another stunner of an image, this time of Soufriere Hills at Montserrat. The volcano continues to erupt after 10 months of quiet and in this image taken from the ISS, you can clearly see the ash-and-steam plume drifting to the northwest, along with the big volcaniclastic debris fans on the north and west sides of the island.

eklemetti Thu, 10/22/2009 - 03:51

Don't tell the Scientologists. They may think it's the end of the world. (What to do with all these frozen thetans, oh nooo!)

link is broken on the ISS image...

Link fixed!

That ISS photo is awesome.

FYI... The Reventador article says that 3 provinces were put on alert about the possibility of an eruption, they have not been evacuated yet.

Thanks for catching that, G Mayberry. Fixed.

So I attempted subscribing to your RSS .xml, and it outputted a "Malformed XML" error... Can you tell me if it's me or the internet messing up?