Volcano news ahoy, today brought to you by Islands.
Lake Kivu, located along the border the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda
- A gorgeous satellite image (brought to us by the NASA EO) of a steam plume and ash from the ongoing eruption at Shiveluch in Kamchatka. The ash distribution stands out remarkably well on the white snow, with the central circle of ash near the vent/dome and then the wind-aided ash blanketing the terrain to the northeast of the volcano (and a little bit to the south).
- Nature has a post reminding us that one of the big hazards at Nyiragongo/Nymuragira is not the lava flows themselves, but the potential overturn of Lake Kivu, releasing millions of tons of carbon dioxide. This overturn could be triggered by lava flows from the either volcano entering the lake. That might lead to a much larger disaster than the smaller volcanically-related lake overturn that occurred at Lake Nyos.
- Following up the Saudi Arabian earthquake swarm news from yesterday, voluntary evacuations occurred at the village of Al-Qarrassah. I'll keep my eyes peeled for more information on this over the weekend.
- If you haven't been following the truly excellent Chaiten updates on the Volcanism Blog, you should. Years from now, it will be an invaluable resource for us to understand how the eruption changed during its year+ activity.
Enjoy the weekend (only 101 degrees F here in California!)
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Can't help thinking that Goma and the surrounding communities are living on borrowed time, given that lava flows have entered Lake Kivu twice in the past 60 years -from Nyiragongo in 1994 and from Nyumagira (sp?) in 1948..the latter described by Haroun Tazieff in one of his books. He watched the entry, unconcerned, from a small boat just offshore. Truly, ignorance is bliss...
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