Eruptions
Archives for June, 2009
Sarychev Peak: Before and after
Posted by Erik Klemetti on June 30, 2009 The NASA Earth Observatory has posted some excellent images of Matua Island in the Kurils that show the before and after of the Sarychev Peak eruption of June 2009. There are some impressive changes … so lets see if you can spot them! Post your comments on whats changed and why and I’ll chime in…
Alert level at Redoubt lowered to Yellow … is this the end?
Posted by Erik Klemetti on June 30, 2009 Redoubt steaming in early 2009. Image courtesy of Calvin Hall. It has been a while since we spoke of Redoubt, but now it seems the reason why might be that the eruption is ending. AVO lowered the Alert Level at Redoubt to Yellow from Orange, indicating that they believe the volcano is less likely to…
Shiveluch has second large eruption in this month
Posted by Erik Klemetti on June 29, 2009 Shiveluch volano in Russia. Just like last summer seemed like a busy time for the Aleutians (Cleveland, Okmok and Kasatochi), this summer could be dubbed the “summer of Kamchatka-Kurils” (alright, it isn’t that catchy, sorry). The biggest news was/is, of course, the sizeable eruption from Sarychev Peak in the Kuril Islands, but not to be…
Drilling into active magma
Posted by Erik Klemetti on June 26, 2009 Drilling in Iceland lead by geologists from UC Davis hit magma this week. Image courtesy of Peter Schiffman, UC Davis. Quick props to my officemate here at UC Davis, Naomi Marks, who happened to be part of a team (with UC Davis geology faculty Peter Schiffman and Robert Zierenberg) that drilled into active rhyolite magma…
Eruptions Mailbag for June 2009
Posted by Erik Klemetti on June 26, 2009 Chaiten in Chile erupting in January 2009. Even after over a year of activity, Eruptions readers are still captivated by the volcano. Thanks for sending me your questions about volcanoes and volcanism. I’ll try to tackle some hear – but as always, keep the questions coming! Send them to For those of you who have…
Friday Flotsam
Posted by Erik Klemetti on June 26, 2009 The Q&A post will be coming over the weekend (there’s still time to send me a question!) Icy cold volcanoes (well, geysers) on Enceladus, a moon of Saturn. In the meantime, here are a few quick hits: Mt. Cleveland in the Aleutians had a small eruption. The plume was only ~15,000 feet / ~3 km.…
SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Activity Report for 6/17-23/2009
Posted by Erik Klemetti on June 24, 2009 Busy busy analysing on the multicollector ICP-MS today (but not busy enough to miss this). Here’s your weekly volcano news roundup from the USGS/Smithsonian GVP. Highlights (not including Sarychev Peak) include: Continued dome growth and degassing at Bezymianny in Russia. Starting next year, there will be live webcams for three of the major volcanoes (Bezymianny,…
Tuesday Tidbits
Posted by Erik Klemetti on June 23, 2009 A few quick news bits … and thanks for the questions so far. Keep ‘em coming! Tungurahua, Ecuador erupting in 2006. Ash fall from Tungurahua (in spanish) in Ecuador is affecting the farm towns around the volcano. Farmers in Manzano, a village nearby, fear the ash is significant enough to damage their crops. The volcano…
Send me your volcano questions
Posted by Erik Klemetti on June 22, 2009 I’m buried knee-deep in lab work this week, so I don’t know how much internet scouring I will be able to do for new news, however, I should have time for a mailbag column. So, do you have a burning (no pun intended) volcano question you want answered? Email the question(s) to me and I…
Friday Flotsam
Posted by Erik Klemetti on June 19, 2009 Some volcano news before the weekend: The Barujari vent at Mt. Rinjani erupting in May 2009. Barujari, the small basaltic volcano located in the crater at Mt. Rinjani, is “spewing 200-meter-high lava“, at least according to recent reports. It is unclear if the eruption is, in fact, a fountain or merely strombolian activity throwing incandescent…