Eruptions

Eruptions is moving!

Erik Klemetti — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:47:50 +0000

Big news from Eruptions (and me.)

Eruptions has always been an evolving space – it started as a little side project on WordPress that has grown over the last two-and-a-half years into a community of volcano enthusiasts. The blog has drawn over 2.5 million views and 1.5 million visits since I started it in May of 2008 – which, to me, is mindblowing – and I thank of all your for that. I also thank ScienceBlogs for helping more people find the blog over the last 18 months that I’ve been lucky to be hosted here.

However, with all things, change is sometimes needed. I’m not going to go into the details of my decision, but starting TODAY, Eruptions is moving to a new home –

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/eruptions/

Update all your bookmarks and feeds!

This wasn’t an easy decision for me, but hopefully all of you will see that it is the right decision for Eruptions – so please join me over at the new site.

And remember, you can follow Eruptions on Twitter as well – @eruptionsblog – to keep up with all the volcano news.

Thanks again to ScienceBlogs … and here’s to the future!

Possible eruption in Virunga National Park, Congo

Erik Klemetti — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:29:04 +0000

Busy … so busy! I’ll try to have more later today but the next 24 hours for me are super duper busy.

However, I did want to pass along some news that was noticed by the Volcanism Blog that a volcano at Virunga National Park in the Congo erupted overnight. Now, I haven’t been able to find much information beyond the single report in the Irish Independent – and that report doesn’t even specify what volcano is doing the erupting – Nyamuragira or Nyiragongo. However, we’ve seen eruptions at the park earlier this year so the volcanoes are almost constantly degassing, so this should be a surprise. However, until I can get more information, I’m calling this a “possible eruption.”

More later on this, Sinabung, Etna and whatever other volcano decides to add to the week!

Sinabung and Etna updates for 8/30/2010

Erik Klemetti — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 08:20:09 +0000

Classes starting today, so I have to be brief:

Unique twin ash plumes from Sinabung in Indonesia, erupting on August 29, 2010.

Sinabung
The Indonesian volcano continues to experience explosions, which one last night (well, last night here in Ohio) that prompted an ash advisory for aircraft up to 6,100 m / 20,000 feet, although most reports I’ve seen pegged the ash column at closer to 2,000 m / ~6,500 feet. Eruptions readers have found a bevy of links for footage and information about the eruption, including a remarkable image gallery from the BBC that shows the volcano exhibiting two ash plumes – one that is vertical, one that is shooting off to one side (see above). This definitely makes it seem that the vent is partially blocked and these explosions are helping “clear the throat” of the volcano (NOTE: this does NOT mean I think something big is going to happen, rather just that it seems to be the reasonable explanation for the bifurcation of the plume). My hunch is that even now, very little “new” juvenile magma has been erupted from Sinabung, but that is pure speculation until there are any analyses of the ash shard morphology or composition.

There is also some video from Portuguese television Some of the most recent images from the volcano show a strong, single plume with some rock avalanches (possible block and ash flows) on the flanks. Evacuations have increased to over 21,000 people living near the volcano and some flights have been diverted due to the taller ash plume. The biggest threat right now is the ash fall from the explosions and as such, the government is providing face masks and moving people to sturdier shelter. The current death toll appears to be 8 (video), mostly from respiratory-related problems. What comes next might be a guess for everyone at this point as the Surono, head of the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation admitted again “We don’t know what set it off, how long it will continue or whether to expect pyroclastic flows or more powerful eruptions.”

Etna
Not to be forgotten, Etna continues to show signs that it is entering a new cycle of eruptive activity as well (albeit much less of a surprise than Sinabung). Dr. Boris Behncke points us to some new updates from the INGV (italian – top and english – bottom) that describe the explosions and collapses that have been producing the ash fall on Sicily. Be sure to check out Dr. Behncke’s Photostream for the latest and greatest images of the current activity at Etna – currently he has some close ups of the explosions occurring in the Bocca Nuova crater (not to be missed). You can always watch Etna’s show on the multitude of webcams as well.

New eruption at Sinabung in Indonesia

Erik Klemetti — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:13:33 +0000

Sinabung on Sumatra erupting on August 29, 2010.

Eruptions readers were quick on the news about the new eruption at Sinabung in Indonesia. There isn’t much known about the eruptive history of the volcano – checking out the Global Volcanism Program, the last activity at Sinabung might have been an explosive event in 1881 with persistent fumaroles up until 1912. However, most news sources are quoting 400 years as the last known eruption of the volcano, apparently information from the Indonesian government.

The eruption itself appears to be an ash-rich explosion with ash fall reported up to 30 km from the volcano although the ash column from the explosion was only 1.5 km (~5,000 feet) tall. The volcano had been showing signs of activity with smaller explosions and minor steam-and-ash plumes on Friday, but the explosion on Saturday was much larger than expected. From the details I’ve read, [speculation] I wouldn’t be surprised if there is no new magma (juvenile material) in this eruption, but rather just older material that was in the conduit. My hunch is that this explosion might be the start of more and the heat from the magma interacted with groundwater near the summit to cause the explosion – a very common precursor activity at a composite cone like Sinabung (think about the events leading to the eruption at Redoubt).[speculation] However, Surono, head of the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, warned that “we have little knowledge in terms on its eruptive patterns and general forms.”

A closer look at the August 29, 2010 eruption of Sinabung. Image by Binsar Bakkara/AP.

Thousands of people have needed to evacuate their homes around the volcano on Sumatra after this explosion – however, some have stayed behind to prevent the looting of their property. A 6-km exclusion zone has been set up around the volcano by the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation as well.

Friday Flotsam: Galeras settles, Krakatau anniversary, what is under Yellowstone and more.

Erik Klemetti — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:43:41 +0000

Sorry about the lack of posts – I’ve been not only frantically prepping for class and my Eyja talk, but also I’m somewhat under the weather with an ill-timed sickness, so even though there is stuff to talk about, I haven’t really had time/wherewithal to deal with it.

However, expect big things from Eruptions next week!

Drawing of a ship washed inland by the tsunami generated by the August 27, 1883 eruption of Krakatau.

I’ll throw a few quick links:

The alert status at Galeras has been dropped back down to “orange” after the non-explosive eruption earlier this week. However, INGEOMINAS warns us the threat is still there (spanish) for an eruption (and more evacuations).
Another volcano anniversary falls this week – this time the 1883 eruption of Krakatau in Indonesia. You can even hear a witness to the actual eruption get interviewed by author Simon Winchester.
Curious about what is going on underneath Yellowstone – check out the great post on Highly Allochthonous that examines the source of the giant North American caldera system.
Dr. Boris Behncke has kept us appraised on the currently activity at Etna on his photostream – not a lot of coverage of this new activity at the Italian volcano in any other media source.
And you can catch up on all the week’s volcano news with the Global Volcanism Program’s Weekly Volcanic Activity Report!

A busy day for Etna and Galeras

Erik Klemetti — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:18:12 +0000

Today was a doubleheader for volcanic eruptions in the news:

Today’s explosive eruption from Mt. Etna. Image courtesy of the INGV.

As I briefly mentioned earlier, Galeras in Colombia had an “atypical” eruption – apparently meaning it was non-explosive – that has prompted evacuations and a change in the alert status to “Red” for the volcano. Various news sources don’t have a lot of new information yet, but you can check on the report on the INGEOMINAS page (spanish) – and they have links to some of the Galeras news (audio, spanish) from their main page. Some of the latest reports from Colombia (spanish) indicate that the eruption is “ongoing” but “under control” and areas around the volcano are experiencing some ash fall. However, Diego Gomez of the Volcano Observatory in Pasto is calling Galeras a “very unstable volcanic system” right now, so we’ll keep an close watch on the volcano – which you can do from the webcam.
Less than a week after Boris Behncke’s great series on the volcano, Italy’s Etna has decided to keep our attention by having an explosive eruption earlier today. The INGV already has a great post on the event (italian and english) on their website with pictures and thermal images of the ash-rich explosion that produced the 1-km tall plume. This is the largest explosive event this summer from the Bocca Nuova (“New Mouth?”) vent. Again, if Etna is heading into a new eruptive cycle, we’ll all want to watch the events unfold – and luckily there is a webcam for that as well.

For both of these events, updates as they arrive!

{Special thanks to all the Eruptions readers who have posted links/info.}

Galeras Erupts

Erik Klemetti — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 08:17:18 +0000

An undated photo of the crater at Galeras.

I am literally out the door, so I will fill this article a little more after my prior academic obligations, but there are reports of an eruption at Galeras in Colombia overnight. 8,000 people living near the volcano have been evacuated as INGEOMINAS moved the alert status at the volcano to “Red”. Not much out there on the details of the eruption beyond this intriguing statement:

Diego Gomez from the Pasto Observatory of Vulcanology and Seismology said that due to the atypical, non-explosive eruption, another eruption is imminent.

Galeras the most active volcano in Colombia (at least in the last 50 years), last erupting in January of this year.

We’re in Pompeii and today is “Volcano Day”

Erik Klemetti — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:16:18 +0000

The Doctor fights off a magma creature in Pompeii.

Now, most of the time I talk about why I started this blog, I talk about the eruption of Chaiten in Chile as the catalyst. However, if you look back at my archives, you’ll see that one of my first posts was on the Doctor Who episode “The Fires of Pompeii” – so that might also be a good marker to point to on why I started this blog. Why do I bring this up? Well, Pompeii gets mentioned a couple times in the first few seasons of the revived Doctor Who. First off, when the Doctor meets Capt. Jack Harkness (a time-traveling huckster), Capt. Jack mentions that one of this favorite scams is to sell some alien a faked object and asks them to meet in Pompeii on the morning of the day that Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D. – “volcano day” as he calls it. That way, the fake is buried in the eruption before the scammed buyer can figure it out, and Capt. Jack is long gone. However, later in the episode, one of Capt. Jack’s scams (this one set in WWII London) backfires badly and the Doctor says something to the effect of “we’re in Pompeii, and today is volcano day!”

Well, sure enough, today is “Volcano Day”! The eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii – and lead Pliny to write his Letters that birthed volcanology occurred (at least we think) on August 24, 79 A.D. So, eat some olives in memory of those who perished over 1,900 years ago – and hope that Naples is prepared the next time Vesuvius rumbles so that we don’t repeat “Volcano Day”.

Ash casts of the victims of the 79 A.D. of Vesuvius.

UPDATE: While we’re at it, here are a few articles about the anniversary. I’ll add any more I run across (and feel free to add your own in the comments).
- CBS News: Not much content, but some decent images (real and fake).
- Jerusalem Post: Pompeii as God’s retribution.

Tuesday Tidbits: Eyjafjallajökull, Yasur, mud on Mars and more

Erik Klemetti — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 04:12:24 +0000

Finally, a chance to catch up a bit … !

Yasur erupting in May of 2010.

Some news from the world of volcanoes:

The BBC has a series of videos one the fallout from the Eyjafjallajökull eruption – including a look at the area around the volcano and how the economy has been affected by the eruption. However, things seem pretty quiet at the summit of the Eyjafjallajökull summit where snow can begun to settle without melting – and the Icelandic Met Office appears to think that the eruption is more or less (but not officially) over. And take this press release as you will, but a recent study by a UK moving company (UniBaggage.com) claims that parents moving their children off to university each fall release twice as much CO₂ than the Eyjafjallajökull eruption.
Most people think of volcanoes being bad for the economy, but in places like Vanuatu, volcanoes are vital to the local economy, thanks to a consistently active volcano. Yasur on Tanna Island is visited by tourists regularly – along with providing a source for fertile soil. The description of the visits are a bit, well, harrowing, but those are the risks if you’re going to visit an erupting volcano.
There were some great new shots from space from the NASA Earth Observatory of two active volcanoes. The first is an image of the intensified activity at Sakurajima in Japan – complete with an impressive ash plume and ~~a pyroclastic flow heading to the south~~ steam-and-ash plume from a lower vent on the south flank. The second is an image of the new dome complex on Chaiten in Chile – and it looks pretty calm compared to when it started back in 2008 (when this blog got its start too). However, this is still a lot of the area covered with what looks like fresh ash, so the domes continue to intermittently coat the area with ash.
There was also an article on MSNBC that wasn’t about magmatic volcanoes, but rather mud volcanoes … on Mars no less. The region on the northern hemisphere called Acidalia Planitia appears to have a high concentration of features that look like terrestrial mud volcanoes. The article in Icarus suggests that there are potentially 40,000 mud volcanoes in the area that likely formed in early Amazonian times on Mars (over 1 billion years ago).

A request from me

Erik Klemetti — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:53:58 +0000

As I’ve mentioned, I will be giving a talk here at Denison on the Eyjafjallajökull eruption and how the events unfolded on the internet – specifically, I’m interested in the idea of the general public taking an active role in volcano monitoring. So, I have a request from Eruptions readers – and by no means do you have to take part. However, if you are willing, I’d like to know your professional/”day job” and your geologic background – be sure, I will not use your real name or connect your Eruptions pseudonym to any information you send. I am just looking to get a hold on the backgrounds of the very savvy readers on this blog. If you are willing, please send me an email at . Thanks in advance!