eklemetti
Posts by this author
December 2, 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…
December 2, 2009
An ash plume from Soufriere Hills on Montserrat, taken from the ISS on October 11, 2009.
If you ever wonder what might happen to the U.S. if a large volcanic eruption, lets say from Rainier or Long Valley or Shasta, occurred, you can look at the island of Montserrat for some of the potentials…
December 1, 2009
So I was browsing around for a new MVP and I stumbled across the following image:
It is a stunning image, capturing this stratocone filling in what might be an old caldera. The problem is, well, I have no idea what volcano this is and the page I found it on (some random wallpaper site) had no…
November 30, 2009
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…
November 29, 2009
Last week, I reported that Karkar in Papua New Guinea had erupted. This was based on reports from Volcano Live and from the Darwin VAAC that said the volcano had produced at least 1, maybe 2, ~13 km / 45,000 foot ash columns. That is not a trivial ash column - you would think a large eruption was…
November 26, 2009
Here is Part 2 of the Q&A with Dr. Boris Behncke. You can also check out Part 1.
Undated image of Stromboli in eruption.
(Shirakawa Akira) 1. Would a large scale eruption (VEI 5 or greater) of Mt. Etna like the ones occurred in 122 BC and 1500 BC (disputed) be possible again in the foreseeable…
November 25, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving (for my US readers) ... otherwise happy Thursday to the rest of the world. I've got another Mystery Volcano Photo for you all. Good luck!
Current Standings:
Don Crain - 2
gijs - 2
The Bobs - 2
volcanista - 1
Lockwood - 1
Elizabeth - 1
Ralph - 1
Anne - 1
Cam - 1
gg - 1
Boris…
November 25, 2009
Karkar volcano as seen from space.
Eruptions reader The Bobs left a note mentioning that there may have been a 'significant' eruption at Karkar in Papua New Guinea. The only place I can find information is John Seach's Volcano Live:
An eruption occurred at Karkar volcano at 6:39 pm on 25th…
November 24, 2009
First off, I want to thank Dr. Behncke for taking the time to answer your questions - and also, thank you to all who sent him some thought-provoking questions. In fact, the questions and answers take up about 12 pages of text, so the Q&A will be divided into two parts.
If you want to see one…
November 23, 2009
Back from Iowa, time for some volcano news. Look for the answers to your questions for Dr. Boris Behncke to get posted later this week.
(And thanks for all the comments and kind words in the Open Thread. I'll start thinking about how to implement a lot of these in the next few weeks).
Undated…
November 19, 2009
I'll be busy for a couple days when I'm off at University of Iowa, so I thought I'd leave this thread available for you to talk. Specifically, I'm interested in what you might be interested in seeing (or not seeing) on Eruptions. I've tried a number of features (Mystery Volcano Photo, Q&A,…
November 18, 2009
The latest news from the USGS/Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program Weekly Volcano Report ...
Highlights (not including Mayon) include:
Strombolian eruptions and small pyroclastic falls at Arenal in Costa Rica.
3 km / 10 000 foot ash plume from Bagana on Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea.…
November 18, 2009
It has been a slow week for volcano news (and a busy week for me), so I apologize for the abundance of MVPs this week. I've tried to find a good one in the many images submitted to me by Eruptions readers, and #15 is just one of those photos. If you have images you'd like to share with me for MVP…
November 16, 2009
Well, now that Lockwood got #13 on the first try, I will have to reach back into my vault to attempt to find a stumper ...
Current Standings:
Don Crain - 2
gijs - 2
volcanista - 1
Lockwood - 1
Elizabeth - 1
Ralph - 1
Anne - 1
Cam - 1
gg - 1
The Bobs - 1
Boris Behncke - 1
Good luck.
November 16, 2009
Busy week leading up to Thanksgiving for me, with a talk to give later in the week and quizzes a plenty!
The Mystery Volcano Photo series has a couple clear frontrunners now, with both Don Crain and Gijs with multiple points.
Current Standings:
Don Crain - 2
gijs - 2
volcanista - 1
Elizabeth - 1…
November 13, 2009
Just a note to all my readers: I've discovered today that Gmail has been eating (sending to the Spam folder) a significant amount of emails I've received to eruptionsblog gmail.com. This includes some of the questions submitted to Dr. Behncke (and other emails I'm sure) and comments pending on the…
November 13, 2009
We've arrived at Friday. The local time is 8:45 A.M. Set your watches accordingly.
Batur, Indonesia
Some news!
More evacuations have been authorized near Mayon as the volcano continues to show signs of significant eruption. Activity has quieted some since Tuesday's explosion, but PHIVOLC still…
November 11, 2009
Mayon volcano in Albay province, Philippines.
Yesterday, Mayon in the Philippines, which has been showing signs that it might be headed towards a significant eruption, produced an ash plume that reached as high as 3.5 km / 12,000 feet according to some reports. Evacuations of villages near the…
November 11, 2009
The volcanoes of Italy must have known that Dr. Boris Behncke would be in the Q&A spotlight here at Eruptions because three have shown signs of new activity over the last week. Here is a quick summary based on information from Dr. Behncke and Sonia Calvari of IGVN.
Etna erupting in 1989. Image…
November 10, 2009
Geologic and structural map showing the extent of the Campi Flegrei caldera on the north of the Bay of Naples, Italy. Image courtesy of INGV.
One of the writing assignments I always enjoyed in high school was the "compare and contrast". You could sit back and look for stylistic differences between…
November 8, 2009
Alright, there has been some complaints that the last few MVPs have been too easy, so I tried to reach back and find one that might be more of a challenge for you all. Maybe this photo will do the trick ...
Current standings:
Don Crain - 2
volcanista - 1
Elizabeth - 1
Ralph - 1
gijs - 1
Anne - 1…
November 6, 2009
It seems like I've been stepping on a lot of people's toes lately, so in an effort to foster more camaraderie and less belligerence between the "old media" (this is not derogatory, but rather refers to anything pre-internet news source or classic journalistic source) and "new media" (this includes…
November 6, 2009
Piton de la Fournaise erupting on November 5, 2009. Image by Julian Balboni in Clicanoo.
Eruptions reader Richard Oliver pointed out to me that Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island erupted (in french) on Thursday night. The volcano produced at least two lava flows that reached the ocean flowed…
November 5, 2009
The latest of volcano news from around the world, brought to you by the USGS and Smithsonian Institute Global Volcanism Program (and especially Sally Kuhn Sennert!)
Highlights this week include:
Karangetang in Indonesia produced a couple 3 km/10,000 foot steam-and-ash plumes according to reports…
November 5, 2009
Lava flows from the 2005 Mando Hararo eruption in Ethiopia.
Alright, I had been attempting to ignore this story because it was, well, a little uninteresting at first, but it apparently has legs so I will tackle it.
Slashdot has a post proclaiming:
'Volcanic activity may split the African continent…
November 4, 2009
You know, we haven't had an MVP in a couple weeks. Let's remedy that!
Current standings:
volcanista - 1
Elizabeth - 1
Ralph - 1
gijs - 1
Anne - 1
Cam - 1
gg - 1
The Bobs - 1
Boris Behncke - 1
Don Crain - 1
Here's MVP #11 ... good luck!
November 4, 2009
Just a reminder ...
Etna erupting in November 2002.
If you have any questions for Dr. Boris Behncke, who runs Italy's Volcanoes along with the volcanology page for the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania, please send them in to me at
. I've got some good question…
November 3, 2009
There have been a number of articles floating around the popular press for the last week that I thought I would touch on briefly ... always fun to decipher the real news from the hype.
Active fumaroles on Datun Mountain in Taipei.
An article out of the Taipei Times suggests that the city of…
November 1, 2009
All the news to start the week:
Galeras with a grey ash-and-steam plume behind Pasto, Colombia.
Well, after my article on Friday about Colombian volcanoes, Galeras must have decided it was left out. The volcano has been placed back at alert level Orange/II (eruption in days to weeks). An increase…
October 30, 2009
There has been news over the last few days of a number of volcanoes in Colombia, so I thought I'd try to gather it up here:
The steaming summit of Nevado del Huila in Colombia
Nevado del Huila has been ramping up its ash emissions, potentially pointing towards new eruptions from the crater dome.…