Things are busy - both volcanically and personally - so I'm going to just give you some links to a bunch of exciting/interesting/insane news:
West Mata erupting on May 5, 2009 in the Lau Basin.
- According to a bunch of news sources, the eruption at Fernandina in the Galapagos is over (in spanish). That being said, the PNG noted that there is still a lot of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide being emitted, suggesting there is still a lot of degassing magma beneath the vents - at what depth (and will it erupt) is the question.
- There is a lot of speculation that Nyiragongo (DRC) is erupting or will erupt very soon. The other day it seemed that it was already in action, but other reports suggest that so far, all we have is intense tremor and fumarolic activity and "pools of lava"... so, that actually sounds like an eruption. The biggest threat here would be to the city of Goma, which has a population of nearly half a million.
- Eruptions reader Graham noticed that things are beginning to pick up at Veniaminof in the Aleutians. Nothing more than increased seismicity so far, but definitely something to keep an eye on in the coming days. Veni has had a number of small eruptions over the last few years.
- Eruptions reader Bruce Stout left a great resource link as a comment yesterday, but I thought it deserved to be in a post itself: an interactive map of the active volcanoes of Indonesia. The information here rivals the GVP in terms of Indonesian volcanoes - great what you (well, Bruce) can find on the web sometimes.
- Two of my former colleagues - Ed Kohut (OSU) and Beth Dushman (UC Davis) - sent me links about the recently discovered ongoing submarine eruption in the Lau Basin near the Mariana Islands. The volcano in question is called West Mata (not even listed in the GVP) and the scientists on the dive (from Woods Hole) has seen "pillow lavas, pyroclastic (magmatic gas breaks apart the lava) and phreatic (lava flows over water which turns into steam which breaks apart the rock) events." Lots of great images and descriptions on the blog for that research cruise.
- Eruptions reader Anne Cotton sent me a link for a somewhat questionable new sport: boarding down an active volcano. Specifically, the volcano in question is Cerro Negro in Nicaragua. I'll leave it to you, the readers, to decide if climbing up - and hurtling down - an actively erupting volcano is, well, a good idea (although apparently 10,000 people have done it already.)
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Boarding down Cerro Negro sounds like a tropical latitudes version of extreme volcano ski-ing; there's a site for that sport which has a lot of interesting volcano info as a by-product:
http://www.skimountaineer.com/ROF/RingOfFire.html
Thanks for the kudos Erik, cheers!!
The real glory of course should go to whoever it is at indahnesia.com who put so much work into the site. They've really gone out of their way to research it all, no easy task when you look at the sheer number of volcanos there, dwarfs everything else by comparison.
Gee, sliding down a volcano makes about as much sense as highmarking on a snowmobile. You know, that sport where you see if you can trigger an avalanche, then seem surprised when you do? Is winning a Darwin Award worth the trouble?
On the other hand, is 'cinder-surfing' down Cerro Negro (which is not currently erupting AFAIK) any more dangerous than skiing down Villarica or Ruapehu?
People ski on volcanoes in New Zealand too ;-) At least, North Islanders do.
This is really incredible! Excellent video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5j4nAVZAJw
Unquestionably agree with blogger. At last someone gets the balls to tell it like it is.
Hey that's an amazing insight on the subject, thanks so much! never heard it more clear.
Almost all that is on my mind is smoking cigarettes. I do not wish to take a hit and if perhaps someone offered a cigarette right this minute, I will not accept. I am in a pretty dreadful emotional state and have been having trouble resting but yet I realize I will need to be tough. The e cigarettes may make it easier in the end.
Not bad. Some more detail would be even better.
magnificent! thanks a bunch towards the info, i will keeping it in the mind the very next time
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