lava flows
eklemetti | March 26, 2010Alright, I'm actually in Wisconsin right now for a wedding, but this was too cool to pass up ... the folks from the NASA Earth Observatory sent me this image (Natural-color, 10m/pixel) from the Advanced Land Imager aboard EO-1 of the Eyjafjallajokull-Fimmvörduháls eruption, both taken on March 24, 2010.
The Fimmvörduháls eruption in Iceland, taken March 24, 2010. Image courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory. Click on the image for a larger version.
You can clearly see the flow heading down the drainage to the east, slowly snaking down the snow covered area. I think the steam plume on far…
eklemetti | March 24, 2010
The fissure vent eruption near Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland. Image by Ãorsteinn Gunnarsson, March 22, 2010.
It has been hard to keep up with the flood of news from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption in Iceland. Eruptions readers have done a good job with getting new images, videos and info up as they happen, so you might want to peruse the comments for those sorts of tidbits (along with discussion of what might be happening).
Here is the latest:
The eruption at Fimmvörduháls (considering the eruption is actually occurring between the ice caps) could last weeks to months, which isn't too…
eklemetti | March 15, 2010The latest in my Volcano Profiles series, this one on Erta Ale in Ethiopia.
The summit crater at Erta Ale in 1994
Location: The Afar region of Ethiopia.
Height: 613 m / 2,011 feet
Tectonic setting: Erta Ale (meaning "smoking mountain") is part of the East African Rift, where the African Continent is tearing apart along a seam that runs from the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden (two other arms of the rift themselves) south through eastern Africa. Many of the large lakes of eastern Africa such as Lakes Albert, Tanganyika, Nyasa and Kariba fill rift valleys created by the cracking of the continental plate…
eklemetti | February 25, 2010The flu has retreated and I'm getting back on track. Huzzah!
I'll get back to the blog by posting this week's new USGS / Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program Weekly Volcano Report. Looks like some interesting stuff in it ...
Looks like there were some small eruptions from Oldoinyo Lengai in Tanzania. The volcano is one of the few (only active?) carbonatite volcanoes in the world, erupting a lava composed primarily of calcium carbonate and sodium minerals with very little silica. It leads to the odd lava that erupt black (and cool ~ 500C) and cool to white, making it one of the…
eklemetti | February 10, 2010News for the snowy (well, here) midweek:
Lava flows from Kilauea surround an old structure at Royal Gardens in Hawai`i.
A hearty thanks to all the Eruptions readers who offered advice on where to find a couple of great volcano videos I've been trying to track down. I think I've found copies I can get a hold of at the USGS and discovered that Discover Your Northwest (formerly the NW Interpretative Assoc.) is expecting to get a DVD version of one of the videos this spring.
The folks at the Astronomy Picture of the Day put up this great image of strombolian eruptions and lightning at…
eklemetti | January 20, 2010Quick news updates for a Wednesday...
The island (and volcano) of Gran Canaria in the Atlantic Ocean. It last erupted in ~20 B.C.
The earthquakes keep coming at Yellowstone - up to a M3.5 in the last 24 hours. Time has already put up an article wondering about whether people need worry about the swarm (there might be other things to worry about before this swarm). YVO's statement on the earthquake swarm seems pretty standard (as it should be): "At this time the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory does not consider the swarm to be unusual and the earthquakes are likely related to tectonic fault…
eklemetti | January 14, 2010The weekly volcano report, brought to you by our friends at the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program and the U.S. Geological Survey.
Highlights (not including Mayon, Nyamuragira and Turrialba):
Eruptions continue at Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island - heck, this would be the volcano news if it wasn't for all these other, more explosive systems getting in the way. Lava fountains, flows and pools were the order of the day in the SW Dolomieu crater until the 12th of January.
Chaiten in Chile continues to chug along - block-and-ash flows were seen and ash plumes continue to emanate from…
eklemetti | January 13, 2010Somehow I haven't posted a bunch of interesting items collected over the last few weeks, so I need to catch up. A pre-emptive hat tip to everyone who has sent me links or notes that might seem familiar in this post.
Tungurahua in Ecuador erupting in 2000.
First off, those of you looking for information on the Haitian earthquake that devastated the capitol Port Au Prince, Highly Allochthonous has post on the tectonics of the quake. Right now, it is hard for me to come up with a worse location in terms of devastation for a quake to have hit in the Caribbean Basin.
Back in volcano news, a lot…
eklemetti | January 6, 2010Two volcanoes down, two volcanoes up!
Fire fountain on Nyamuragira in the Congo, January 2010.
Down
Mayon
Activity at Mayon has continues to drop - although PHIVOLCS warns that an eruption could happen at any moment and without much warning. About a quarter of the evacuated families have no returned home since PHIVOLCS gave the OK to return home on January 2 - but Philippine officials are still on alert in case evacuations have to be reinstated.
Redoubt
The resurgent Redoubt is no long ... er ... resurging? AVO lowered the alert status to Green - meaning normal/background levels of activity…
eklemetti | January 3, 2010A pile of news for the new week!
The glow of new lava flows from Nyamuragira in the Congo, taken from the Virunga Park Headquarters, January 2, 2010.
Mayon
PHIVOLCS may lower the alert status at Mayon to Level 2 after almost a week of lower seismicity and no ash explosions since December 29th. Schools that were being used as evacuation centers were also returned to teachers and students for the start of classes after the Christmas holiday. However, the Albay provincial government is now considering a plan to permanently move everyone who lives within the 6-km danger zone around Mayon, even…
eklemetti | January 2, 2010It didn't take long in the new year to get started!
Nymuragira erupting in January 2010.
Nyamuragira in the Congo erupted to start off the new year, producing explosions and lava flows. The flow are moving down the southern flank of the volcano. The eruption started with loud, concussive noises at 3:45 AM that startled rangers at the National Park that surround the volcanoes Nyamuragira and Nyiragongo. It appears that there was some part of the eruption that was either fire fountains or strombolian as the rangers describe the early events as "fire with sparks flying". The lava flows from…
eklemetti | December 31, 2009Here it is, my attempt to recap a year's worth of volcanic events. By no means is this supposed to capture every event, but rather the highlight/lowlights and what most captivated me during 2009. I'll be announcing the winner of the 2009 Pliny for Volcanic Event of the Year tomorrow.
Waimangu Geothermal Valley in New Zealand, taken in January 2009 by Erik Klemetti.
January
The year started out with a trip to New Zealand (well, for me at least) and vistas of the Waimangu Valley, formed in the 1886 eruption of Tarawera on the North Island. We were also still thinking about the late 2008…
eklemetti | December 28, 2009
Lava flows from Mayon, taken December 23, 2009.
Volcano news over the holidays this year is still focused on Mayon in the Philippines. We're reaching almost a month since the volcano starting showing signs of a major eruption, but no "big one" yet. Lava flows, ash and block-and-ash flows are continuing to be issued from the new dome at the summit, but earthquakes are down some - which is leading to the problem that people are thinking the volcano is "safe". Many evacuees are returning home already, even with the threat-level at Mayon is unchanged.
This danger of people losing faith/not…
eklemetti | December 16, 2009
Lava on Mayon, December 2009, with Legazpi City in the foreground.
The mainstream media has picked up on the activity at Mayon - I've seen it splashed across CNN, FoxNews, ABC, BBC and others. Most of the coverage has been decent, however, I do worry when I see that people have found Eruptions using search terms like "Mayon supervolcano". I think that is when we worry that the made-for-TV word like "supervolcano" has gotten a little overused, when people worry every volcanic eruption might be a "supervolcano."
On to the update!
Explosions have continued unabated at Mayon, with the explosive…
eklemetti | December 15, 2009
The new dome erupting at Mayon in the Philippines on December 14-15, 2009.
It appears that the eruption that PHIVOLCS had been waiting for at Mayon has arrived, with new magma reaching the surface and spilling down the slopes of the volcano. Or, as CNN International put it:
The island nation's most active volcano after it oozed fiery lava and belched clouds of ash.
People do love the idea of fiery, oozing lava, don't they?
Anyway, PHIVOLCS has raised the alert status at Mayon to Level 3 (eruption in days to weeks). This new activity has prompted the evacuation of at least 47,000 people in…
eklemetti | December 15, 2009
Piton de la Fournaise erupting on December 14, 2009. Image courtesy of the Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise.
A while back I reported on a brief eruption at Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island and now a number of Eruptions readers have pointed out to me that it has erupted again (french). Seems like a similar event to the previous, with fissure vent effusive flows on the southern and eastern slopes of the shield volcano.
Here is the report from Guillaume Levieux of the Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise:
Piton de la Fournaise volcano erupted Monday,…
eklemetti | December 10, 2009A new Weekly Volcano Report from the Smithsonian GVP/USGS ... enjoy!
Highlights include:
There has been a number of reports of new activity at Llaima in Chile (hat tip to Eruptions reader Manuel Humeres for bringing them to us). Most of the current activity is steam-and-gas plumes along with long-period seismicity, suggesting we could be headed towards a new eruption.
Lava flows continue to erupt from Kliuchevskoi in Kamchatka, along with strombolian activity throwing ejecta up to 300 m / ~1000 feet above the crater.
Rabaul is busy shaking windows 20 km / 12 miles from the Tavurvur crater,…
eklemetti | November 11, 2009The 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 by Dr. Boris Behncke.
Etna
On November 6, Etna in Italy appears to have entered a new phase of activity. The volcano had not produced any explosive events since July 4, 2009, but since 11/6, Etna has experienced a series of deep-seated explosive events - some of which suggest there is a lava lake…
eklemetti | November 1, 2009All 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 in seismicity and sulfur dioxide emissions (in spanish) prompted INGEOMINAS to put Galeras back on higher alert, but now the country has two volcanoes (Galeras and Huila) that could be erupting in the near future.
Back in the Philippines, there is new evidence that Mayon has a new dome forming at…
eklemetti | October 28, 2009I'll be giving a talk this afternoon here at Denison on rhyolite generation, so I might be a little brief this morning.
Undated image of Mayon in the Philippines.
The province of Albay in the Philippines is on alert for both a typhoon and a volcano (that country seems to be hit with that 300,000 may need to be ready to evacuate if the volcano continues to show signs that it might erupt - in fact, Mayon is producing ash as of this morning, albeit only one minor ash explosion.
Lava flows from Kilauea are drawing crowds as they inundate a road in Kalapana. There is a nice video link to the…