Satellite images
eklemetti | October 27, 2008Sorry about the dearth of posts. It has been a busy week here in Davis and I've been a little distracted by the upcoming election. Combined with the relative lack of volcano news this week, the posting has been lackluster.
However, that being said, I will try to make up for some of it by starting my Volcano Profiles series that will bide the time between volcano news. I start with a volcano that was suggested by Eruptions reader Thomas Donlon: Rabaul.
VOLCANO PROFILE: RABAUL
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Location:Â Papau New Guinea
Height: 688 m
Geophysical location:Â Boundary of Australian plate and Pacific…
eklemetti | October 13, 2008
On Sunday afternoon, a large ash eruption occurred at Halemaumau Caldera at Kilauea. Not only did the volcano belch more grey ash than usual, but also red-hot incandescent material can be clearly seen being thrown from the vent during the vigorous eruption. The coolest thing about the eruption is that it was all caught on film by the USGS/HVO. Take a look (at three times speed) - this video is from the morning of October 12, but there are a series of video from the whole weekend on the website.
eklemetti | September 7, 2008
I wanted to post the new MODIS image of Chaiten that caught the volcano erupting on September 3. I won't go into too much details, there are a lot of great updates over on the Volcanism Blog, but needless to say, the volcano is still very active, producing tall ash columns (you can see the ash blanket around the volcano in the image above as the plume drifts off to the northwest), earthquakes and pyroclastic flows as the dome in the caldera continues to grow. I'll be interested to see what geologists know about the eruption and volcano when the AGU meeting rolls around in December as there…
eklemetti | August 14, 2008
This article sums up a lot of the events that led up to the Kasatochi (Alaska) eruption last week from the point of view of the biologists on the island itself right before it erupted. There are some great descriptions of the whole island shaking for 10 minutes, and they also offer some exciting new details such as this:
"Jeff Williams, a biologist for the maritime refuge, sailed by the island on the refuge boat the Tiglax and said the island has a new shape; what were steep cliffs rising from the ocean on the island's east and west sides now appear to be long, gradual slopes."
That would…
eklemetti | August 14, 2008
I'll be brief (as I'm in the middle of moving), but I did see a report that activity at Chaiten is increasing yet again. This seems like the operating mode for this volcano, with a waxing and waning of intensity, since the volcano started erupting on May 2. The latest report indicates renewed ash emissions producing an ash column that reaches ~20,000 feet (4,000 meters), with ash falling on nearby areas. There is also mention of some increased seismic activity at the Chilean caldera. The picture above shows the extent of the mobilized ash and volcanic debris that has wiped out much of the…
eklemetti | August 13, 2008
NASA posted a nice image of the ash plume from the current eruption at Kasatochi (Alaska) showing the brown/grey ash mixing with white clouds over the Pacific. Not much else to report on the eruption other than that AVOÂ reported that seismicity remained low from August 10-12.
eklemetti | August 11, 2008
The current eruption at Kasatochi is causing a lot of flight cancellations for flights from Alaska to points in the continental US. The ash is swirling its way around the Aleutians along flight lanes (see above), with the ash drifting southeast over the Alaska Panhandle and could hamper air travel in Alaska and Canada for days according to the USGS (although Alaska Air says it might start flying again later today). As for the eruption itself, not much new news beyond the initial impression that the volcano went from quiet to explosively erupting to produce at 35,000 foot (~10,000 meter) ash…
eklemetti | August 8, 2008
Just a quick update if you haven't been following the discussion: Kasatochi volcano in the Aleutians is now listed in "Red Alert" as it is erupting (see image above). Not many details beyond the typical description of ash columns, in this case reaching 45,000 feet, which is a pretty decent height. The Coast Guard warns of pumice rafts from the eruption, but it is hard to tell if it because they exist, or that it is just the generic warning for any eruption at sea. The two USFS biologists were evacuated before the eruption.
Edit 8/8/08: I'll add a link to the official USGS Press Release on…
eklemetti | July 25, 2008
The Alaska Volcano Observatory is reporting that both current eruptions in the Aleutians - at Okmok Caldera and Mount Cleveland - are showing signs of a lava extruding from the vent. Thermal anomalies have been imaged at the vents of both volcanoes, although no lava has been seen thus far. Both volcanoes continues to emit ash and steam.
The news that lava is erupting isn't really shocking (it is a volcano, you know). Many times, these eruptions begin with a "throat-clearing" phase of ash and volcanic debris being erupted from the vent. If the magma is still rising after these initial…
eklemetti | June 4, 2008
If you needed any evidence that Chaiten is still erupting quite vigorously, just check out the MODIS image taken on 5/31 (above). The eruptive column is still delivering ash across southern Chile, over the Andes and into Argentina. This eruption just keeps on impressing me with its duration and magnitude - this is one for the ages (well, human ages).
eklemetti | May 26, 2008
I'm always amazed by the number of volcanic eruptions captured by satellites that we might not have ever even had known occurred otherwise. Case in point is Rabaul on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. An Aqua satellite captured this shot of Rabaul erupting on May 20th, leaving a gorgeous plume heading off into the Pacific. Sure, most likely someone might have noticed the eruption, but its good to see that we can find eruptions going on even when we're not really looking.
Rabaul is a caldera volcano that is most famous for the simultaneous eruptions of Vulcan and Tavurvur in 1994…
eklemetti | May 16, 2008
The latest eruption at Kilauea has increased the amount of vog on the big island of Hawai'i. Vog is more or less the same as the anthropogenic "smog" produced by car/industrial exhaust, but produced by volcanic gases (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide amongst others). It definitely doesn't make for good air quality, especially with the current lack of strong tradewinds in Hawai'i right now.
eklemetti | May 12, 2008
I've been trying to keep up with the Chaiten eruption in Chile, but the news is just beginning to sound like a broken record: eruption continues, ash falls, don't know much else. However, it does sound like Chile is being realistic about people's chances of moving back to the town of Chaiten - 10 km from the vent(s) - in the near future ... and those chances are zero to none. This doesn't entirely surprise me. If the town isn't already buried, when the pyroclastic flows do start, whether they be from the collapse of the the eruptive column or from the vents themselves, the town will be…
eklemetti | May 6, 2008NASA captured this great image of the ash plume from Chaiten, which has reached 15-km into the atmosphere.
Following this eruption, I'm sure there will be a lot of work into why no one had any clue an eruption of this magnitude was about to occur.