White Island
eklemetti | January 1, 2009
Right as Yellowstone is getting interesting (or at least had signs of interest), Eruptions is going on a bit of a break again starting January 2. This time it is because I'm off to the North Island of New Zealand to do some field work. I'll be headed to Tarawera (hopefully both the 1305 and 1886 eruption deposits), Taupo, Tongariro, the area around Rotorua and maybe even White Island (amongst other). I won't have my MacBook, but I will have my iPod Touch, so I'll try to keep track and make brief posts if something big comes up, but feel free to use this post as a clearinghouse for any news…
eklemetti | June 14, 2008
Just a quick update for today (busy watching Red Sox vs. Reds, sorry, that is my other love: baseball). New reports concerning White Island suggest that an eruption is not imminent. Although there have been earthquakes nearby, whether or not they could directly lead to an eruption is unclear, but it sounds like geologists in New Zealand on trying to be cautious. This is the fun/challenge of predicting and monitoring volcanoes - the signs might be there, but you never know if the signs are all leading the same way.
eklemetti | June 13, 2008
Authorities in New Zealand have issued an alert for White Island. After a fairly sizable earthquake (M=5.4) near the island, the state agency that oversees volcanoes (GNS Science) is warning people to stay away from White Island for the next 48-72 hours on fears it might erupt. Normally, just because there is an earthquake near a volcano you don't instantly jump to the idea that it will erupt, but the 5.4 and subsequent earthquakes have been both near White Island and shallow (5-km depth), indicating it could very well be related to magma moving under the system.Â
White Island itself is a…