Sakurajima

Tuesday Tidbits: EyjafjallajÃ¶kull, Yasur, mud on Mars and more

eklemetti — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:12:24 +0000

Tuesday Tidbits: EyjafjallajÃ¶kull, Yasur, mud on Mars and more

Finally, a chance to catch up a bit ... !

Yasur erupting in May of 2010.

Some news from the world of volcanoes:

The BBC has a series of videos one the fallout from the EyjafjallajÃ¶kull eruption - including a look at the area around the volcano and how the economy has been affected by the eruption. However, things seem pretty quiet at the summit of the EyjafjallajÃ¶kull summit where snow can begun to settle without melting - and the Icelandic Met Office appears to think that the eruption is more or less (but not officially) over. And take this press release as you will, but a recent study by a UK moving company (UniBaggage.com) claims that parents moving their children off to university each fall release twice as much CO₂ than the EyjafjallajÃ¶kull eruption.
Most people think of volcanoes being bad for the economy, but in places like Vanuatu, volcanoes are vital to the local economy, thanks to a consistently active volcano. Yasur on Tanna Island is visited by tourists regularly - along with providing a source for fertile soil. The description of the visits are a bit, well, harrowing, but those are the risks if you're going to visit an erupting volcano.
There were some great new shots from space from the NASA Earth Observatory of two active volcanoes. The first is an image of the intensified activity at Sakurajima in Japan - complete with an impressive ash plume and ~~a pyroclastic flow heading to the south~~ steam-and-ash plume from a lower vent on the south flank. The second is an image of the new dome complex on Chaiten in Chile - and it looks pretty calm compared to when it started back in 2008 (when this blog got its start too). However, this is still a lot of the area covered with what looks like fresh ash, so the domes continue to intermittently coat the area with ash.
There was also an article on MSNBC that wasn't about magmatic volcanoes, but rather mud volcanoes ... on Mars no less. The region on the northern hemisphere called Acidalia Planitia appears to have a high concentration of features that look like terrestrial mud volcanoes. The article in Icarus suggests that there are potentially 40,000 mud volcanoes in the area that likely formed in early Amazonian times on Mars (over 1 billion years ago).

eklemetti Mon, 08/23/2010 - 22:12

The pic of Sakurajima may be mislabeled. The ash plume looks like it is emerging from the main crater while the so-called "pyroclastic flow" looks to me like steam emerging from the smaller Showa crater. That is my impression anyway.

It's interesting the fact that ChaitÃ©n is covered by snow, indicating a cooling of the dome. In the OVDAS site, Caldera camera (frozen for a long time), you can see the base of the dome with snow.

@Guillermo
Before the eruption, did ChaitÃ©n show a perennial icecap, or it just forms in winter (when not erupting)? Could melting mean an eruption at sight?

MÃla's cams showing a significant steam plume for the first time in days. Could that be related to recent EQ activity?
Wednesday
25.08.201003:32:2163.694-19.5581.1 km2.190.014.2 km WNW of BÃ¡sar
Wednesday
25.08.201003:32:2063.639-19.3661.1 km1.690.025.7 km W of GoÃ°abunga

just checked the ÃÃ³rÃ³lfsfelli cams. FLIR is back in action, and yes there is a steam plume again.

@Alastair:
FLIR is back, I forgot to mention. Have you tried the cam from Ãorvaldseyri? Contrast is now too sharp, but earlier you could neatly see the rising plume. Maybe the crater lake is boiling now.

All this recurring steaming would suggest (to me anyway) that water is not just sitting in the crater bowl but penetrates deeper and deeper into the mountain. Her next eruption could prove to be, erm..., "interesting".

Hello

After the strong earthquakes in recent days, the Galeras volcano erupted this morning in Columbia.

http://intranet.ingeominas.gov.co/pasto/P%C3%A1gina_Principal

Thanks, @Sherine:
I got this from El tiempo, Colombia:
"The eruptive event occurred in the early hours of Wednesday, after which the alert level was raised from orange to red indicating that another eruption could be recorded in minutes, therefore she reiterated the call for residents to attend to shelters. According to Dr. Martha Calvache, deputy director of Ingeominas, the incident happened around 4:00 am and the organization and the state is monitoring the volcano.
The signal of the Galeras has lasted for nearly an hour, one of the largest that have occurred in the area, as added Calvache."
www.eltiempo.com

They say that although weather conditions at the site are good, yet they don't know the kind of material extruded from the volcano.
www.elespectador.com

#8 Link for the Galeras web cam:
http://intranet.ingeominas.gov.co/pasto/Imagen_en_l%C3%ADnea

Thanks, @Renato for the link

I found another interesting link

http://www.vulkaner.no/v/volcan/galeras-e.html

I get the feeling that Galeras could turn nasty since the residents flat out refuse to go to shelters with the words "nothing will ever happen"...

Erik just opened a thread for Galeras. I'll paste your comments over there.

Light from the moon makes the steam plume visible during the night tonight.

April 18 photos of Eyja. I found while looking for photos of glacier Ok. The photographer just happened to be on the spot, shooting clothing company ads. Is the second photo (looking down into the snow-coated cone) a photo of Eyja.?
http://www.partytow.com/e/?p=7922

Hello
Last news from Galeras, but I do not see this report on the site Ingeominas :
August 26th, 2010
This morning the alert-level was reduced to ORANGE.
Seismic activity went on for about 12 hours after the eruptive at 4 AM local time, but intensity
was redused during the day. However, another seismic event happended again late afternoon, similar
to the one at 4 AM. Ashfall is reported within 30 km from the crater, and there are possiblilities
that a new crater has opened up. Up to 3.000 tonns sulfur dioxide up to 400m above the top was partly
visible duringthe day. Of the 8.000 inhabitants to be evacuated, most of them refuse to live their homes
so far. Magma is still floating near the opening, and therefore reason to be prepared for new intensity.
Source : http://www.vulkaner.no/v/volcan/galeras-e.html

I read this at RÃV News, but not quite sure of what it means:
"New cracks were found in some of Sprengisandur up, but they are believed to have formed in the spring. PÃ¡ll Einarsson, mineral physicists believe cracked delayed by attacks by the eruption under VatnajÃ¶kull GjÃ¡lp in 1996. " (Google translated)
http://www.ruv.is/frettaskyringar/innlendar-frettir/nyjar-sprungur-a-sp…

Two of the Mila cams are down now, so I went exploring and found that Weather Underground has a satellite view that might be useful, if Eyja. becomes active again. I had to zoom and drag the map to find the glacier with Eyja.
http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?lat=64.12999725&lon=-21.89999962…

Below the map is a slider that will give you animation if moved to the right, for more frames. Unfortunately, I didn't think of using this site during the eruption, and I'm not sure how useful it would be. I do use the radar images when a storm is predicted for my location, to see how fast it's approaching. The image refreshes perhaps twice an hour.

Looking at Wunderground for Catania Italy, I can see many small craters after zooming and dragging to Mt. Etna. Some craters have black around them (ash?).
http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?lat=37.47000122&lon=15.05000019&…

Erik: Just saw the Nasa image of Chaiten, too bad the Chilean webcam has been inoperative since 6/20. I started reading about volcanoes when your blog started (and Chaiten erupted). Congrats on the great work.

I love your site lol

Monday Musings: KVERT in trouble again, the volcano takes on a general (and Top Gear) ... and more!

eklemetti — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:51:32 +0000

Monday Musings: KVERT in trouble again, the volcano takes on a general (and Top Gear) ... and more!

News!

The summit crater lake at Gorely in Russia, taken on June 21, 2010. Image courtesy of KVERT.

Eruptions readers have been abuzz about how KVERT will be closing shop (yet again) at the end of June. This would, of course, leave no local monitoring and expertise in the very active Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands in Russia. Right now Shiveluch and Gorely are both showing signs of increased eruption (along with other volcanoes in the arc). In fact, Gorely, which hasn't erupted since 1986, looks primed to have an eruption, with increased tremors, steam-and-gas emissions and a new summit vent (discovered on June 17). That being said, we can hope that someone/country smartens up again and helps fund the vital activities of KVERT.
I brought this up subtly last week, but there has been a lot of print (pixels?) used on the idea that General Stanley McChrystal - who recently lost his position as the head of the Central Command in charge of Afghanistan - can blame it on the EyjafjallajÃ¶kull eruption and the ensuing air travel disruptions. Sure, it is no "Iceland turning Christian", but it is always interesting to see the unpredictable results of a volcanic eruption.
Speaking of EyjafjallajÃ¶kull, Eruptions reader Chris brought us a link to the segment from the BBC's hit show Top Gear (video) shot on the erupting Icelandic volcano (during the fissure vent stage). Amusing stuff, mostly for the audacity of it all.
I found this short piece of volcano tourism at Miyakejima in Japan. Much like Sakurajima, this volcano is relatively active, with small eruptions every year since a VEI 3 eruption (and caldera collapse) in 2000.
Photovolcanica has posted a couple new collections of recent eruptive activity - a set from Yasur in Vanuatu, showing the impressive strombolian activity this spring and (of course) more from EyjafjallajÃ¶kull.

eklemetti Mon, 06/28/2010 - 03:51

http://roflrazzi.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/386eab57-4ffa-4d1a-802d-99…

Gee it's quiet out here! : ) Thanks for the news and Eyja summary, Erik, and for the cartoon, parclair.

Did anyone see Fireman on Thorocam on Sunday? Looks like a renewal of activity on the Tjornes Fracture zone.

Guess all eyes are on the Gulf and tropical storm/hurricane. Heavy thunderstorms and tornado warnings in Upstate (southern tier) NY, very hot & humid.

Right, we had another good rattle, just shy of mag 3, about 25mi due W, in the wee hours this morning.

However, I've been experiencing definite L-waves, just barely perceptible as local gravity is perturbed by the passing of these slow waves. They passed through twice today, lasting about 20-min each time.

The last time I felt these waves for an extended period of time was 2004.

I think Lurking was right, they are deep slow waves, and we're getting a lot of them. I did some plotting of EQ locations for the last decade for the PNW, with a subgrouping for years that were particularly 'busy': 2004, 2007-8, and it looks like 2010 will be another active year. Interestingly, there are distinctive patterns that suggest terrane block interaction in the northern cascades, with a centroid close to Chelan, Entiat and the Methow Valley.

What is interesting is that this area (Cascades fault arc) is said to have produced the largest inland shake in the PNW (estimated between 7.8 and 8.6) in 1872.

It makes me wonder if we are due up for a larger rattle, ~ mag 5-6 in the Lake Chelan area. We've already had 3 quakes in the immediate location of the 1872 quake this year.

There is quite a bit of recent home development activity in these deeply incised valleys in the foot hills of the Cascades, mostly the Microsoft execs and various well-to-do, feeling very-owed early retired baby boomers from NoCal and Oregon, who have very large, plush homes perched in *very* precarious locations on the steep valley hillsides.

I hope they have earthquake insurance.

Passerby, I tried to find information on that quake zone, but have had no luck (I've relatives in Colville). Is there another name for the fault(s) in the area? Would a quake the size of 1872 affect the Grand Coulee Dam? Thnx

@parclair

Not sure if this is what you are after, but:

earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsus/Maps/US10/42.52.-125.-115.php

covers the Pacific Northwest, and includes the Cascadia Subduction Zone and Mt Ranier area.

I still have no idea if there is an instrumented slow quake sensor available on the Inet thing-a-ma-bob

@Lurking. I was wondering if there's a name other than 'Cascades fault arc" The closest I could get is puget sound faults (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_Sound_faults), but nothing to the east of there where the towns and lake you named are located.

Hmm... If you use Google Earth, the USGS has a really nice plug-in that gives you a graphic of the Quantenary Fault Maps.

Example, 51 miles east of Seattle is the Straight Creek fault running N/S (roughly)Under Seattle propper is the Seattle fault zone, several of those E/W faults cross under Puget sound. South of the Strait Creek set are the Frenchman Hills complex... all sorts of stuff. I'd post a graphic but I fiddled with my plug-in so that all the faults are black so I can make out other features... such as the Quake dots. (things got busy with all the yellows and reds)

If a quake set from the RSS feed gets my interest, or you guys start jumping up and down about an event (not a slam, I jump up and down too), I look at the realtime quake plug in in Google Earth: earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/catalogs/eqs7day-age.kmz

And then look at the faults:

The USGS plug-ins:

earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/qfaults/google.php

Historic - Most recent, known movement less than about 150 years

Holocene to Latest Pleistocene - Younger than 15,000 years

Late Quaternary - Younger than 130,000 years

Mid to Late Quaternary - Younger than 750,000 years

Quaternary - Younger than 1,600,000 years

And if I find a fault complex that might be responsible or related to it, I poke around over at www.data.scec.org/index.html too see what I can learn.. mainly the sub-page: www.data.scec.org/fault_index/alphadex.html where the faults are listed by name and have a nice description of it.

The downside is that a lot of seismic networks have data that don't make it into the USGS list... such as Iceland. But at least Iceland has a decent web interface that I can scrape data off of for plot generation. Other countries seem have have made it as onerous as possible to pull data like that. (lots and lots of markup and no neat table layout).

Hope this helps.

I can't get at the set of technical papers I had at one time that defined and described the northern arc of faults, used to map geological risks for the Grand Coulee dam and Columbia Basin Federal Irrigation Project.

North Cascades region geology

www.dnr.wa.gov/ResearchScience/Topics/GeologyofWashington/Pages/ncascad…

No, Grand Coulee isn't at risk. Unfortunately, the long-wave seismograph instrument, located in the base of the dam was pulled around 2003 due to program funding cuts. The USGS folks were not happy campers, as it was part of a sparsely populated array for detection of deep movements. The dampening isolation in the base of the dam was exceptionally good.

After 2001, tasked with identifying all types of outstanding risk to agency physical infrastructure, we were particularly interested in the faults that run through the area where the flood basalts uncomfortably overlie the ancient granites, north of Grand Coulee and with surficial faults and erosional features within the flood basalts of the Columbia Basin south of Grand Coulee to the base of the project (near the Tri-cities). Accordingly much time was spent in discussion with the USGS Portland and Tacoma Offices, Seattle USACE and USBRs two area geologists before they retired.

My apologies, www.data.scec.org only covers SoCal.

I mis-spokenated...

@ Passerby... since you appear to be a denizen of the great Pacific Northwest...

You wouldn't happen to know the whereabouts of a recent INSAR/ISAR image covering the Washington/Oregon area would you? (you know, the funky rainbow graphics showing ground movement between two satellite passes) I think it might be handy to see where the potential event areas are at.. or to see the end result of silent quakes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8767763.stm

Looks like the magnetic field/gravity and maybe the sun has some effect on volcanoes after all? Check out indonesia and iceland!

OT but still about INSAR; Imagery of the end result of the Mex Shaker.

www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/UAVSARimage20100623.html

Some news on the FimmvÃ¶rduhÃ¡ls eruption (the first in Iceland this year):
I don't remember if anyone mentioned it already here, but the new craters have now names: They are called Magni and MÃ³di after the sons of Thor (the volcanoes are located close to ThÃ³rsmÃ¶rk, hence the names). The new lavafield is called Godahraun, since the area, where its flowing over is called Godaland.

In this lavafield a woman suffered severe burns, when she picked up some rocks yesterday and the turned to be glowing hot inside. There are as well some reports on people, who managed to melt their aluminium walking sticks, when the put them in cracks.
There was a photo in morgunbladid, which shows still red glowing cracks: http://mbl.is/mm/frettir/popup/mynd.html?imgid=535107

Two articles in English, about the burned hand http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=29314&ew_… and about the SkaftÃ¡ flood http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=16567&ew_…

No, sorry, don't know of specific INSAR projects to measure seismic wave propagation on a broadly regional scale. One barrier would be allocating project time on a satellite for conducting such a study. Has been used on a much smaller scale to observe uplift, along with GPS for various Cascade volcanoes.

hello too all :))

Im wondering on a little something,.

the hotspots on GigjÃ¶kull,what are they?? are they hot melt water, or are they cracks with still molten rock inside, as shown on the pictures from fimmvÃ¶rdurhals??
Its amazing that lava can be still molten and hot so long after the eruption..
How can it still be in its flowing state when its so long ago??

@Kultsi (#13)

Two articles in English, about the burned hand ...

And roasting chestnuts. www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/142115/Top-Gear-clown-James-May-burns-pri…

More pictures here!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1290776/Northern-Lights-…

@8 Passerby:much reference to Columbia arc in a free, downloadable pdf book entitled Continental Tectonics published by Geophysics Study Committee, Geophysics Research Board, Assembly of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, National Research Council available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/25047453/Education-Geology-and-Geophysics-E-B…

Fireman was up there briefly, but not at the webcam site - turns out that's 500M / 1500ft up a hill and there's no road access. Schedule was too tight for me to make the climb. Did get some very high-res shots; watch this space!

#15 I just checked the melting point for aluminum: 660.32 Â°C,â1220.58 Â°F . Think of more than sixty days have gone, and it's still that hot!

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

âELECTRONIC GEOPHYSICAL YEAR:
STATE OF THE ART AND RESULTSâ

http://egy-russia.gcras.ru/index_new_e.html

=====================================

Result: Funding for KVERT?

????

Hey that's an amazing insight on the subject, thanks so much! never heard it more clear.

Look, if the toaster's broken, then it's fair game for stickin' your penis in. That's just the laws of common sense.

Bedbug dog appears strange to many people. A dog has been manâs best friend for ages. Dogs happen to have been used for a long time by military and law enforcement agencies to detect bombs, drugs and other things. You might have heard of bomb dogs, drug dogs, and arson dogs. But now the manâs best friend has launched an attack against bed bugs and is the new weapon in mans fight against these bugs. A bedbug dog is trained to detect the location of bed bugs in infested areas. Dogs can be handy for detecting or sniffing objects wherein they use their senses (usually nose) to locate the object for which they have been ?trained?. These congenial but accurate doggies know their work very well.

This is a good approach to what, for some, may be a controversial topic. Very well though out post. - There's always one more bug. Attributed to Lubarsky's Law of Cybernetic Entomology

Generating income on the web always is troublesome at the begining however Its those that stick to it that succeed. - Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter. Mark Twain 1835 1910

A issue close to my heart cheers, i've been thinking about about this subject for some time.

Sakurajima can't keep its top on, sets new record

eklemetti — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 03:11:52 +0000

Sakurajima can't keep its top on, sets new record

Sakurajima in Japan erupting in 2000.

Sometimes, it is the volcanoes that erupt out of the blue that get all the attention, leaving the ones that are constant producers to be ignored by the fawning media. Sakurajima in Japan is just one of those constant erupting volcanoes that doesn't get its just due. Well, over the weekend, Sakurajima broke its own record as it produced its 549th explosive event this year - in June no less - marking the most explosions (video) in a single year at the volcano on record. The previous record for most explosive eruptions in a single year at Sakurajima was 548 set all of last year (2009). The eruptions of Sakurajima so far in 2010 tend are believe to have released over 3 million tonnes of ash - however, the volcano observatory near Sakurajima doesn't think that this activity is leading to a large explosive eruption - instead they just warn "watch out for large rocky ash falling in surrounding areas." Good advice!

Sakurajima is one of the most active (unsurprisingly) volcanoes in Japan, just off shore from Kagoshima City, and is actually a series of overlapping cones making up an andesitic volcanic complex - all part of the Aira caldera. The current eruptive period at the volcano started in 1955 and have produced the equivalent of a VEI 3 eruption (albeit over half a century), but it has produced VEI 1-2 eruptions frequently over the few hundred years. In 1914 and 1779, Sakurajima did have larger explosive events - VEI 4 eruptions - so the potential for bigger eruptions is there. However, right now you can watch Sakurajima put on its explosive show via its webcam ... so enjoy the record year at the Japanese volcano.

eklemetti Mon, 06/21/2010 - 23:11

Tags

volcanoes in the media

Sakurajima is the safety-valve of the Aira Caldera complex. Just imagine all those eruptions since 1955 pent up, then it let go in one really big explosion...

Spam filter just zapped my first post so will try again without links.

Great post Erik, Sakurajima is one of my favourite volcanoes.

I went to Sakurajima last month to witness the eruptions but was very unlucky to visit during a 3 week break in daily eruptions so saw nothing! Kagoshima on the opposite side of the bay is a great city, and Sakurajima "island" itself is simply stunning.

It seems to have gone back to its daily explosive routine so once the "Mei Yu" rains shift away towards mid July hopefully I'll be back.

Amazingly there's a high school with a direct line of sight to the active crater from only a distance of about 4km. Whenever the kids are outside they're required to wear hard hats. I've got pics and video on my website.

Two webcams for Sakurajima are linked from here: http://www.dpri.kyoto-u.ac.jp/web_e/index_topics.html

One has a view right into one of the (two) active vents. When it's not cloudy, the view is quite impressive.

The most awesome eruption I've seen was at Sakurajima. I think it was July 1991. A mile-high incandescent column and a gigantic ash plume with about 30 lightnings per second. I've been there several times and this is one volcano that has never let me down.

Are you just checking to see if we are 'asleep-at-the-wheel' with respect to the 'out of the blue' link in your opener, Erik?

Passerby - Nope, just like to make the baseball analogy when I can!

NEW EXTINCT VOLCANO DISCOVERED OFF CALABRIA COAST

The number of Italian volcanoes is now up to 29. Sixteen of these are extinct and 9 are active

http://www.ansamed.info/en/top/ME13.XAM18463.html

Would we be surprised at all if we really knew how many volcanoes there are that are either "extinct" or active?

An AUV was used recently to map out parts of the bottom of the Laacher See. Indications of previously unknown subsurface structures were discovered.

Would it make sense to explore the crater lake at EyjafjallajÃ¶kull before it freezes over?

http://www.atlashydro.atlas-elektronik.com/typo3/index.php?id=1897&L=3&…

Could someone wiser than me take a look at the Thoro cam - seems to be one heck of a dust storm, but highly localised and with high speed movement only at low level, with a lot of dust/ ash - just seems odd.

@Diane [8]
They've located some of those extinct - and they really are - volcanoes in Finland and currently they are starting diamond mines in them...

Kultsi, there are lots of extinct Volcanoes here in Norway also.i live in Aalesund btw,.
and we have also Ash deposits from Katla here, last time she erupted she laid down 20 cm of ash over this area, and that is a lot considered the distance,so the eruption must have been something to write home about.

Thor, start making mineral claims on those pipes - some of them might pay up nicely...

Aalesund is about the closest point to Iceland in Norway - but it's still farther out from Katla (and EyjafjallajÃ¶kull) than Scotland, if Google maps are to be believed. 20 cm (8 in) is a LOT of ash from that far off. In that light, this year's eruption was nothing - but they did not have jet planes to choke up on ash, then.

thats true, Kultsi, but I guess everything else choked up pretty nicely,hehe.
Yeah there are some Olivine mines here that are making some goood money of those old fissures..

Kutsi@3, thanks for the Sakurajima links, I had one of the cameras already, but these variously show marine tropical fish, monkeys running around on scaffolding, as well as a clouded out volcano from several angles. I did see a short explosive burst over one cloud layer, but blocked out very quickly by more cloud.

Back to Iceland and Eyjafjall, midnight local time. On the HvolsvÃ¶llur camera, there seems to be some intense steaming going on from the main crater. The Thorolfsfelli cam confirms the steaming. Tremor has also increased but not alarmingly.

agree with Henrick 16

Eyja. has a good-sized pillar going now. Just steam? http://eldgos.mila.is/eyjafjallajokull-fra-hvolsvelli/

The third camera down:
http://www.mulakot.net/myndavelar.html

Yes, it looks to me like tremor has increased (but might be stabilizing, as it seems to be no longer increasing) and there is a plume. How much is steam is anyone's guess in this light but considering the crater lake shown recently in photographs, it would seem logical that there would be considerable steam if some magma is working its way up again.

#19 Good evening!
I've been watching the increase in tremor plots, but since it's been so windy I thought this was the reason for the variations. (Not an expert here) But, yes, there's a good bit of a steam plume coming from the crater. Should we follow this closer? If we are going to have magma interacting with this lake we might be getting another few days of fireworks. Missing it!

@Everyone - Hi again! I see Helen (Leggatt's)? arch is still intact. Yay Helen's Arch!

@20 Renato
These past few weeks I've barely had time to read this blog let alone respond, but your enthusiasm is so contagious!

Thanks to everyone else for their informative posts!

Re Eyjafjall - as of 0530 GMT, the steam column is rather voluminous and seems to have intensified over the past three hours. Tremor seems to be very slowly increasing, even if it's only a fraction of what it was during the eruption. That crater lake must be heated rather vigorously to produce so much steam.

http://eldgos.mila.is/english/eyjafjallajokull-fra-hvolsvelli/

Nice steam at our friend in Iceland

@23 What a sight it is! Takes me back to the days of yore :)

@Your Highness! #21: I'm still your truthful vassal, no matter how long it takes for your return. Weaving shrouds to avoid mean suitors and waiting to welcome you back.
BTW Lady E is showing signs of life and I was lucky enough to catch a picture of an Arctic tern!!! They want us all to move to Japan, but I'd rather be here with the mermaids, the whirlwinds and the blue flowers over MÃºlakot. Hail!

I wish the Westman islands would erupt too, they havn't been active since the 60s-70s. Would be nice to see two sets of volcanoes erupting at the same time lol

@Henrik, Swe. Do you believe magma may reach the lake? That would be something!

Renato, who knows my friend? For this much steam to be produced, the source of the heat must be either very large or very close. Possibly both. But since it seems that it rises slowly, the lake might very well have boilt away by the tame any new magma reaces the surface. If it doesn't, who'd bet against a Surtseyan eruption? Another possibility - some time ago there was a reference to an account of/paper on the 1821-3 eruption where it was said that the eruption was along a 2 km fissure running N-S. Could that open up again? Then again, nothing more might happen.

We shall see!

@25 Renato! *Swoon* I could use a truthful vassal right about now. Shrouds are working, thanks muchly!

Lady E looks so beautiful now, doesn't she? Japan? Pfffftt! Those beautiful blue flowers (that I noticed last week but didn't have time to write about) are awesome, aren't they? Who would have known such beautiful flowers could thrive in such hostile territory?

Thank goodness for nature's beautiful little miracles and our ability to witness them from afar.

@Henrik, Swe: I wouldn't mind a Surtseyan neither an effusive one if the lake will be gone by the time lava comes. Let it keep rising!

And now I must go rest in the arms of Morpheus. Nights are longer and days are shorter, and there's work to do.
I'm happy our "family" is back to the fireplace.
Dream of flowers, ladies and gents!
"Sogni d'oro"!

@31 Laurence Fishburne is lucky :)

The images on the HvolsvÃ¶llur cam are reminiscent of the early days. *sigh*

I hope the dude in the house on the hill got his life back.

The recent activity at EyjafjallajÃ¶kull is the most vigorous I've seen in a while. Whatever caused the extra boiling at the crater also sent a big splash of water down the lava trench, and it reached a point about 600 m above Helen's Arch, verified by steaming.

I hope these gushes wear down the north side crater rim. That would release the water sooner; if the lake fills up to 3,000,000 cubic meters and then starts gushing down GigjÃ¶kull... One hell of a jÃ¶kullhlaup with serious consequences.

@Kultsi #33 I agree. That water has to go somewhere and I just hope it trickles out slowly.

I've wondered for a while now about the level of the water in the crater compared to what we have heard about the depth of the initial ice layer/glacier to begin with.

Anyone?

Hello to all,

@34 O Hail Princess Frito,its good to see you back !.With regards to your question try this link http://www.earthice.hi.is/page/ies_Eyjafjallajokull_eruption.The problem of course is that this info is now 8 days old !In theory I would think that the level is now considerably higher !

@Princess Frito [34]

Here's a link to a picture of the lake: en.vedur.is/media/jar/myndsafn/large/SvBr_gig11juni_003.jpg

I'd guesstimate the ice walls to reach 50 meters higher than the lake surface.

Sorry...try this http://www.earthice.hi.is/page/ies_Eyjafjallajokull_eruption

Strange place of the latest EQ? In the valley near the Thoro cam and depth 11.7 km.

Date Time Latitude Longitude Depth Magnitude Quality Location
Wednesday
23.06.2010 08:59:57 63.693 -19.614 11.7 km 1.3 58.65 6.8 km WNW of BÃ¡sar

http://ja.is/kort/#x=464521&y=354297&z=4&services=18%2C16

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/…

Theres a new update just been posted by the Imo.I have a feeling that it may be a few hours old;forgive me if I am wrong but it seems very understated.

well i would like to say i am learning a lot with your post and links and updates from you all.

Good morning from Maine - still on vacation but coming to an end soon - the blue flowers are, I think, Lupine, an alaskan version imported to help fix nitrogen in the soil ( and maybe they are becoming invasive.) They were in full bloom here by the field-full and along roadsides (also in pink and white and purple) when we arrived. They are the first to take over barren areas, and there are also hybrid garden versions in wilder colors.

Ref. the hot lake, yesterday (I think) there was a reference to the fact that ash, from the sides of the glacier around the crater, has been sliding/washing into the lake and insulating the underwater ice from further melt, but at the same time reducing the ice-cooling of the water, hence, water hotter but melting slower...If I got it right -

Many thanks to the cleaning man on the Thoro cam!
The view is excellent now !!

IMO Eyjaf activity updates for June 23rd, including report of an ice tunnel observed in an outlet glacier photo taken on June 11th.

en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/articles/nr/1884

The water level of the small lake in the crater is reported to be falling as the ice-wall melt rate has apparently decreased. Periodic steaming and small ash explosions continues.

@Birdseye #41 you are right. The flowers are lupines. There are so many varieties of lupine. Texas blue bells are a variety of lupine and here where I live, we have what they call arroyo lupine. It is a bush that is perenial and it keeps coming back. It looses its leaaves and then comes back in the spring. I wish I had some on my property. The lupines with all the wild colors are the Russel hybrids. What I love to see is the lupine and CA poppies blooming together. That is so beautiful. In S CA there is an area that is just rife with wild flowers and it is called the Grapevine. You have to go over the Grapevine to get into LA from the north. In winter, they can get some nasty snows up there. In spring it is a carpet of flowers.

>yesterday (I think) there was a reference to the fact that ash, from the sides of the glacier around the crater, has been sliding/washing into the lake and insulating the underwater ice from further melt, but at the same time reducing the ice-cooling of the water, hence, water hotter but melting slower...If I got it right -

Source??

The view of Redoubt is pretty good today. I really don't understand how that blister of a dome stays on the side of the mountain.

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/webcam/Redoubt_-_DFR.php

passerby :) wont black ash on snow boost melting of snow and Ice??
I remeber my parents uses ash from the stove, to melt ice on the road in spring, due to the sun heating the dirty snow and it will melt faster..

-so I guess the ash on the glacier,on eyjafjÃ¤ll will melt faster than the not covered ice??,

- black is heating up faster, as black absorbs more sunlight faster and transform in to heat than white, wich reflects heat out??
also saw a Tv programme on discovery, about the global snowball(earth covered in total ice)and ash from volcanoes helped melting the ice from the planet so sunlight would not be reflected back out again??

am I wrong here??

It seems to me that the outlet pipe from glacier down to the lake cracks and has now been reshaped.
Also the bick rock on the left side between canyons has splittet.

Maybe the crater lake is flowing over?

Correction: The big rock on the right side in other words west side

Hey folks,Good News ! The Flir cam is working again !

@Thor [47]
Helping or hindering melting depends on the thickness of the ash layer: a thin layer passes the heat to snow/ice below; a thick layer is good insulation.

Stove ash works in two ways: by sucking heat and by partially dissolving into the meltwater and lowering its freezing point.

@Timo [48-49]
We have been talking about the 'split rock' for quite a while: the canyon got eroded into it fairly early in the game. It's one of the handy landmarks on GigjÃ¶kull. The mouth of the 'ice tunnel' in the article also has a name: 'Helen's Arch'.

A larger pic of the down end of GigjÃ¶kull: en.vedur.is/media/jar/myndsafn/large/emmanuel_4097bis.jpg

I was surprised to see that the Icelandic word for 'fan' in this context (keila) is exactly the same in Finnish. Goes to tell that we both preserve old, inherited words quite well.

There's a small plane on the ground, 4th Mulakot camera. I've wondered who made all the tire tracks in the grass. Maybe we'll see some photos soon?
http://www.mulakot.net/myndavelar.html

@33 Kultsi, I hope these gushes wear down the north side crater rim. That would release the water sooner; if the lake fills up to 3,000,000 cubic meters and then starts gushing down GigjÃ¶kull... One hell of a jÃ¶kullhlaup with serious consequences.

Is it possible to interfere with a volcano's activity and make a path for the water, to avoid destruction of property and especially the risk of people's death? It would have to be done with more caution that BP used with its Deep Horizon well, or does the idea just have too much hubris and too much potential for worse catastrophe?

@Jane [54 & 53]
Here somebody would suggest nukes. Seriously, it might be possible to blow the rim away, but Iceland has not the delivery capacity, and I don't think they'd like the US planes delivering the (normal chemical) bomb. Besides, it might shake the balance and start the eruption anew. It's better to sit and watch; the lake might just dry up, as it seems the water in it is not rising.

The tracks in the MÃºlakot grass are most likely from the ATV they have there and run around quite a bit with. They usually have the planes at the apron, in front of the cam for pic 3.

@Birdseye #41 @Diane #44
"Lupines" - There's a species of this genus (legume fam. Fabacea) called Lupinus albus (tremoÃ§os) in Portuguese. The yellow seeds are very popular in Portugal and Brazil as appetizers, but they must be cooked before to eliminate some toxic substances within. (Wikipedia). Would never have imagined that they were "my" blue flowers at the fringes of EyjafjallajÃ¶kull...

@Kultsi #52 Thanks for the pic. It gives us a better idea of those tunnels. Funny: Keila is a popular name in Brazil. And spelled with a "K", which is no longer used in our alphabet. Some prefer it with another obsolete letter "y" - Keyla. I don't think our "Keilas" or "Keylas" know the origin of their names. :)

#56 OT. We'll probably be consuming lots of lupine seeds during the WC game on Friday (Brazil x Portugal). Hope nobody gets intoxicated, as it seems to have happened to poor N. Koreans... :)
BTW No news on N. Korean volcano?

Anyone here has felt the 5,0 M EQ that struck near Ottawa? I read it has been felt as far as NY city and Chicago...

Re plants in MÃºlakot: The one in the gravel is dock (Rumex longifolius). The numerous one behind is Alaska lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis).

@Kultsi #51
Yes, I know the game and I have seen IMO's latest picture of it. I have been watchig it a while and also I know what means 'Helen's Arch'

It's only my amateur question: The big rock (ice) is losing the the left top of it - It 's splitted (only abt. 10% by now)
But why? The pressure of ice/melt warter what is coming downfall???
Something is going on...I think the the pressure is going to break down outlet(s)

@Renato

The earthquake (2nd largest in the world today!) happened about 250 miles from where I live in London, Ontario. I didn't feel a thing but supposedly people working a little further downtown and in taller buildings felt it.

The Joke is that it was caused by all the England soccer fans jumping back ON the bandwagon!

59: wind pollinated hermaphrodite, which contains some oxalic acid, giving it a sharp lemon flavour. Fine in small quantities, but too much can cause calcium deficency. Eaten as a vegetable, put in soups and used as a dye (doesn't need a mordant).
Also, very common.

@beedragon: What? England won a match? I'm avoiding HM as if it was H1N1 and H5N1 together.

@stigger: Very common is very understating.

I did not feel it in Connecticut and I am probably closer than NYC.

Hi everyone,

Re the blue flowers on Mulakot cam #1. There was a few lines posted some weeks ago about them.I at first thought that they were Lupins,but,I now believe them to be Foxgloves,Latin Digitalis. The Lupin's flower head is more of a "cone" shape where as the Foxgloves flower is "bell" shaped.
Sorry Renato, but if you ate the seeds from these plants you would become very ill indeed as they are highly poisonous... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitalis

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/9446/

How can Volcanoes only make 1% of all CO2 when there is a ridge of volcanoes that spans from the north to south pole in the mid Atlantic, and that is just one ridge?

@Reynir [59]

Are you sure it's Rumex longifolius? 'cause those do not look like that to me: no long stem with leaves every now and then. I'd rather guess sorrel, Rumex acetosa. The problem with Rumex is the way they easily crossbreed, and the resulting plants may be hard to identify.

@Adrian [65]

The blue flowers are definitely lupines, the placement of flowers at the early phases of blooming is very distinctive, and the first time I saw those I identified them as lupines (US) or lupins.

I do agree that ingesting foxglove/digitalis would be hazardous to one's health, although it's been widely used as medicine for heart problems.

-Greg

1% of all Co2 is also almost as much as humans make,.

-the rest is actually the nature own pollution and that is a lot.

the oceans for one is the biggest co2 contributor, then comes all the gasses from the ground,and soil, and all the co2 that are bound in the icecaps,then comes what the trees and all the green plants emitt,and on top of that comes volcanoes(but they are really not as co2 polutant as the rest, Volcanoes contribute with far more dangerous polutants than C02..

co2 is not the most dangerous gas that is made on this planet,its just more easy to meassure and point fingers at, than the rest.

-Water vapour is actually far more dangerous as a warming gas than Co2.
Co2 is actually a cooling gas in the atmosphere, but combined with water vapour and other climate gasses and pollutions, it contributes in the big picture..

Am i making any sense here?? I really am not sure..

but this is what a scientist tried to explain..

anyways

The planet needs co2,but with all the other polutants c02 just helps driving the climatechanges..
A warmer climate per se, is not what we should fear , that we can adjust and benefit from, but the consequenses that follows after a warming ,are far more dangerous. As history tells us ,after a warmer climate , usually a really scarier colder climate follows,that is something we all should worry about.

In the US, all varieties of dock weed are supposed to be edible and I think there are about 40 species of dock. You have to cook it to death to get rid of the bitterness, but I have not tried it. I read about it in a book on survival.

My first dog was on digitalis for her heart condition. It is in very small amounts and I am not sure how it helps, but it is used a lot.

Lupines are one of my favorite flowers and they can be rather prolific. I suppose if you don't want them taking over, don't plant them. Still, I think they make a beautiful display and they are not weeds. At least I don't think so. :-)

@Timo [60]

I'm not sure what you are pointing at, but the damage done to stonework around the place was done by abrasive stuff mixed in the water gushing down GigjÃ¶kull in the main phase of the eruption: boulders, stones, gravel, sand. All that stuff did cause much erosion in the places where the flow was concentrated - and there was a LOT of stuff: the bottom of the lake that once was there is now 50 meters higher and dry moraine in the dejection fan. I once estimated the split rock to be about 250 meters (~275 yds) in diameter, so that gives one perspective of the size of what's been going on.

@Thor [69]

Plants are actually CO2 binders: they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, in their phase in sunlight; the nighttime cycle is the other direction, but the net effect is to reduce CO2 from the atmosphere. THAT is the reason why cutting down rain forests is such a bad idea: barren earth does not release oxygen. Algae in oceans are another major oxygen source / CO2 binder.

Plants are actually CO2 binders: they take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen, in their phase in sunlight; the nighttime cycle is the other direction, but the net effect is to reduce CO2 from the atmosphere.

That is until the forest matures. Once it is fully mature, it is at equilibrium with about as much CO2 being absorbed by growing biomass as is released by decaying biomass. A young forest is a CO2 sponge. A fully mature "old growth" forest is CO2 neutral.

A little bit offtopic: Mila's Thorolsfell thermal camera is working again and it's showing hot spots on Gigjokull glacier (or what it remains of it).

@Passerby 45 - sorry I didn't get back sooner - we headed out for the day right after I posted - I have been going back thru the past coulpe of days but haven't found my source - it was on the blog I'm pretty sure, tho' possibly FrÃ©ttir - and it was referred to as a translation of the Icelandic; also I think the explanation was given as being from one of the Icelandic volcanologists blogs - wish I could do better, I'll keep looking! I'm sorry I didn't post as soon as I read it. Always harder to reconstruct!

We have an volcanic SO2 eruption signal coming off of the Kamchatka peninsula.

http://sacs.aeronomie.be/alert/?alert=20100624_034501_001

@75 - not to worry. If you come across it again, post it, will you please?

Very interesting about the Kay-becky earthquake today. No aftershocks in the immediate event window afterwards, but one other 5 Mag EQ listed in the area in 2010, from the USGS historical seismicity maps. I found that to be odd, as no mention was made of it in reports today.

Locally, we had yet another series of low energy shocks here in the intermountain area of WA. The EQ map for our area is also looking distinctly odd. I've been watching these maps for a decade (job related stuff).

Good evening/morning everyone!
Guys! You sound like the witches in Macbeth. Now I know where Shakespeare got his inspiration from: digitalis, lupines... Brrr...
Hope the Portuguese anticipate Friday's match with lots of those for snacks! ;)

I'm not sure whether there's a downpour over Taal, or if it's erupting:

http://www.mycam-asia.tv/cams/philippines/luzon/batangas-taallake-yc/di…

@parclair #79 I think I can see raindrops splashing on the lake foreground.

#79 Nothing on PHIVOLCS either. But that dark cloud over the crater does look impressive.

Ah, rainstorm. Sorry for the false alarum, but thought you'd want to see if it was real. ;-)

@parclair #82 Please, keep posting all you see. Puzzling images is what keep this blog going. We like to weave theories, set quizzes and try to solve them . Today I had a highly sophisticated lesson on plants and learned about poisonous from nitrogen fixing Leguminosae out of sheer observation of blue lilies on Eyjaf's slopes. Yesterday I learned about Arctic terns and prenatal clinics on Icelandic glaciers.
Maybe what I called raindrops are, in fact, boiling waters and that the whole caldera, which yet is not defined as a caldera, is bubbling with toxic miasmas and is about to blow the whole Nanny state out of it's Imelda's shoes. Just post what you see and we provide you with the necessary feedback. We have here support from a team of moderators and collaborators that excel in scientific knowledge and they will help us when we go freak in our strangemost opinions. Thank you!

BTW I learned that all species of lupines found in S. America grow on Ecuadorian Andes. A correlation between EyafÃ¶ll and Mama Tungurahua?

Fare thee well, guys. Maybe I'll be back tomorrow...
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
-- Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5

@Adrian, #65: These are definitely lupines, and more specially, the Alaska lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis) which was brought to Iceland after the second world war to protect the soils. Today a number of people wishes, that this has never been happened, since the lupines overgrow a number of icelandic plants.

Kultsi [67] - Our sorrel (R. acetosa) is a lot smaller than dock (R. longifolius). Besides, I've eaten enough of the former that I should be getting to know them apart.

Reynir [87] - we have both of those, too, and they are really easy to tell apart, but the pic is not very good. My bad.

In my young days I ate quite a lot of sorrel, too...

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/06/24/10588177.html

Kamchatka is warming up

Kultsi [88] - Forgot to mention there's loads of dock around the block I live in. Not such a posh place, eh? :-)

@[90] Reynir, that beats concrete and blacktop any time - besides, that is nothing that a scythe can't cure.

I prefer a small pruner. Fortunately the dock isn't in the avens, or bartsia, or fleabane, or buttercup, or dandelion, or ... (ya get my drift). The block is right on edge of town, y'see.

@77 Passerby - have been unsuccessfully ranging far and wide in search of comment source for hot lake - must have been a side-trip into Icelandic need-translating references, but I remember it came as a followup to the reported 300Âº temperature. I'll keep looking as I have time, but I don't have the language for an Icelandic search - must have been a lucky strike at RÃºv, Icelandic Review or FrÃ©ttir. Toss in garbage as unsupported!

Updates on EyjafjÃ¤ll:

GPS measurements show slight movements towards the mountain except at Austmannsbunga in MÃ½rdalsjÃ¶kull, which shows movement towards southwest. No obvious explanation has been found for this movement.

what do you guys mean about this, what is moving ??
magma?? or the ice??

im lost,.

@thor - the GPS meter is moving, but I guess there is no reading yet as to whether it is ice creep (if the meter is placed on the glacier, I don't know its location) or under the ice,or the ground, In any case we'll find out later if it is something important that continues, or just a passing moment. More 'wait and see!" Anyone else??

Looks like sakurajima is huffing and puffing this morning .I caught a glimpse of a quite a large black plume just now.

@95: GPS geolocation is a means of ascertaining point movement of landmass (vertical and horizonal displacement) over time, in response to inflationary and deflationary volcanic activity.

What this particular station appears to indicate is revealed in this quoted material:

'Two continuously recording GPS stations close to the southern edge of the ice cap (at Katla) are used with network measurements, now concentrated on the two GPS points on nunataks in the Myrdalsjokull ice cap, Enta and Austmannsbunga. Four tilt stations are also situated around the ice cap and are measured annually. The horizontal component of the GPS displacement shows an outward radial pattern, originating from the northern part of the sub-glacial caldera.

All the GPS points show uplift between the 2000 and 2003 surveys. The continuous GPS stations show a southward displacement component in addition to background plate movements. Using the displacement vectors in a forward grid search for the best-fitting Mogi point source, suggests a centre of inflation in the northern part of the caldera at 4.9 km depth. The rate of uplift at the Austmannsbunga GPS point increased markedly between the 1993-2000 measurements and the 2000-2003 measurements, from a few mm per year to about 2 cm per year.

Back-tracing the 2000-2003 time series of the vertical uplift of the Austmannsbunga point suggests a start of the inflation in the early spring of 1999. This, together with the July 1999 jokulhlaup at Solheimajokull, may be taken as the first signs that magma started to accumulate beneath Katla. The cumulative uplift of the Austmannsbunga point since 1993 is 7.2 cm. With the location of the Mogi point fixed at 4.9 km depth, this corresponds to an uplift of 12 cm directly above it.

A sub-surface magma volume increase of 0.019 km is implied. Even though the 1999-2003 inflation is only small so far, it indicates increased magma accumulation in the roots of the volcano, and must be taken seriously in light of Katla's history as one of the most productive and dangerous volcanoes in Iceland.

Source: urekamag.com/research/g/113/godabunga.php

@Passerby [97]

IOW, they said the kettle is at least warming, in the last statement of "not knowing what it means"?

They say nothing about kettles warming. The location of this nunatak GPS station should be put in perspective.

See: Surface and bedrock topography of the MÃ½rdalsjÃ¶kull ice cap, Iceland: The Katla caldera, eruption sites and routes of jÃ¶kulhlaups. Magnus T and Company,

www.raunvis.hi.is/~mtg/pdf/Jokull49_HBetal_Myrdalsjokull.pdf

Katla has already shown significant signs of recent inflation interpreted by the gurus as chamber magma accretion. This small uplift is not unexpected.

@ Boris Behncke: There are some papers the Italian government should read, linked on the USGS website such as: Earthquakes cannot be predicted; Geller, Jackson, Kagan, and Mulargia
http://scec.ess.ucla.edu/~ykagan/perspective.html
Another: Global Seismic Hazard Assessment Program for the Adriatic area. The hazard map is strikingly different from the seismicity map. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/hazards/products/foreign/

I found these and others from links on the left-hand side of the world or US latest earthquakes map at the USGS site, in category "Future", with "Earthquake Scenarios", "Predictions", and "Probabilities", which link to resources on many websites. Eruptions censor ate my previous post with its several links. Maybe 2 links will be allowed.

@Princess Frito - good to see my arch is still going strong! I keep tabs on it every day :))

GVP Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for June 9-15, 2010

eklemetti — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 05:54:30 +0000

GVP Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for June 9-15, 2010

Have guests in town, so I'm a little busy, but you can hopefully keep entertained with the latest Smithsonian/USGS Global Volcanism Program Volcanic Activity Report.

Chile's Melimoyu volcano.

The highlights (not including Taal and EyjafjallajÃ¶kull) include:

Alaska's Cleveland volcano has been reduced to and alert status of "unassigned" (used when a volcano is not closely monitored so AVO doesn't know what exactly is "background") after a few weeks of activity. The same was done for the submarine volcano south of Sarigan in the Marianas Islands after no signs of activity since the eruption a few weeks ago.
Chile's Melimoyu has seen increased long-period seismic tremor over the past week, enough so that the SERNAGEOMIN increased the alert status to Green Level 2. All the earthquakes are less than 15 km underneath the volcano, but no other signs of activity were noted in the report.
Karymsky, on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, continues to make noise, with ash plumes reaching 2.6-6.1 km (8,200-20,000 feet) and a thermal anomaly at the summit.
Eruptions readers have been talking about the recent activity at Japan's Sakurajima. The volcano experiences frequent explosions and this week produced ash plumes that reached as high as 3 km (10,000 feet). You can check out the activity on the webcam for the volcano.

eklemetti Thu, 06/17/2010 - 01:54

There seemed to be a lot of steam venting from Sakurajima earlier today, nicely captured in time lapse video before the rain clouds moved in. That's the first time I've seen so much steam coming out.

Spot the little bird too curiously checking out the camera at 1:55!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2lJNRQDpZ4

Nice video, James - looks like the bird has a nest there somewhere? :) Looked like a couple of little explosive events at the side vent, too.

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/193768/tv-reporter-trapped-in-taal-volcano-…

Nanny State allows silly media into Taal, and they get trapped because they can't climb LOL

Again, I have to ask, what does this article you (and I) linked about the TV reporter have anything to do with the so-called "nanny state". The article pretty clearly states that the reporter went out of his way to get into trouble.

Personally, I don't think Fran Dresler had anything to do with the reporter...

*ducks :D

Good thing Taal didn't go off right then.

Headline should read: Reporter gets himself into trouble in Taal Crater.

Well the Nanny State let the reporters go in. They were allowed to go where others were not allowed (ie the Island), but then they went even further, climbed down the ridge and get stuck for 5 hours only to be rescued by coast guard. If they care so much about safety they should have banned them, especially after the Guatemala incident.

So foreign nationals are banned, but their trusted reporters are ok. And look what trouble reporters get in. I recall the only people to get killed recently in South America was a CNN reporter (+ his guides). So really the people most at risk are the reporters, since they want to get too close, as they have financial gain in doing so. So reporters are the ones that should be banned, not experienced tourists who visit lots of volcanoes. :P

In Guatemala the reporter and his guides were killed...

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/28/guatemala.volcano/inde…

@Greg [7]

"... So really the people most at risk are the reporters, since they want to get too close..."

That's more of a natural selection effect rather than anything having to do with some sort of state organizational structure.

I just don't get why at Level 2 it's so restricted. At Mayon it was level 3 when real restrictions began to happen. There has been a massive shift in restrictions in Philippines for some reason?

But considering what happened in Guatemala the government should keep a close tab on journalists. You only have to search you tube to find lots of videos made by journalists sneaking through areas when it is actually really dangerous. They want to get too close, since they want to make big money getting that winning shot.

If the whole thing was really going to blow, why are people still living on the island near to the volcano, as that's where the journalist was given initial permission to interview, since it's not really that far from the crater. And who'd be stupid enough to go down to the water by yourself from the viewing deck. Did he want to go for a swim lol?

I don't think it would make much difference if you were on the ridge or 5km away if the whole thing was really going to blow. If level 2 is so dangerous then a 20km exclusion zone should be made.

Remember, the Alert Status is only part of the equation. The landscape and population around Mayon and Taal are very different, so you actually wouldn't expect that preparation and closures would be the same at the two volcanoes. I think that the Philippine government is approaching this with an abundance of caution, which is fine with me. If not and people die, then we can all enjoy the scientists getting sued for not "predicting" the eruption correctly.

Each "state" (whatever sort of governmental you wish that to express) has finite resources to deal with emergencies. Not all of them have the same resources. Not all of them wish to endanger rescue crews who had better sense than to place themselves in danger for the sake of a photograph or an "ooooh, ahhhh" experience. A "state" has to weigh it's resources and chances at pulling off a successful evacuation with the probability that something bad happens.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I would be pretty P.O.'d if as a rescue worker, had to go retrieve an idiot rather than rescue a displaced family. The family didn't ask for the problem, the idiot who fell into the hazard area for the sake of a photograph did. Let natural selection take it's course. I'll go help the family.

Greg, if your idea of a "Nanny State" is the Philippines government then heaven forbid what you think of any western government with their health and safety regulations etc. Do you live in the Philippines?

In Guatemala it was actually a local reporter who died, he worked for a local CNN affiliate.

I've been fortunate enough to meet both Renato Solidum (PHIVOLCS director) and Ed Laguerta (resident Mayon volcanologist.) They're both very highly regarded and in my discussions with them they took protection of lives as their number one priority - can't fault them for that!

Meanwhile a nice steam plume on Eyja from HVOL cam only, too cloudy otherwise - being blown toward THORO cam so it looks as though it's steaming at the top of GigjÃ¶kull too.

There is a new report about Melimoyu in the OVDAS page, talking about a VT quake occured today (june 17th). I don't know if all that green alert (only preventive) and this report is due to real hazard of a possible future near eruption or because the volcano has a seismic network from a little time ago, and it is necessary to 'know' it.

Two EQs under EyjafjallajÃ¶kull, one not so shallow, and JÃ³n Helicorders showing interestingly active plots earlier today.
Now the plume shows an interesting grayish hue.
Definitely, she is not done yet.

Why I do believe we have a new troll here - a 'Nanny State' troll. Greg (or whoever he is) knows that using this term in his pathetic posts will push buttons and get him attention.

>>>>Do not feed the Troll<<<<<<

Hi all,
I have such a basic question that it might seem silly but here it goes:

On the charts at

http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/gps/predorb/theypred.html

will the upper-limit on the chart be adjusted if inflation increases beyond +20? After staring at it for so long, this is the first time I've noticed the reading this high.

Thank in advance!

#17 cont'd - on the North chart, that is.

Shiveluch has to be feeling smug after getting its name dropped in yesterday's news on RÃV.

Hi, life kept me busy, but i finally came across uploading some images of ash samples sent by JÃ³n FrÃmann JÃ³nsson on June 2nd.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronicacenter/
my personal favorite is
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronicacenter/4711578214/in/set-721…

Hello to all !

@20 Birgit,

The sample photos are astonishing.Well done for all your hard work and for bringing them to us.And to you Jon Frimman for sending the samples in the first place !

Yep Erik, Melimoyu has increased the earthquakes since the last 8.8 Earthquake ... It has had more than 257 earthquakes, and yesterday (17th June) SERNAGEOMIN uploaded another Report about more earthquakes that happend that day...
One of them was 3.4 Magnitude, and 8 kms deep. It was produced by rock-rupture as they said.

I was going to Inform you about Melimoyu past 9th June, but I had no Computer
Anyway, Anything I would know i will tell you

Greettings

Excogitate your feel and bury this disarray

Tuesday Tidbits: Testing the volcano-earthquake connection in Chile ... and more!

eklemetti — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:14:01 +0000

Tuesday Tidbits: Testing the volcano-earthquake connection in Chile ... and more!

Some news for a busy Tuesday:

The crater at Poas volcano in Costa Rica, taken February 25, 2010. Image courtesy of OVSICORI by Federico Chavarria.

After the MSNBC debacle, it is nice to see some good articles on why the Chilean earthquake was overall less disastrous than the Haitian earthquake, why the tsunami wasn't as large as predicted and why these earthquakes are not abnormal. There are a lot of factors involved - the location, depth, preparedness, wealth - so the comparison can be very telling in terms of both geologic and societal issues.
The other scientific fallout from the Chilean earthquake will be a test of the volcano-earthquake connection suggested by Sebastian Watt in last year's EPSL article. According to Watt's (and others) research, we should expect to see an uptick in volcanic activity over the next year within 500 km of the epicenter of the earthquake - so watch places like Longavi, Descabezado Grande, Calabozos, Copahue, Chillan and Lonquimay amongst many others.
Remember the spiders on Mt. Saint Helens, used to monitor the volcano? Well, they will be spreading to Chile to help monitor Chaiten. Two spiders will be set up on the rhyolite dome system to monitor changes in the domes - looking at seismic activity, deformation and explosions in the caldera.
Dr. Boris Behncke has updated us on some of the volcanic activity in Costa Rica - including a phreatic eruption at Poas last week and increasing seismicity at Irazu. More on the earthquakes at Irazu can be read here. There is also a great set of aerial images of Poas and Arenal taken recently that were posted by OVSICORI.
Eruptions reader Thomas Wipf left a link to a great video of Sakurajima in Japan erupting on January 16, 2010. Definitely worth the four minutes to see an impressive explosive eruption.
It seems that activity at Mayon has settled down significantly as well, with PHIVOLCS lowering the alert status to Level 1 (of 3). Only about 5 volcanic earthquakes are occurring daily at Mayon and that the overall activity suggests a return to "normalcy". However, they do warn people to be careful in lahar-prone drainages near the volcano considering all the new, loose volcaniclastic material on the slopes of Mayon.

eklemetti Tue, 03/02/2010 - 04:14

I remember something about the spiders at Mt. St. Helens, but I have forgotten what they are. Will someone please let me know what they are? Yes, I know they are a monitoring device, I just don't know what kind. :-)

It will be an interesting watch to see what happens in the next few months with the volcanoes around the area of the quake. As John Seach said, there are 21 active volcanoes near the quake and aftershock areas which runs for 600km. A lot to watch. I just hope nothing big happens that will do a lot of damage. They have been hit pretty hard. But it would be nice if one erupted just enough to put on a show.

Diane - Oops! I meant to link to a post on the spiders and forgot. I've now added a link. Sorry!

Thanks Erik. I scanned the article and now I what they are doing. It is unfortunate that the quake has put off the placing of the "spiders". They need them.

Chilean Quake May Have Shortened Earth Days
ScienceDaily (Mar. 2, 2010) â
The Feb. 27 magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile may have shortened the length of each Earth day.

"the quake should have moved Earth's figure axis (the axis about which Earth's mass is balanced) by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters, or 3 inches)."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100302084522.htm

Follow-up news story to the NPR link explaining the mis-read of tsunami severity, see: 'Scientists Defend Tsunami Warning', linked at the bottom of the webpage cited by Erik in his blog post. Salient points:

'Those models could be more accurate if scientists had more deep-water sensors and could build coastal inundation models for vast parts of the Pacific Rim where the topography hasn't yet been well-surveyed, Wang said.'

'Because complete data doesn't exist for every coastal area, scientists must play it safe in their wave predictions, he said.'

Ain't necessarily so. Coastal topology information (satellite and surveyed) is more than sufficient to model general inundation patterns over a stepped progression of wave and land elevations along high-value coastal segments. Deep water sensor network data capture can be boosted using relatively new network refining algorithm techniques like Compressed Sensing and Compressive Cooperative Sensing and Mapping in Mobile Networks.

These modeling and data enrichment exercises are important tools needed to forecast risk potential from large rogue waves and severe storm events.

OTOH, local officials should consider convening meetings to address what the issue a 'false alarm' on forecast wave-heights.

Emergency response management personnel should evaluate public response compliance to the evacuation order using a variety of data gathering instruments. The results provide important feedback to the ERM community because these severe wave events are sparse. Model refinement and validation by the forecast community is going to take time; meanwhile, Tsunami warning center officials will necessarily be conservative in their event forecasts.

By reinforcing understanding of the tsunami warning system limitations and briefing the public on success of local response, officials can underscore the importance of this learning and training exercise for forecasters and the affected public.

The broadcast warnings and large-scale evacuations in dozens of countries along the Pacific Rim on Saturday was *not a wasted effort* on the part of the public, thus avoiding the dangerous misconception that it was another 'science failure'.

Erik, I always see your blog and comment here... and I want to Inform you all the mess that there's here in Chile
I was Camping when the earthquake happened, when it stopped i called my parents and told them i was ok and that i had talked with some friends from far cities from me, and they felt it.... so it was really big!
I study Geology and When i felt the earthquake i knew there was a Tsunami Alert and all the troubles it will cause, so i called all the ppl i could and told'em RUN TO THE MOUNTAIN FOR SECURITY.
I was in the mountain near a lake, even the lake had a Tsunami and the water level is 60 cms less
This earthquake is CATASTROPHIC, I study in CONCEPCION, and was supposted i was going to star classes this 15th, now The city is a Jungle, People steals, kill , theres no light, water, gas, food. I dont know about my friends, and my apartment.
Afortunately I am with my family, but the situation of the Country is a mess.

Well i can write much more, but i have electricity and internet problems
The country will stand up!!! :)

Thanks for the update, Manuel. It is good to point out that although Chile did weather this larger earthquake much better than Haiti, it doesn't mean that there wasn't widespread devastation to the country. Don't forget that when it comes to supporting Chile and its recovery.

I am all for warnings being given for any possibility of widespread death and destruction. What were they supposed to do...ignore it until they actually saw the Tsunami? I think a lot of scientists are afraid to be the first to say anything when they see a threat, they don't want to look bad if the event doesn't materialize. I think the guys that made the call on the Tsunami did the only thing they could do and still be able to sleep at night.

Jon Stewart says it all:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/ check "the uninformant"

The papers report the same as Manuel, the city of Conception "is a jungle" so although the damage done by the quake is unimaginable, in the final analysis it may be that the greatest damage done will prove to be the one by humans. As if the natural disaster wasn't enough! :(

question for the community. Does it appear that the great quakes along the Nazca subduction zone are trending towards the north? If so, then the next big stress relief event might be much closer to Santiago, some number of decades from now.

Very nice Sakurajima movie! It's a pity Mt Pinatubo
didn't wait 19 more years. The media coverage is so
much better now :)

Scientists say tsunami models should be tested.
APNews, 01Mar.

Talking Points:
-The South American coast has few monitoring points than does the US Coast, particularly in the north, near Alaska.
- 'Had he been asked a week ago whether a magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile would cause a destructive tsunami in Hawaii, "I would have said, 'Unquestionably. It's going to be a bad scene,"' (Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii, former faculty UH)

- Two models in use at the NOAA Pacific Ocean Tsunami Center (http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/) underestimated wave strength. While the models over-estimated wave strength and dwell interval, scientists point to model data inputs error in estimated quake and overlying coastal waters depth, approx 100 km from shore.
- Modeling wave energy dissipation is computationally expensive and therefore, ignored at present. Modeling wave interval period is difficult if the model inputs are incorrect.

Pacific Ocean 'like a shaken bath', says tsunami expert.
AAP, 28February 28

Other national tsunami warning centers were also very cautious in their issues warnings for coastal seas and 'built' environments.

'Mr Hainsworth (scientist at JATWC) said Australia's distance from Chile would not matter when tsunami conditions arrived. "We're not expecting to see significant areas of land inundated (but) it could happen locally because of the shape of a bay or estuary or headland," he said.'

Australian Tsunami Warning System.
http://www.bom.gov.au/tsunami/about_atws.shtml

Australian Gov't/Geosciences Australia, tsunami model can be found by searching for the following web page:
ANUGA - hydrodynamic inundation modelling

The JATWC used estimated wave arrival times and descriptions of recreation/boating and 'rubbernecking' risks, avoiding wave height estimates in the series of warnings issues following the Chile 8.8 earthquake.

I live on the Gold Coast in Queensland Australia. We heard a tsunami warning that the tsunami would arrive around 815 a.m. By 930 nothing had happened so like a lot of other people around here I figured it was all over and went surfing. At about 1030 while out in the water I noticed a sudden surge in current activity which I later learned was the remains of the tsunami - the prediction of arrival time had been way off due to the effect of the outgoing tide which slowed it down. In the future I hope the predictions are more accurate.

The outgoing tide wouldn't have delayed tsunami waves, but it would have changed shallow water depth and hence available water mass along coastal shelves, harbors and bays. Guessing that you may not have been aware of the initial wave due to tidal effects and saw the second, larger wave arrive, instead.

I briefly considered (a) earth-moon distance (b) spring tide and (c) full moon effects, all present at the end of February. However, models would account for these effects.

Energy dissipation over distance must have been a factor, perhaps caused by poor early energy propagation that could not be sustained over distance. Large, short-lived tsunami waves are reported to have wiped out small coastal villages in Chile; there would have been little time for residents to respond to warnings. Buildings in these small coastal towns were not built to withstand major wave inundation. Photos posted on the net showed beached larger wooden fishing vessels and piled vehicles against apartment buildings, indicators of local tsunami wave energy.

Many tsunami models are rather new; we presume they are still undergoing factor adjustments (or learning-algorithm refinement) as event history catalog grows since model inception.

Question: Did this quake make the recurrence of
http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1868_Arica_earthquake more or less likely, more or less destructive, or did the seismic gap mentioned in the article vanish in Southern Peru earthquake in 2000s? Imho, a thing to look into.

@Passerby: Coastal areas are not necessarily well mapped and no satellite instrument I know of can measure the depth of the water - no, you do the mapping by a variety of techniques including towing sonar fish. For deeper water some areas have been mapped by submarines using their sonar. The vast majority of the oceans remains unmapped though. As for deep sea gauges, there really aren't all that many of them considering the size of the ocean and such remote gauges tend to report fairly sparsely since they tend to use a public and generally very low bandwith channel on certain satellites (so communication is essentially free for the user).

The CALIPSO instrument may be able to map very shallow waters if the atmospheric conditions are good, but the coverage is not sufficient to provide good topographical maps.

At any rate, unless the models have a long history of being correct, the best thing to do is move away if there is a possibility of a tsunami. Very frequently there is barely a rise in the water level, but you sure don't want to be there if you get a big wave. It may be possible to refine these models using empirical data rather than through more detailed topography - but that would take many decades since the vast majority of quakes do not cause a noticeable tsunami. As for the "need more sensors, need better topography" - that may very well be something in the "not practical" box. Climate predictors always claim they need more of this and that data (and that if they only had more good data they'd get better results - a claim I simply do not believe) but it's such a huge task to raise the money for any large instrumentation project.

A potential confounding factor in forecasting estimated water depth over the EQ epicenter is proximity to the Chile-Peru Trench, 165km off the coast.

See: Wikipedia, Peru-Chile Trench

Example of a bathymetric map resource, Chile (one of many bath map repositories with archived bath maps holdings, offshore South America/Chile and Argentina_)
See: USGS CMG InfoBank Atlas, Chile bathymetry

Number of tsunami events per year.
'During the 101-year period from 1900 to 2001, 796 tsunamis were observed or recorded in the Pacific Ocean according to the Tsunami Laboratory in Novosibirsk. 117 caused casualties and damage most near the source only; at least nine caused widespread destruction throughout the Pacific. The greatest number of tsunamis during any 1 year was 19 in 1938, but all were minor and caused no damage. There was no single year of the period that was free of tsunamis.

The distribution of tsunami generation is as follows: 17% of the total tsunamis were generated in or near Japan, South America, 15%: New Guinea Solomon Islands, 13%; Indonesia, 11%; Kuril Islands and Kamchatka, 10%; Mexico and Central America, 10%; Philippines, 9%; New Zealand and Tonga, 7%; Alaska and West Coasts of Canada and the United States, 7%; and Hawaii, 3%.'

Searchable on-line tsunami database, 2000-2008.
NOAA/WDC Tsunami Event Database

A casual Google check, using the search term 'Seismic Imaging and Bathymetry of The Central Chile Margin', yields a useful list of recent and relevant publications.

We've been speculating about some possible volcanic activity following the great Chile earthquake, but now it seems the action is returning to Iceland.

There is something serious happening under Icelandâs EyjafjallajÃ¶kull, a small, glacier-covered volcano immedately to the west of Katla volcano. I donât know enough Icelandic to understand what the following newspaper bit says, but it contains words like âgosiÃ°â, which means âvolcanic eruptionâ, not referring only to the most recent eruption of this volcano, in 1821-1823.

http://www.mbl.is/mm/frettir/innlent/2010/03/03/stodugir_smaskjalftar/

Plus, the Icelandic Meteorological Officeâs seismicity map shows intense seismic activity in the area of the volcano:

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/

Boris I also found this:
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/skyrslur/contgps/node19.html

I also found this:
Magma ascent at coupled volcanoes: Episodic magma injection at Katla and EyjafjallajÃ¶kull ice-covered volcanoes in Iceland and the onset of a new unrest episode in 2009
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AGUFM.V32B..03S

Katla and EyjafjallajÃ¶kull "are coupled"?

@Boris, thanks for those links. They are having some serious activity. Seems that they are having several swarms that go from one area to another. I don't know enough about Iceland to know if they are connected (my guess is they could be just because the way the island is)or not, but it is interesting to follow.

I noticed, too, that Brevard College is planning their Iceland tour which is a camping and hiking tour and it lasts for about two weeks or so. Wish I was 20 again so I could go. I would love to do that, but out of the question. Some of you who can may be interested in it as you can get college credits for going.

I have seen some of the damage the tsunami did to Chile and I really feel for those people. They are having to arm themselves against looters and are having a real problem with that. Let's think good thoughts towards the people who have to deal with the all the difficulties and are doing the best they can.

Did I misunderstand something or are Katla and EyjafjallajÃ¶kull part of an approximately 10-km wide and 700 m deep caldera under the MyrdalsjÃ¶kull ice cap?
http://www.acsys.it/volume/php/home.php?&id=8

First, comment on a slightly misguided viewpoint on earthquake engineering, building codes and building materials written by DB Marron, finance professional and visiting professor, Georgetown U Public Policy Institute, published in the Christian Science Monitor.

The Chilean earthquake, at 8.8, is an example of the upper bounds of earthquake engineering protection capacity. Mr Marron's observation that building material quality is just as likely to be a factor as building code enforcement in the relatively low loss of life and urban damage, is valid.

A quick Google check reveals that, not surprisingly, Chile's population has more than doubled since the 1960 earthquake (following global population trends). There has also been rapid growth in Chilean urban centers as more people have moved to cities seeking employment and better living conditions with increasing national wealth since the mid-1980s that saw Chile substantially outperforming it's continental neighbors in economic development.

Strong economic expansion, mostly in natural resources exports, fueled an upward trend in GDP through 1999, with a slightly reduced growth rate in recent years, driving infrastructure development - mostly in urban centers - and accentuating a growing gap in wealth between rich and poor, and ethnic/cultural divisions in income and social supports.

Most of the nearly 800 deaths reported to date occurred in economically disadvantaged communities with substandard housing and Federal investment. The majority of damage was reported for older homes built before building code adoption, but more frequently, newer homes not built 'to code', of cheap materials, perhaps not due to corruption as the difficulty in broadly supplying and administering governmental services and oversight across a diverse economic and cultural spectrum of communities.

Mr Marron can bet that the global civil/structural, mechanical and geotechnical engineering community will be studying the effects of this earthquake on the Built Environment in Chile for lessons learnt. But there is also a strong likelihood that the power and communications engineering disciplines will also be peering at the aftermath, because there also important lessons on communication and power grid structures base that must be addressed in the rebuilding effort.

Boris: the Google translation points to elevated seismic activity associated with minor clustered tremors and not 'volcanic noise', perhaps associated with glacier movement. A similar activity pattern was evaluated at Katla and determined to be glacier-related, in a study published last year.

It is interesting to follow the Iceland earthquake activity. There has been a lot of small earthquakes under EyjafjallajÃ¶kull during the past weeks. As I understand it EyjafjallajÃ¶kull and Katla might have a coupling. According to Swedish wikipedia it was noticed that during the most recent eruptions of EyjafjallajÃ¶kull 1612 and 1821-1823, Katla erupted simultaneously (1612 and 1823). Well, almost at least.... According to Global volcanism program EyjafjallajÃ¶kull stopped erupting 1 jan 1823 and Katla started erupting June 26, 1823.

Sources:
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyjafjallaj%C3%B6kull
http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1702-02=
http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1702-03=
http://iceland.vefur.is/iceland_nature/Volcanoes_in_Iceland/katla.htm

I'm looking forward to the papers that will posted on this topic, on the Volcanism blog tomorrow.

I found the webpage of a postdoc (Elske de Zeeuw-van Dalfsen) who had studied the EyjafjallajÃ¶kull volcano seismic swarm and uplift data from the 90s at this volcano (also data gathered from Katla), read through several of her references. Several studies suggest magma intrusion as a plausible explanation, but with reservations due to seismic signal migration southward and differing centroids for seismic signal and GPS uplift horizontal component.

DEFORMATION DUE TO MAGMA MOVEMENT AND ICE UNLOADING AT KATLA
VOLCANO, ICELAND, DETECTED BY PERSISTENT SCATTERER INSAR. (2007).

"We use both persistent scatterer and combined multi-
ple acquisition InSAR techniques to analyse ENVISAT
ASAR data acquired from September 2003 to July 2006,
and ERS data acquired between 1995 and 2003, to deter-
mine line-of-sight displacements for the area surrounding
Katla. The signal we see is consistent with a response to
ice unloading, and intrusion of magma or fluids is not re-
quired to explain the data. We donât, however, rule out
shallow intrusion beneath the caldera causing local de-
formation that is not visible on the volcano flanks. We
also identify possible local landsliding occurring on the
volcano flank"

A 2009 abstract (Earthquakes and Pre-Earthquake Processes
Conference, OrkugarÃ°ur, ReykjavÃk, October 2009) discusses these seismic episodes in terms of periodic E-W trending, 'pipe-like feeder channel' magmetic intrusion events.

See: INTERPRETING SEISMIC SIGNALS FROM ICELANDIC VOLCANOES.
KristÃn S. VogfjÃ¶rÃ°, Sigurlaug HjaltadÃ³ttir, Einar Kjartansson, Matthew J. Roberts, and Ragnar Slunga.

hraun.vedur.is/ja/jsr_2009/abstracts/pdf/kristin_vogfjord.pdf

speaking of glaciers and ice, I recall reading long ago that increased volcanism on Mt. Garibaldi (in B.C.) is associated with withdrawal of ice cover as the end of several ice ages. The implication being that reducing the mass on top of the volcano allowed it to erupt more easily and/or frequently. I'm not sure if this agrees with current theories, but it does make me curious about the effect that the current rapid retreat of glaciers on Mt. Rainier might have on its future behavior. But at least I was able to climb Mt. Rainier a couple of times in my distant youth, something that I am still kicking myself for not doing with Mt. St. Helens while it still had its symetrical summit.

Ice & Volcanoes. While there are a few interestingly deformed volcanoes born under ice such as Hoodoo Mtn and on Iceland, what would happen underneath a really thick cover such as those that occured during the Ice Ages? How large would an eruption have to be if it was to break through an ice cover ~1Â½ km thick? How would a really large eruption (VEI 6 or 7) "fare"? Are there any places on Earth where such a site has been exposed by the retreating ice?

Nice views into Kilauea Pit this am.. The lava surface fairly active with low level fountaining. Worth a look..

I found some information on the recent activity that I tryed to translate online. http://www.visir.is/article/20100304/FRETTIR01/578489653
The translator did not succes in translating all words, but it resulted in the following:

The minnstakosti six earthquakes urÃ°u under EyjafjallajÃ¶kull night, but all three on the Richter. Significantly has been smÃ¡skjÃ¡lfta on these grounds recently, but jarÃ°vÃsindamenn consider it not be gosÃ³rÃ³a, though jarÃ°skorpan seems to be something that Ã¾enjast. Source earthquake are all down to a depth of ten kilometers.

When I did linguistics for my MA, we did some Olde English and I've since had a bit of ditto Swedish, so I can make an (educated?) guess at a few of the words, Mattias:

"Smaskjalfta" = smÃ¥skalv = small quakes, "jarÃ°vÃsindamenn" ~Earth wisdom men = geophysisicists?, "jarÃ°skorpan" = jordskorpan = the (Earth's) crust, "Ã¾enjast" = tÃ¤njs = is stretched.

For future reference, it might be useful to know that "Ã°" is pronounced the same way as "th" in "this", whereas "Ã¾" is the "th" of thin. In Olde English, "EorÃ°an" was the name for the world and it is easy to see how this has developed into the modern Earth of English), jarÃ° of Icelandic & Jorden in Swedish.

Holiday snaps from space: Sakurajima

eklemetti — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:01:38 +0000

Holiday snaps from space: Sakurajima

Sakurajima Volcano in Japan, taken from the ISS on February 17. Image courtesy of Soichi Noguchi.

Eruptions reader Tim Stone sent me a link to the TwitPic feed for Soichi Noguchi, the Japanese astronaut currently on board of the International Space Station. The space traveller got a shot of Sakurajima from space, showing a beautiful plume drifting off - and great detail of the towns and roads near the volcano. Soichi has some other great shots (and comments to go with them), including my old haunt Seattle (with a comment about Ichiro), Mt. Aso - another Japanese volcano, and the Patagonian coast. Great stuff - and to think, we're living in a world where astronauts can take snaps from space and we can see them almost instantly on the interwebs.

eklemetti Wed, 02/17/2010 - 03:01

Tags

volcanoes in the media

volcanoes in the media

SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Report 2/3-9/2010 - stymied by weather!

eklemetti — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:57:14 +0000

SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Report 2/3-9/2010 - stymied by weather!

Sally Sennert from the Smithsonian Institution sent me an email to say that this week's USGS/Smithsonian Institute Weekly Volcanic Report will be delayed due to the inclement weather in the Washington DC area. She can't connect with the server, so the report can't be updated on the Smithsonian website ... so here it is! Look for it to show up on the Smithsonian site with all the bells and whistles as soon as DC thaws out.

And a big thanks to Sally for sending me the Report to post.

***PLEASE NOTE: Website posting of the SI/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 3-9 February 2010 will be delayed due to closings from inclement weather.

New Activity/Unrest: | Bezymianny, Central Kamchatka ( Russia) | Fukutoku-Okanoba, Japan | Pacaya, Guatemala

The Weekly Volcanic Activity Report is a cooperative project between the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological Survey's Volcano Hazards Program. Updated by 2300 UTC every Wednesday, notices of volcanic activity posted on these pages are preliminary and subject to change as events are studied in more detail. This is not a comprehensive list of all of Earth's volcanoes erupting during the week, but rather a summary of activity at volcanoes that meet criteria discussed in detail in the "Criteria and Disclaimers" section. Carefully reviewed, detailed reports on various volcanoes are published monthly in the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism Network.

Note: Many news agencies do not archive the articles they post on the Internet, and therefore the links to some sources may not be active. To obtain information about the cited articles that are no longer available on the Internet contact the source.

New Activity/Unrest

BEZYMIANNY Central Kamchatka (Russia) 55.978Â°N, 160.587Â°E; summit elev. 2882 m

KVERT reported that during 29-30 January and 2 February a thermal anomaly from Bezymianny's lava dome was detected in satellite imagery. The anomaly was larger during 7-8 February, prompting KVERT to raise the Level of Concern Color Code to Orange. Strong activity from Kliuchevskoi volcano had obscured seismic signals from Bezymianny since 4 January.

Geologic Summary. Prior to its noted 1955-56 eruption, Bezymianny volcano had been considered extinct. Three periods of intensified activity have occurred during the past 3,000 years. The latest period, which was preceded by a 1,000-year quiescence, began with the dramatic 1955-56 eruption. That eruption, similar to the 1980 event at Mount St. Helens, produced a large horseshoe-shaped crater that was formed by collapse of the summit and an associated lateral blast. Subsequent episodic but ongoing lava-dome growth, accompanied by intermittent explosive activity and pyroclastic flows, has largely filled the 1956 crater.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index_eng.php

FUKUTOKU-OKANOBA Japan 24.28Â°N, 141.485Â°E; summit elev. -14 m

According to news articles, JMA reported Surtseyan explosions from Fukutoku-Okanoba, 5 km NE of the island of Minami-Iwo-jima, on 3 February. Steam-and-ash plumes rose 100 m a.s.l. and the surrounding sea turned yellow-green. Video footage of the event was captured by people aboard a Japanese Coast Guard patrol boat. One article stated that the sea in the area had regularly changed colors since the 1950s, most recently in December 2009.

Geologic Summary. Fukutoku-Okanoba is a submarine volcano located 5 km NE of the pyramidal island of Minami-Iwo-jima. Water discoloration is frequently observed from the volcano, and several ephemeral islands have formed in the 20th century. The first of these formed Shin-Iwo-jima ("New Sulfur Island") in 1904, and the most recent island was formed in 1986. Fukutoku-Okanoba is part of an elongated edifice with two major topographic highs trending NNW-SSE and is a trachyandesitic volcano geochemically similar to Iwo-jima.

Sources: ITN http://itn.co.uk/505f1ee85ab8fd460beb70dabaf8421e.html,
The Mainichi Daily News http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20100204p2a00m0na017000c.html

PACAYA Guatemala 14.381Â°N, 90.601Â°W; summit elev. 2552 m

INSIVUMEH reported that activity from Pacaya consisting of effusion of lava flows, the source of which had migrated towards the S from the N flank since April 2006, ceased on 30 January 2010. On 5 February, Strombolian explosions from MacKenney cone ejected material 30 m into the air and lava from the crater moved down the flank. The activity was heard in the village of San Francisco de Sales, 5 km N. A new lava flow originating from a depression on the NE flank was seen on 6 February.

Geologic Summary. Eruptions from Pacaya, one of Guatemala's most active volcanoes, are frequently visible from Guatemala City, the nation's capital. Pacaya is a complex volcano constructed on the southern rim of the 14 x 16 km Pleistocene Amatitlan caldera. A cluster of dacitic lava domes occupies the caldera floor. The Pacaya massif includes the Cerro Grande lava dome and a younger volcano to the SW. Collapse of Pacaya volcano about 1,100 years ago produced a debris-avalanche deposit that extends 25 km onto the Pacific coastal plain and left an arcuate somma rim inside which the modern Pacaya volcano (MacKenney cone) grew. During the past several decades, activity at Pacaya has consisted of frequent Strombolian eruptions with intermittent lava flow extrusion on the flanks of MacKenney cone, punctuated by occasional larger explosive eruptions.

Source: Instituto Nacional de Sismologia, Vulcanologia, Meteorologia, e Hidrologia (INSIVUMEH) http://www.insivumeh.gob.gt/

Ongoing Activity

DUKONO Halmahera 1.68Â°N, 127.88Â°E; summit elev. 1335 m

The Darwin VAAC reported that during 5-6 February ash plumes from Dukono rose to an altitude of 2.4 km (8,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted 55-150 km SW and W.

Geologic Summary. Reports from this remote volcano in northernmost Halmahera are rare, but Dukono has been one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes. More-or-less continuous explosive eruptions, sometimes accompanied by lava flows, occurred from 1933 until at least the mid-1990s, when routine observations were curtailed. During a major eruption in 1550, a lava flow filled in the strait between Halmahera and the N-flank cone of Gunung Mamuya. Dukono is a complex volcano presenting a broad, low profile with multiple summit peaks and overlapping craters. Malupang Wariang, 1 km SW of Dukono's summit crater complex, contains a 700 x 570 m crater that has also been active during historical time.

Source: Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC) http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/AU/messages.html

GALERAS Colombia 1.22Â°N, 77.37Â°W; summit elev. 4276 m

On 9 February, INGEOMINAS lowered the Alert Level for Galeras to III (Yellow; "changes in the behavior of volcanic activity"). During the previous few days, seismicity was low and sulfur dioxide emissions were low to moderate.

Geologic Summary. Galeras, a stratovolcano with a large breached caldera located immediately W of the city of Pasto, is one of Colombia's most frequently active volcanoes. The dominantly andesitic Galeras volcanic complex has been active for more than 1 million years, and two major caldera collapse eruptions took place during the late Pleistocene. Longterm extensive hydrothermal alteration has affected the volcano. This has contributed to large-scale edifice collapse that has occurred on at least three occasions, producing debris avalanches that swept to the W and left a large horseshoe-shaped caldera inside which the modern cone has been constructed. Major explosive eruptions since the mid Holocene have produced widespread tephra deposits and pyroclastic flows that swept all but the southern flanks. A central cone slightly lower than the caldera rim has been the site of numerous small-to-moderate historical eruptions since the time of the Spanish conquistadors.

Source: Instituto Colombiano de GeologÃa y MinerÃa (INGEOMINAS) http://www.ingeominas.gov.co//

KARYMSKY Eastern Kamchatka 54.05Â°N, 159.45Â°E; summit elev. 1536 m

KVERT reported that during 29 January-5 February seismic activity from Karymsky was above background levels and possibly indicated weak ash explosions. Analyses of satellite imagery revealed a thermal anomaly over the volcano on 28 January and 1 February. The Level of Concern Color Code remained at Orange.

Geologic Summary. Karymsky, the most active volcano of Kamchatka's eastern volcanic zone, is a symmetrical stratovolcano constructed within a 5-km-wide caldera that formed about 7,600-7,700 radiocarbon years ago. Construction of the Karymsky stratovolcano began about 2,000 years later. The latest eruptive period began about 500 years ago, following a 2,300-year quiescence. Much of the cone is mantled by lava flows less than 200 years old. Historical eruptions have been Vulcanian or Vulcanian-Strombolian with moderate explosive activity and occasional lava flows from the summit crater. Most seismicity preceding Karymsky eruptions has originated beneath Akademia Nauk caldera, which is located immediately S of Karymsky volcano and erupted simultaneously with Karymsky in 1996.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index_eng.php

KILAUEA Hawaii (USA) 19.421Â°N, 155.287Â°W; summit elev. 1222 m

During 3-9 February, HVO reported an active lava surface about 200 m below a vent in the floor of Kilauea's Halema'uma'u crater. The lava surface occasionally spattered, and both rose and drained through holes in the cavity floor. A plume from the vent drifted mainly SW, dropping small amounts of ash, and occasionally fresh spatter, downwind. Measurements indicated that the sulfur dioxide emission rate at the summit remained elevated; 1,200 and 700 tonnes per day were measured on 4 and 8 February, respectively. The 2003-2007 average rate was 140 tonnes per day.

Lava from beneath the Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) and rootless shield complex flowed over 3 km SE through a lava tube system before breaking out onto the surface. Thermal anomalies detected by satellite and visual observations revealed active lava flows above and on the pali, and on the coastal plain. By 8 February, pahoehoe lava flows had advanced 700 m from the base of the pali S onto the coastal plain. Incandescence was sometimes seen from a vent low on the S wall of Pu'u 'O'o crater.

Geologic Summary. Kilauea, one of five coalescing volcanoes that comprise the island of Hawaii, is one of the world's most active volcanoes. Eruptions at Kilauea originate primarily from the summit caldera or along one of the lengthy E and SW rift zones that extend from the caldera to the sea. About 90% of the surface of Kilauea is formed of lava flows less than about 1,100 years old; 70% of the volcano's surface is younger than 600 years. A long-term eruption from the East rift zone that began in 1983 has produced lava flows covering more than 100 sq km, destroying nearly 200 houses and adding new coastline to the island.

Source: US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/

KLIUCHEVSKOI Central Kamchatka (Russia) 56.057Â°N, 160.638Â°E; summit elev. 4835 m

KVERT reported that during 29 January-5 February seismic activity from Kliuchevskoi was above background levels and lava continued to flow down the NW flank. Strombolian activity periodically ejected material 300 m above the crater, and phreatic explosions occurred from the front of the lava flow. Satellite imagery revealed a large daily thermal anomaly at the volcano. On 30 and 31 January, gas-and-steam plumes rose to an altitude of 6.2 km (20,300 ft) a.s.l. The Level of Concern Color Code remained at Orange.

Geologic Summary. Kliuchevskoi is Kamchatka's highest and most active volcano. Since its origin about 7,000 years ago, the beautifully symmetrical, 4,835-m-high basaltic stratovolcano has produced frequent moderate-volume explosive and effusive eruptions without major periods of inactivity. More than 100 flank eruptions, mostly on the NE and SE flanks of the conical volcano between 500 m and 3,600 m elevation, have occurred during the past 3,000 years. The morphology of its 700-m-wide summit crater has been frequently modified by historical eruptions, which have been recorded since the late-17th century. Historical eruptions have originated primarily from the summit crater, but have also included major explosive and effusive events from flank craters.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index_eng.php

SAKURA-JIMA Kyushu 31.585Â°N, 130.657Â°E; summit elev. 1117 m

Based on information from JMA, the Tokyo VAAC reported that during 3-9 February multiple explosions from Sakura-jima produced plumes that rose to altitudes of 1.5-3 km (5,000-10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted SE and N. On 5, 6, and 7 February, pilots reported that ash plumes sometimes drifted SE and S at altitudes of 1.5-3.4 km (5,000-11,000 ft) a.s.l. An eruption on 8 February produced an estimated 1-km-high lava fountain, and an ash plume with abundant lightning. Incandescent material fell onto the flanks.

Geologic Summary. Sakura-jima, one of Japan's most active volcanoes, is a post-caldera cone of the Aira caldera at the northern half of Kagoshima Bay. Eruption of the voluminous Ito pyroclastic flow was associated with the formation of the 17 x 23-km-wide Aira caldera about 22,000 years ago. The construction of Sakura-jima began about 13,000 years ago and built an island that was finally joined to the Osumi Peninsula during the major explosive and effusive eruption of 1914. Activity at the Kita-dake summit cone ended about 4,850 years ago, after which eruptions took place at Minami-dake. Frequent historical eruptions, recorded since the 8th century, have deposited ash on Kagoshima, one of Kyushu's largest cities, located across Kagoshima Bay only 8 km from the summit. The largest historical eruption took place during 1471-76.

Sources: Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/JP/messages.html,
Kago-Net http://www.kago-net.com/index.php?itemid=127

SARYCHEV PEAK Matua Island 48.092Â°N, 153.20Â°E; summit elev. 1496 m

SVERT reported that a thermal anomaly on Sarychev Peak was detected by satellite on 3 February.

Geologic Summary. Sarychev Peak, one of the most active volcanoes of the Kuril Islands, occupies the NW end of Matua Island in the central Kuriles. The andesitic central cone was constructed within a 3-3.5 km wide caldera, whose rim is exposed only on the SW side. A dramatic 250-m-wide, very steep-walled crater with a jagged rim caps the volcano. The substantially higher SE rim forms the 1496 m high point of the island. Fresh-looking lava flows descend all sides of Sarychev Peak and often form capes along the coast. Much of the lower-angle outer flanks of the volcano are overlain by pyroclastic-flow deposits. Eruptions have been recorded since the 1760's and include both quiet lava effusion and violent explosions. The largest historical eruption of Sarychev Peak in 1946 produced pyroclastic flows that reached the sea.

Source: Sakhalin Volcanic Eruption Response Team (SVERT) http://www.imgg.ru/rus/labs_vulcan_hazard.php

SHIVELUCH Central Kamchatka (Russia) 56.653Â°N, 161.360Â°E; summit elev. 3283 m

KVERT reported that during 29 January-5 February seismic activity from Shiveluch was above background levels, possibly indicating ash plumes rising to an altitude of 5.7 km (18,700 ft) a.s.l. Fumarolic activity was observed on 1 February; cloud cover prevented observations on other days. Analyses of satellite imagery revealed a large daily thermal anomaly from the lava dome. The Level of Concern Color Code remained at Orange.

Geologic Summary. The high, isolated massif of Shiveluch volcano (also spelled Sheveluch) rises above the lowlands NNE of the Kliuchevskaya volcano group and forms one of Kamchatka's largest and most active volcanoes. The currently active Molodoy Shiveluch lava-dome complex was constructed during the Holocene within a large breached caldera formed by collapse of the massive late-Pleistocene Strary Shiveluch volcano. At least 60 large eruptions of Shiveluch have occurred during the Holocene, making it the most vigorous andesitic volcano of the Kuril-Kamchatka arc. Frequent collapses of lava-dome complexes, most recently in 1964, have produced large debris avalanches whose deposits cover much of the floor of the breached caldera. Intermittent explosive eruptions began in the 1990s from a new lava dome that began growing in 1980. The largest historical eruptions from Shiveluch occurred in 1854 and 1964.

Source: Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/kvert/index_eng.php

SOUFRIERE HILLS Montserrat 16.72Â°N, 62.18Â°W; summit elev. 915 m

MVO reported that during 29 January-5 February activity from the SoufriÃ¨re Hills lava dome was variable as the lava dome continued to grow. Cycles of vigorous ash venting, rockfalls, and pyroclastic flows occurred every seven to twelve hours. Pyroclastic flows traveled mostly W down Gages into Spring Ghaut, as far as 3 km, but also occurred in Whites Ghaut to the NE. Rockfall activity was abundant on the N flank. On 4 February, ash fell across NW Montserrat. Observations the next day revealed that the central W part of the lava dome had grown and was 1,070 m a.s.l.

Pyroclastic flows following a Vulcanian explosion on 5 February traveled W, reaching Plymouth and spreading 500 m across the sea. Pyroclastic flows also traveled as far as 2 km NW down Tyers Ghaut and NE down Whites Ghaut. An ash plume rose to an altitude of 6.4 km (21,000 ft) a.s.l. A small Vulcanian explosion on 8 February generated pyroclastic flows that mostly traveled W down Gages Valley. Small pyroclastic surges observed using a thermal camera descended the N flanks. An ash plume rose to an altitude of 4.6 km (15,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted E and ENE. Ashfall was reported in NW Montserrat and in SW Antigua, 50 km NW. The Hazard Level remained at 4.

Geologic Summary. The complex dominantly andesitic SoufriÃ¨re Hills volcano occupies the southern half of the island of Montserrat. The summit area consists primarily of a series of lava domes emplaced along an ESE-trending zone. English's Crater, a 1-km-wide crater breached widely to the E, was formed during an eruption about 4,000 years ago in which the summit collapsed, producing a large submarine debris avalanche. Block-and-ash flow and surge deposits associated with dome growth predominate in flank deposits at SoufriÃ¨re Hills. Non-eruptive seismic swarms occurred at 30-year intervals in the 20th century, but with the exception of a 17th-century eruption that produced the Castle Peak lava dome, no historical eruptions were recorded on Montserrat until 1995. Long-term small-to-moderate ash eruptions beginning in that year were later accompanied by lava-dome growth and pyroclastic flows that forced evacuation of the southern half of the island and ultimately destroyed the capital city of Plymouth, causing major social and economic disruption.

Source: Montserrat Volcano Observatory (MVO) http://www.mvo.ms/

SUWANOSE-JIMA Ryukyu Islands (Japan) 29.635Â°N, 129.716Â°E; summit elev. 799 m

Based on information from JMA, the Tokyo VAAC reported explosions from Suwanose-jima during 5-6 and 9 February. Details of possible resulting emissions were not reported.

Geologic Summary. The 8-km-long, spindle-shaped island of Suwanose-jima in the northern Ryukyu Islands consists of an andesitic stratovolcano with two historically active summit craters. Only about 50 persons live on the sparsely populated island. The summit of the volcano is truncated by a large breached crater extending to the sea on the east flank that was formed by edifice collapse. Suwanose-jima, one of Japan's most frequently active volcanoes, was in a state of intermittent Strombolian activity from On-take, the NE summit crater, that began in 1949 and lasted nearly a half century. The largest historical eruption took place in 1813-14, when thick scoria deposits blanketed residential areas, after which the island was uninhabited for about 70 years. The SW crater produced lava flows that reached the western coast in 1813, and lava flows reached the eastern coast of the island in 1884.

Source: Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/OTH/JP/messages.html

TUNGURAHUA Ecuador 1.467Â°S, 78.442Â°W; summit elev. 5023 m

The IG reported that 14-51 explosions from Tungurahua were detected by the seismic network during 3-9 February. Inclement weather often prevented observations of the volcano; an ash plume was seen rising to an altitude of 7 km (23,000 ft) a.s.l. Ashfall was noted almost daily in areas to the SW, W, and NW, and was particularly heavy towards the end of the reporting period. Roaring noises and sounds resembling "cannon shots" were heard. Explosions sometimes caused windows and structures to vibrate, including large windows at the Tungurahua Observatory (OVT) in Guadalupe, 11 km N. Occasionally at night incandescence emanated from the crater and incandescent blocks rolled down the flanks as far as 1 km. On 3 February lahars descended drainages to the W and SW, carrying tree trunks and blocks up to 1 m in diameter, and causing the road from Riobamba to BaÃ±os to close. Strombolian activity from the crater was seen during 6-8 February.

Geologic Summary. The steep-sided Tungurahua stratovolcano towers more than 3 km above its northern base. It sits ~140 km S of Quito, Ecuador's capital city, and is one of Ecuador's most active volcanoes. Historical eruptions have all originated from the summit crater. They have been accompanied by strong explosions and sometimes by pyroclastic flows and lava flows that reached populated areas at the volcano's bas e. The last major eruption took place from 1916 to 1918, although minor activity continued until 1925. The latest eruption began in October 1999 and prompted temporary evacuation of the town of BaÃ±os on the N side of the volcano.

eklemetti Wed, 02/10/2010 - 07:57

So, Erik got the info.........
When major communictions have failed.........
We are so well connected. ahem....cough,cough.

and i guess this means the volcanoes have a snow day.
Best!motsfo

They may have a problem in Washington for quite a while. Last Friday and today they have experienced a classic Weather Bomb....something like a Snowcaine ...it looks like it is even developing an eye. Hey Erik I guess the East Coast apocalypse obsessed really did have a reason to obsess last Friday;)...Here is another reason for them to worry....They were told to get 3 days food last Friday, it is now Wednesday and most of them are stuck for awhile. At some point they will need to get some of that wet heavy snow off the roofs or they will start to collapse. The ones without power may not get it back for weeks as the temps stay below freezing. Also they most likely will see a possibly even bigger storm on the 16-17 and in between now and then almost nothing will melt. Here is a link to the GFS models

http://coolwx.com/cgi-bin/getptype.cgi?region=us&model=gfs&run=12&fhr=9…

It looks like we may even get a little snow here in Florida by the weekend.
I also see another storm possibly coming to the East coast less than a week after the 16-17 storm. As long as the Arctic Oscillation is negative and those El Nino storms are rolling in from California, they and much of the Eastern US are in the crosshairs for more ice and snow. Before this is over people without power around Washington and Philly will be burning furniture or anything they can find just to stay warm. They should see 100 inches or more for the season in several cities along the East Coast. This pattern looks like it will be here into March....although it may mercifully (For those on the East Coast) shift back to just west of the Appalachians and the South around the 1st of March. It should be a nice April though:) then ....gradual warming until middle June but a cool summer after that with very cold and stormy winters coming to the US and Europe for the next 2 winters and maybe beyond.

Let's see here. What was that they said about "global warming?!! Nice and warm in Washington and Tennesee isn't it Mr Gore?!!

So we got the Info from the Govt before the normal distribution eh?
Reminds me of the Movie Trading Places, where they get rich off the Orange Juice Market.
Quick, buy up all the Lava Futures! No! Sell!

I wouldn't put too much stock in the long-term storm track models - worked for storm 1, but not so good for storm 2.

Keep your eye pasted on jetstream map
http://www.intellicast.com/National/Wind/JetStream.aspx

The current pattern of high speed winds across the southern US is pretty interesting.

Ha! I was right about Sarychev Peak picking up in activity.

Big shake in southern Mexico (Chiapas) subduction zone is another reason for pause. OTOH, the Aleutian chain is looking pretty busy, shake-wise, but the volcanic activity is strangely quiet.

Quiet is not always good.

Trust me I know the weather almost as good as I do geology;)

Passerby, Keep an eye on this and you will know the winter weather in the North America and Europe at least 2 weeks ahead of time.
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/daily_ao_index/ao_index_…

The AO ensemble in no way solely dictates NA and Eurpean weather. Nino3.4 for longterm national forecasts.
Storm track to monitor short-term bad news.
http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/stormtracks/mstrack.shtml
Jetstream to evaluate short-term shift in temperatures.

I feel bad for Europe, under the hammer with major storms, facing yet another, with additional bad news on the way in about 10 days.

Exceptional winter weather.

Food for thought:
Large Earthquakes Trigger A Surge In Volcanic Eruptions (Science Daily, Jan 2009)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090110084653.htm

The pertinent questions are therefore 'where' and 'when'.

And here on the upper left coast? The warmest January on record, my primroses are blooming and the crocuses have started to fade. El Nino tend to induce a split flow in the jet stream over the north east pacific, keeping cold weather far north and sending rain storms to the southern califoria. It recombines over the mid west with the recently observed results.

The Cliff Mass weather blog is the best I've seen at explaining these weather complexities, http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/ , with occasional side servings of "why modern math education at the high school level is producing college freshman that can't keep up" and "there's a still lot of science to do on climate change" that are worth reading for those interested.

Passerby You are right it doesn't determine the weather but it is a good barometer of coming cold and storms in the Northern Hemisphere...We will agree to sort of disagree on the weather:) That article and the paper I posted the other day are just some of the reasons I am worried about Yellowstone. A shallow magma chamber that is 4300km3 in volume and 32% melt saturated with 8% water plus CO2 by volume is just a cocked gun waiting on one of those quakes. I can only hope that maybe someone saw our discussion the other day, read that paper and took it seriously. I have emailed it to Mike Rampino, Bill Mcguire and several others.

the Redoubt RSAM is starting to look interesting again too

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/rsam/rsam.php?volcname=Redoubt

Well, those of us on the middle left coast, N CA had some unusual snow. We had 14" here a couple of months ago and then 3 1/2" in a later storm. At ~2500', that is not typical for us. We had a blizzard in 91 that gave us 30" in one day and up in town they had about 4'! We ususally get more rain than the Central Valley and just north of us they get more rain than we do. We have been fortunate in that we have received more rain than normal. Thing is, I remember back in the 50s when the Sierras had snow all year long. Now they have almost no snow on them by the end of July or beginning of August.

I new a lady that was a friend of my mother's and her father was a physisist/meteorologist and he told Mom that every 50 years the weather patterns change. That is basically true, though not necessarily cut in stone. I believe we are going to see some really weird weather patterns. Just think of the "storm of the century" a few years ago when the east got hit and hit hard because a cold air came down from Canada and warm air came up from the gulf. They merged in the Appalatians. Major trouble.

I haven't read everything yet, but I will get to it. I want to see what is being said about the weather. As for Yellowstone, wouldn't it take a larger quake to get it to start rumbling? Of course, it may not. I think I mentioned once that my DH and others were using a thumper truck on the Garlock fault and the USGS guys came running and told them to get off the area. Just that thumper truck could have created a quake that might have been large enough to cause damage. So it may not take much. It will be interesting to see what happens next. Maybe Einstein was right. Check the post on another part of the blog (forgot what part, but it is a quote posted from Einstein). Maybe we could get a discussion going about that one. It is about the weight of the ice at the poles reaching a point were it starts to move the plates around. Interesing theory.

I found the post I was talking about. It is under the Monserrat post. #7

You'll have not supposed to do so, but I believe you've gotten managed to specific the state of mind that a lot of people are in. The sense of wanting to help, but not figuring out how or the place, is one thing plenty of us are going through.

Wednesday Whatzits: Kilauea takes out the last Royal Gardens home

eklemetti — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:57:38 +0000

Wednesday Whatzits: Kilauea takes out the last Royal Gardens home

News 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 Sakurajima. Definitely one of the cooler images of volcanoes I've seen this year.
Over on the big island of Hawai`i, lava flows from Kilauea are marching through parts of the abandoned Royal Gardens subdivision. Since the early 1980s, lava from Kilauea's east rift has destroyed 66 buildings in the subdivision and is currently filling in a lot of the spaces that had been previously untouched. The lava is being fed through at least 6 lava tubes that brings it down the slope of the volcano to the area of Royal Gardens. The last surviving home in Royal Gardens (owned by one Jack Thompson) is now in the path of the current activity, with lava flows only ~150 meters away. You might be amused by Mr. Thompson comments about why he bought a home on the slopes of the volcano: "I knew it was right here near Volcanoes National Park and there wasn't any old lava flows, there wasn't any old cinder cones, it was just pristine forest as far as you could see in any direction." Just goes to show, looks can be deceiving.

eklemetti Wed, 02/10/2010 - 02:57

Tags

Well, so long as Mr. Thompson knows where the flows were up to before he goes to bed, he can be reasonably comfortable that he can sleep through the night and simply get up and walk away the next day (as long as he's not completely surrounded by hot oozing lava).

Old Jack can always rebuild once volcano quiets down...maybe in another 30 years!

Spotlight on two Japanese volcanoes

eklemetti — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:14:29 +0000

Spotlight on two Japanese volcanoes

Sakurajima in Japan, erupting in December 2009. Image courtesy of Photovolcanica.com

Richard Roscoe at Photovolcanica.com has just posted two great sites focusing on two of the most active volcanoes in Japan: Sakurajima and Suwanosejima. These volcanoes are almost constantly erupting with small strombolian events punctuated by occasional plinian eruptions.

Sakurajima is on the island of Kyushu (well, technically Kagoshima, but right off the coast of Kyushu) less than 10 miles / 20 km from the city of Kagoshima. The volcano has been erupting since 1955 with both explosive and effusive products - some quite large, up to VEI 3. In January 1914, Sakurajima had a VEI 4 eruption after almost 100 years of quiet. The area near the volcano, including Kagoshima, was buried in ~1.5 km³ ash and tephra, with thousands of buildings destroyed from the weight of the tephra fall. If you feel like seeing what's up at Sakuajima, you can watch its volcano-cam.

A map of the most active volcanoes of Japan.

Suwanosejima is further south in the Ryukyu Island along the Japanese arc on Suwanose Island. It, too, is a very active volcano, with the current eruptive cycle starting in 2004, but prior to that, it erupted almost every year since the early 1990's. It tends to favor strombolian explosions that are smaller (VEI 1 and 2) than Sakurajima. However, a a series of large eruption in 1813-14 caused people to abandon the island. That eruption produced pyroclastic flows and lava flows that ranked as a VEI 4 eruption. It had a second VEI 4 in 1889, but since then the eruptions have been smaller.

eklemetti Thu, 01/21/2010 - 07:14

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volcanoes in the media

volcanoes in the media

I'm fascinated by Sakurajima..its present activity might be relatively harmless (though who knows how long that apparent stability will last?) -but it's a permanent health hazard anyway to the people of Kagoshima, the city has the highest incidence of silicosis in Japan, probably from the frequent dustings of ash.

Somewhere (if I can find it!) I have an old bound volume of National Geographic -early 1920s??- with a long and vivid account of the 1914 eruption

Just a big thanks for you linking to the remote control camera at Sakurajima - I watched (and controlled the camera for) my first LIVE volcanic eruption that I have seen. Much better then the old Mt. St. Helen's volcano-cam. I hauled the other science teacher into my classroom along with any students still roaming the campus and we watched the volcano as well as Japan wake up and start a new day from here in Texas. Simply outstanding.

Excellent website on Sakurajima volcano and ash depositional impact on nearby watershed:

http://www.qsr.mlit.go.jp/osumi/sivsc/home/english/s01.html

I live in Kagoshima and have not seen a collection of photos as nice as those made during their trip. Luckily for them the volcano is erupting so often, over 500 times in 2009 and I hear over 100 times already in 2010. Luckily winds haven't blown the ash to the city so often.

You'd think that living here I would have tons of chances to photograph eruptions. The volcano can be seen from Shiroyama Hotel, just up the hill from my place. With work and daily life you turn your head and say, hey the volcano erupted. Too bad I am at work... or too bad my camera is at home etc. I was planning to go make nighttime eruption photos last week. Now, I am absolutely hyped to go. I should mail Roscoe and ask specifically where he made a few of the photos. I will be going by scooter and probably freezing my butt off the nights I go out;)

Oh, you should click on the x5 webcam since you get 5 webcams of the volcano on the same page. Beside the x5 webcam is a photo every minute video for the day so you can see the volcano from sunrise to sunset as a movie one photo per minute. Something happened to the camera a few months back so the quality is pretty bad at the moment but it is still cool.

lololololololollo

back in my days we only tasted some best of the bees out there did it like that and nothing really happened

I have been looking good details about this topic for a while and I gotta say you put up offers me some basic thought about my paper I'm gonna write for my assignment. I would like copy a few of your words here and I hope you don't mind. Thanks. I'll reference your work of course. Thank you.Keep updating the great posts. will come back.

Andauerned erscheinen nagelneue Mobile auf den Marktplatz. Aber wie gut sind diese wirklich?

Andauerned kommen moderne Telefone auf den Marktplatz. Aber wie einwandfrei sind diese wirklich?

Monday Musings: Galeras rumbles, a dome on Mayon, Kilauea lava flows and Sakurajima from space

eklemetti — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:31:15 +0000

Monday Musings: Galeras rumbles, a dome on Mayon, Kilauea lava flows and Sakurajima from space

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 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 the summit. At this point, it is unclear to PHIVOLCS whether the dome is exposed at the surface or a cryptodome pushing material up at the crater rim, but a forthcoming aerial survey will hopefully offer new details on the dome. If it is a new dome exposed at the crater rim, this might signal a new threat of dome-collapse block-and-ash flows from Mayon. However, both sulfur dioxide emissions and seismicity is down at the volcano - the former potentially being a bad sign (SO₂ emissions went down before the eruption of Pinatubo in 1991) and the later might be just an ephemeral event. The volcano is still at Alert Level 2.
And nothing like some nice video of a night-time ocean entry at Kilauea. The article also has a nice map of the October lava flows from the Hawaiian volcano.
Finally, I was sent this image of Sakurajima by the kind folks at the NASA Earth Observatory. It shows the wispy steam-and-ash plume drifting off to the west of the Japanese volcano on this Terra/MODIS image. Apparently most of the haze in the image is from China rather than the steaming volcano.

eklemetti Sun, 11/01/2009 - 22:31

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NASA Earth Observatory

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I love the way you sound so passionate about what you are writing. Keep up the great work!