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Eruptions Posts

Hot stuff from Earth's interior

Eruptions

Chaiten slowing down, but not stopping.

Missing
almost 5 years ago

Although the mainstream media seems to have lost interest in the Chaiten eruption beyond the "human interest" (or should I say "salmon interest") aspect of the eruption, there is still a lot going on at the volcano. The SERNAGEOMIN recently released this excellent photo of the erupting caldera ...

Eruptions

Hat tip to the Volcanism Blog

Missing
almost 5 years ago

Looks like a lot of you have found my (fairly new) Eruptions blog via the kind post over on another excellent volcano blog, the aptly titled Volcanism Blog. That blog is run by Dr. Ralph Harrington, a historian, and I have to admit, does a much more thorough job with some of the foreign language ...

Eruptions

MODIS catches Rabaul in the act

Missing
almost 5 years ago

I'm always amazed by the number of volcanic eruptions captured by satellites that we might not have ever even had known occurred otherwise. Case in point is Rabaul on the island of New Britain in Papua New Guinea. An Aqua satellite captured this shot of Rabaul erupting on May 20th, leaving a ...

Eruptions

Tungurahua: More than a tongue-twister

Missing
almost 5 years ago

Tungurahua, one of the most active (and harder to pronounce) volcanoes in the Andes, has been experiencing explosions over the last few days. Not much in the report beyond the 125 explosions, increased seismicity and ashfall around the volcano. This is fairly typical behavior of Tungurahua: ...

Eruptions

Semeru, Indonesia rumbling to life

Missing
almost 5 years ago

People living around Semeru Volcano, Indonesia, have been put on alert for a potential eruption. Indonesia's Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation has put the volcano on level 3 (of 4) alert and said "not to conduct activity at a radius of 4 kilometres from the crater ...

Eruptions

Ruapehu: Lava versus skiers

Missing
almost 5 years ago

I think we know who wins this battle. At Ruapehu (New Zealand), it isn't really the lava that is the problem, but the lahars produced by mixing snow, crater lake water and volcanic debris. However, that is not stopping people from wanting to ski on the volcano. Never ceases to amaze me how ...

Eruptions

Yellowstone: the return?

Missing
almost 5 years ago

Everyone loves a "supervolcano"*. According to a recent report, Los Angeles will be erupting from underneath Yellowstone Caldera (Wyoming). OK, not really, but apparently there has been 7 cm of uplift underneath the footprint of the Yellowstone Caldera since 2004, which is a pretty good amount ...

Eruptions

Back from east coast, time to play catch-up

Missing
almost 5 years ago

I've made it back from my trip to Washington DC. The Smithsonian Institution is quite a fun place to visit, especially if rocks are your ilk. Be sure to check out the wonderful mineral collection at the Natural History Museum. I only wish the Global Volcanism Program would have a more ...

Eruptions

Weekend Wrapup: Etna & Chaiten

Missing
about 5 years ago

It has been rather quiet on the volcano news front over the weekend. A couple tidbits: - There are some new data showing the sulfur dioxide flux from Mt. Etna (Italy). The image above is an eruption of Etna from 2001 (and it makes a great wallpaper). - I've heard very little about Chaiten ...

Eruptions

Mt. Saint Helens Anniversary

Missing
about 5 years ago

Happy 28th anniversary of the 1980 Mt. Saint Helens eruption. The volcano had a catastrophic collapse of one side of the edifice that triggered the climatic eruption. Enjoy this clip from the CBS News from 3 days after the eruption. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYP3MZY6aw0]  

Eruptions

Hawaiian Vog

Missing
about 5 years ago

The latest eruption at Kilauea has increased the amount of vog on the big island of Hawai'i. Vog is more or less the same as the anthropogenic "smog" produced by car/industrial exhaust, but produced by volcanic gases (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide amongst ...

Eruptions

A new rift eruption at Etna?

Missing
about 5 years ago

At first it seemed like the new eruptions at Mt. Etna (Italy) were petering out rather quickly. Instead, now it seems that there are fears that a new rift might be opening on Etna, which might mean more vents for lava to erupt. Apparently there has also been some seismic activity to go along ...

Eruptions

On the Chaiten Front

Missing
about 5 years ago

To keep us up to date on the goings-on at Chaiten in southern Chile, well, the volcano is still erupting! Yes, two weeks in and heavy ash is still being erupted from vent. The latest reports are vague, but Chilean officials are saying things like "There's been additional volcanic activity that ...

Eruptions

More Chilean rumblings

Missing
about 5 years ago

If Chaiten, Llaima and Puyehue weren't enough, the Chilean Regional Emergency Office is placing seismometers on Peteroa volcano after its shown signs of increasing activity. The volcano is located out on the border with Chile and Argentina and has a number of glaciers that start from the edifice ...

Eruptions

Your Daily Chaiten Report

Missing
about 5 years ago

A bit busy today, so to borrow from the newest USGS/SI Volcanism Report: On 12 May, the plume rose to an altitude of 8 km (26,200 ft) a.s.l. During an overflight conducted by SERNAGEOMIN, four more plumes of a similar altitude were generated by explosions and drifted NE. Several hectares of ...