Monday Musings: Iceland update, St. Helens anniversary, earthquakes at Hood and Mikeno erupts(?)

Some news for a sleepy Monday:

nMt. Hood in Oregon.

The ash from Eyjafjallajökull is, once again, causing significant airspace closure over northern Europe – close of 1,000 flights today. However, much of the closures are fairly short-lived, but that isn’t keeping people happy. The eruption hasn’t actually changed much, just that the winds are bringing ash towards Europe. The ash for the next few days will likely effect the England, Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, France and possibly other parts of northern Europe (along with airspace over Greenland and the north Atlantic). The ash plume is reaching upwards of 7-9 km (24,000 – 30,000 feet) with significant lightning in the plume (over 150 strikes/day). You can check out an amazing video of the eruption – up close and personal.

There is a brief report of a eruption and avalanche at Mikeno in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mikeno doesn’t even muster a description in the Global Volcanism Program database, so not much is known about the volcano beyond its location 45 km north of the city of Goma – and the large population of mountain gorillas on its flanks. The unconfirmed eruption at Mikeno has reportedly left 36 people missing after the avalanche.

Remember, tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens – and if you haven’t already checked out the eruption memories of Eruptions readers, you should! There is a lot of articles marking the anniversary about the eruption, the volcano and the recovery.

And while all this is happening marking the 1980 eruption of St. Helens, there is a report of a small earthquake swarm at St. Helens’ neighbor, Mt. Hood. In fact, the USGS reports that a series of small earthquake swarms have been occurring at the Oregon volcano for the past month. These swarms are relatively common, but are still worth watching. Hood’s last confirmed eruption was in 1865-6, possibly as recently as 1906.