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- Jul 19, 2004
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... I like to go to google earth and I found something curious on Bouvet Island (yes; the Bouvet Island that figured so prominently in my thread on phantom islands). Bouvet is a dormant volcano, and it is uninhabited. I noticed what appeared to be smoke, ash or some such thing. That made think the volcano had activated, but when I checked the Global Volcanism site, the last eruption was about 2000 years ago.
Could it have been discolored clouds or something? It seem unlikely that an eruption could have been missed. Bouvet is 54 South 3 East.
'Dormant' basically means 'not actively erupting', as opposed to 'extinct' (i.e., dead; incapable of further eruptions).
A dormant volcano can still be 'hot', and it can still emit gas / vapor.
If what you saw was on or at the surface, I suspect it was fog or water vapor (perhaps steam).