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Volcanos / Volcanoes

The devastating eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 occured only just south of Sumatra. Padang and Mt Talang are roughly 500 miles away from the site.

Plenty of info on the web about it, e.g this.
 
I cant imagine the terror everyone there must be feeling, must be the scariest place on the planet, I mean from a natural disaster point of view, I'm sure Baghdad is no picnic either but for different reasons.

Should they evacuate that whole place ? I know if I lived there I would do my utmost to leave.

Poor people, I hope it all settles down for them, how much more can they take ?
 
A number of posts split off from the SE Asian qukae tsunaami thread:
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19588

as they are more about a volcanic eruption.

Top alert: 25,000 evacuate as volcano comes alive

April 13, 2005 - 2:48PM


More than 25,000 frightened residents have been evacuated as a rumbling volcano on Indonesia's Sumatra island sent out fire, smoke and ash.

Officials raised the alert level as Mount Talang activity intensified.
Talang's violent awakening has coincided with a string of earthquakes on Sumatra.

It is still recovering from December 26's magnitude nine quake and tsunami that killed nearly 300,000 across Asia. On March 28, a 8.7 quake flattened islands, including Nias, off western Sumatra, killing hundreds.

"The status of Mount Talang is now at top alert," Surono, a vulcanologist from the Directorate of Vulcanology and Geophysics in the Java city of Bandung, told Reuters.

Officials said 26,000 people had been evacuated from the slopes and areas around the 2,690 metre volcano in West Sumatra province, and the number was likely to rise.

The volcano lies near the city of Padang, 938 km north-west of Jakarta.

"It was like the end of the world," said Syafrudin, 65, a farmer, after fleeing from the mountainside and speaking outside a makeshift tent near the village of Tanjung Aua.

"I first heard the rumble and then the ground started shaking ... then there's smoke and sparks. We all ran in fear."

Vulcanologists said they could not confirm whether lava had actually spewed out.

But smoke had billowed up to 1,000 metres high from the volcano's crater and ash had travelled up to 12 km away, Surono said.

"The activity has definitely stepped up and we have alerted airport officials to watch out for smoke," Surono said.

Scientists have warned of increased seismic activity in Indonesia as the plates that make up the earth's crust adjust following the magnitude 9 earthquake on Boxing Day that triggered massive tsunami waves across the Indian Ocean.

"The plates' movements release energy underground and the energy could add to the activity of many volcanoes on Sumatra but it doesn't mean this will trigger an eruption," said Surono.

"Coincidentally, the pressure inside Mount Talang had been high and the quake activity has increased that energy."

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has urged Indonesians not to see the spate of quakes and the December tsunami as a sign of more natural calamities to come.

Elvi Sahlan, deputy mayor of the town of Solok near the volcano, said many residents were frightened.

"... we have evacuated around 26,000 people from the surrounding areas and the number is likely to increase," Sahlan said.

Many residents spent the night in tents on open fields while others took refuge at government buildings and sports stadiums.

"The whole family is stressed. It's better to be here now than to live in fear," said Yusmalidar, 40, who had just been evacuated in a government truck with his wife and three children.

One local official said there was a shortage of tents and water among residents.
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Source
 
Volcano in Western Mexico Erupts

By MARK STEVENSON

MEXICO CITY (AP) - A volcano in western Mexico unleased its most powerful eruption in more than a decade Monday, shooting ash two miles into the sky and sending burning gas and rock fragments down the slopes.

No injuries or damages were reported - the nearest settlement is about four miles away. Winds blew the ash cloud toward the west, away from the most heavily populated areas.

Tonatiuh Dominguez, a seismologist at the volcano observation station operated by the University of Colima, warned that the peak ``is still in an explosive stage.''

Experts said it was the biggest explosion at the volcano in the western state of Colima since 1991. The Colima volcano, which has erupted violently dozens of times since its first recorded eruption in 1560, is considered to be among the most active and potentially the most destructive of the volcanoes in Mexico.

The eruption at the 12,533-foot volcano, 430 miles northwest of Mexico City, was considered larger than one in 1999 but smaller than a 1913 blast that created a crater 1,650 feet deep and rained ash on Guadalajara, 75 miles to the north.


05/23/05 23:06


© Copyright The Associated Press.
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SOURCE
 
Vapour column fuels volcano talk

From correspondents in Tokyo
03jul05

A GIANT column of water vapour seen off the tiny Japanese Pacific island of Iwo Jima may have been caused by an undersea volcanic eruption, Japan's coastguard said today.

The 1000m high column was spotted by a maritime defence force member yesterday near the volcanic island, about 1250km south of Tokyo, the coastguard said.

But Japan's meteorological agency said there were no signs of seismic activity at the time.

Coastguard official Yasuo Otani said: "We suspect the undersea volcanic moves are becoming active. But since Saturday, we have not seen any big columns."

The coastguard dispatched a plane to the area, Mr Otani said, adding that a Japanese maritime defence force helicopter had confirmed that the centre of the big column was "reddish".

SOURCE
 
Volcano: The beast awakens

Source
El Salvador volcano causes chaos
El Salvador's highest volcano, Ilamatepec, has erupted, killing two people and forcing thousands to evacuate the area.
The eruption released giant plumes of smoke and hurled ash and burning rock into the air, witnesses said.

Scientists said the volcano had spat rocks as far as 1.5km (0.93 miles) from its crater.

There have also been reports of lava rocks the size of cars, and villagers fleeing from a flood of boiling water.

Ilamatepec, also known as the Santa Ana volcano, had lain dormant since 1904.

It lies about 60km west of the capital, San Salvador.

Approximately 10,000 people live in the area surrounding the volcano.

On Friday, about 30 families were evacuated after columns of sulphuric smoke rose from the crater.

As it began to erupt, several thousand residents were evacuated and the government issued warnings to nearby villages.

'Second eruption'

A 4km radius around the volcano was declared a red alert area by the Salvadoran Interior Ministry, while a "yellow alert" was issued for adjacent areas.

According to the AFP news agency, officials with the National Emergency Committee said 2,250 people had been evacuated from the danger zone.

There were also reports of at least seven injuries, and some locals have been treated for smoke inhalation.

The President of El Salvador, Antonio Saca, has warned that a second eruption cannot be ruled out.

But he called on El Salvadorans to remain calm, and described the eruption as one of "moderate magnitude".

He added that the country's civil protection forces had been deployed.

President Saca also warned people against going to watch the phenomenon of a volcano erupting.
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Bah, I thought you would be talking about the real thing. The Yellowstone Park supervolcano

Now I got my adrenaline running for nothing.
 
Volcano of Fire spews lava and ash

Tue Dec 27, 6:23 PM ET

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala's Volcano of Fire erupted on Tuesday, sending rivers of lava down its slopes and a huge cloud of ash and smoke into the sky.

About 25,000 local residents were put on alert. Emergency teams said there was no immediate need for evacuations but they might be necessary if there were more eruptions.

Experts said two rivers of lava, both about 1.5 miles (2 km) long, were flowing down the volcano's slopes, although they posed no threat to villagers in the area. A column of ash rose 1.5 miles and ash fell on areas south of the capital.

The volcano stands 40 miles southwest of Guatemala's capital and its peak is about 12,000 feet (3,700 metres) above sea level. It is one of the most active of Guatemala's 33 volcanoes.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051227/sc_ ... volcano_dc
 
Mount St. Helens' Lava Astounds Scientists

By PEGGY ANDERSEN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 9 minutes ago

SEATTLE - Fifteen months after Mount St. Helens reawakened, the volcano is continuing to release massive amounts of lava in an unusual geologic display that in some respects confounds scientists.

Roughly every three seconds, a large dump truck load's worth of lava — 10 cubic yards — oozes into the mountain's crater. And with the sticky molten rock comes a steady drumfire of small earthquakes.

The unremitting, monthslong pace is not common, said
U.S. Geological Survey geologist Dave Sherrod. Experts say it is unclear what the activity signifies or how long it will continue.

"One view of this eruption is that we're at the end of the eruption that began in 1980," Sherrod said. "If it hadn't been so cataclysmic ... it might instead have gone through 30 or 40 years of domebuilding and small explosions."

St. Helens' violent May 18, 1980, eruption blasted 3.7 billion cubic yards of ash and debris off the top of the mountain. Fifty-seven people died in the blast, which left a gaping crater in place of the perfect, snowclad cone that had marked the original 9,677-foot peak known as "America's Mount Fuji."

St. Helens — now 8,325 feet — rumbled for another six years, extruding 97 million cubic yards of lava onto the crater floor in a series of 22 eruptions that built a 876-foot dome. The volcano, located about 100 miles south of Seattle, fell silent in 1986.

Then in September 2004, the drumfire of low-level quakes began — occasionally spiking above magnitude 3, but generally ranging between magnitude 1 and 2. Since then the mountain has squeezed out about 102 million cubic yards of lava.

All the recent activity has remained within the crater, though scientists — keenly aware of the potential damage that silica-laced ash can pose to jet engines — monitor St. Helens closely for plumes of smoke and ash that can go as high as 30,000 feet.

"We haven't had that kind of plume since March 8, which is either a blessing or it leads us into complacency," Sherrod said, adding quickly, "We avoid complacency."

It's not entirely clear where the lava is coming from. If it were being generated by the mountain, scientists would expect to see changes in the mountain's shape, its sides compressing as lava is spewed out.

But at the current rate of extrusion, "three or four months would have been enough time to exhaust what was standing in the conduit," Sherrod said.

That suggests resupply from greater depths, which normally would generate certain gases and deep earthquakes. Neither is being detected.

"That's one of the headscratchers, I guess," Sherrod said.

___

U.S. Geological Survey regional site:

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Cas ... ntActivity

Pacific Northwest Seismic Network:

http://www.pnsn.org/HELENS/welcome.html
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051230/ap_ ... st__helens
 
Vesuvius risk planning criticised
By Roland Pease
BBC science correspondent


Researchers are warning that the next eruption of Vesuvius could be much more deadly than the Italian authorities are planning for.
A US-Italian collaboration says deadly blasts have previously caused devastation which swept well beyond modern Naples.

Italian plans call for the evacuation of 600,000 people from the city.

But the researchers say up to three million people could be at risk according to the new assessment.

Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79, the eruption that buried the Roman town of Pompeii.

Plans for the evacuation of Naples are based on a similar-sized eruption in 1631.

But eight times further into the deeper past, Vesuvius exploded with even greater force.

Past eruptions

The new work, published by the US National Academy of Sciences, shows that in the Bronze Age, the most recent of those eruptions, hot, ash-ridden flows raced up to 25km (16 miles) to the north-west of the volcano, over and beyond modern Naples.

Anything within the first 12km (eight miles) would have been swept away by the force of the torrent.

To the east of the volcano, tens of centimetres of pumice rained down on the surrounding countryside - the weight would crush the roofs of modern houses.

If the volcanic cycles of Vesuvius are anything to go by, a repetition of this eruption is as likely as a recurrence of the 1631 event - and Naples needs to realise how bad that could be, the authors say.

One of the authors, Michael Sheridan, says he was motivated by the US experience of Hurricane Katrina last year, where authorities failed to prepare adequately for a well-understood weather disaster.

Vesuvius at its worst would be much more ferocious, and there would be nothing to return to afterwards.

Few volcanoes are more closely monitored than Vesuvius, and scientists believe they will know when it is about to blow.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4780916.stm
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I thought I'd check the volcano webcams I posted earlier, but the website has changed.

However you can find the webcams here:
http://www.ct.ingv.it/Ufso/Default.asp? ... eralit.htm

Put the mouse over the name of a volcano and a submenu of cameras appears - put the mouse over one of those and you get the choice of webcam or map.

(If you click the little image above the volcano name, you get info on the camera positions, etc. It's all in Italian, but interesting and useful anyhow!)

NB Not all cameras may be functioning at any given time.
 
Mount Merapi Eruption - Indonesia

Source
Indonesian island volcano threat
Indonesia is preparing to evacuate thousands of people after a massive volcano in Java started spewing clouds of smoke and lava, officials said.
Mount Merapi, overlooking the ancient city of Jogjakarta, is on Orange Code - the second highest alert level.

More than 200 military vehicles have been deployed to evacuate villagers from the area, 460km (285 miles) west of the capital, Jakarta.

At least 60 people were killed in Mount Merapi's last major eruption in 1994.

"We are on alert so that if Merapi is about to erupt we can arrange the evacuation of villagers," government volcanologist Heru Suparwoko told AP news agency.

Mr Suparwoko, speaking from an observation station overlooking the 2,968-metre (9,737-foot) mountain, also said local officials were stocking up on medicines to be used at temporary shelters.
Mount Merapi is one of the most active of at least 129 volcanoes in Indonesia.

The country is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" - a series of volcanoes and fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and South East Asia.

One of Mount Merapi's deadliest eruptions was in 1930, killing 1,300 people.
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Emergency declared in Peru as Mt. Ubinas threatens to erupt

The government of Peru declared a state of emergency in the vicinity of the Ubinas volcano on Saturday as it began to spew out ash and smoke over a 6km area, indicating a possible eruption in the near future. The civil defence institute has recommended the total evacuation of the 3,500 residents of the district of Ubinas.

The Peruvian military has been ordered to aid in the evacuation of civilians from the area. Aid shipments of tents, water and powdered milk are being sent to the affected area.

Those who decided to evacuate were brought to the town of Querapi by bus. Others who reside near the volcano chose to stay behind to protect their livestock and belongings.

No human deaths have been reported so far, but llamas and alpacas have died after eating grass contaminated by volcanic pollutants. People have reported eye and breathing problems following exposure to the acid-laden ash and smoke.

The 18700-ft. high Ubinas is Peru's most active volcano, with 23 eruptions recorded since 1550. The current activity follows a 40-year dormant period. Scientists at the Institute of Geophysics have warned that a dome of incandescent lava appears to be building up in the volcanic crater.
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Source
 
Looks like it's about to blow...

Source
Red alert for Indonesia volcano
Indonesian authorities have ordered the compulsory evacuation of thousands of residents living on the slopes of the volcano Mount Merapi.
The alert level has been raised to the highest level, warning of an imminent eruption of the volcano which has been rumbling ominously for weeks.

The 3,000m (9,700ft) peak, in densely populated Central Java province, is in a state of "constant lava flow".

A gas cloud from the volcano's last eruption in 1994 killed 60 people.

Subandrio, head of the Merapi section at the Centre for Volcanological Research and Technology Development, said: "This morning we raised the status of Merapi to the top alert which is the red code.

"Every resident has been ordered to evacuate."

No choice

The BBC's Rachel Harvey, in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, says the authorities have decided on a mass evacuation after weeks of preparations and warnings.

More than 1,000 people who live closest to the crater - including the elderly and mothers with young children - have already been evacuated.


But some residents have remained reluctant to leave as they fear losing property and livestock.

With the threat status at its highest level, they now have no choice, our correspondent says.

Local television has been showing dramatic night-time pictures of a stream of lava slipping down one side of the mountain.

But scientists warn that the greatest danger could come from hot gasses expelled from the volcano's crater.

Vulcanologist Bambang Dwiyanto said the alert had been raised because "there has been constant lava flows that cause hot gases".


The lava began to flow on Thursday.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla toured the area on Thursday and ordered 50% of the population in the danger zone be moved.

Indonesia, part of the Asia-Pacific "Ring of Fire", has at least 129 active volcanoes.

Mount Merapi, which some locals consider sacred, overlooks the ancient city of Jogjakarta.

One of its deadliest eruptions was in 1930, when about 1,300 people were killed.
Click to expand...
 
Red alert for Indonesia volcano

Indonesian authorities have ordered the compulsory evacuation of thousands of residents living on the slopes of the volcano Mount Merapi.
The alert level has been raised to the highest level, warning of an imminent eruption of the volcano which has been rumbling ominously for weeks.

The 3,000m (9,700ft) peak, in densely populated Central Java province, is in a state of "constant lava flow".

A gas cloud from the volcano's last eruption in 1994 killed 60 people.

Subandrio, head of the Merapi section at the Centre for Volcanological Research and Technology Development, said: "This morning we raised the status of Merapi to the top alert which is the red code.

"Every resident has been ordered to evacuate."

No choice

The BBC's Rachel Harvey, in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, says the authorities have decided on a mass evacuation after weeks of preparations and warnings.

More than 1,000 people who live closest to the crater - including the elderly and mothers with young children - have already been evacuated.

But some residents have remained reluctant to leave as they fear losing property and livestock.

With the threat status at its highest level, they now have no choice, our correspondent says.

Local television has been showing dramatic night-time pictures of a stream of lava slipping down one side of the mountain.

But scientists warn that the greatest danger could come from hot gasses expelled from the volcano's crater.

Vulcanologist Bambang Dwiyanto said the alert had been raised because "there has been constant lava flows that cause hot gases".

The lava began to flow on Thursday.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla toured the area on Thursday and ordered 50% of the population in the danger zone be moved.

Indonesia, part of the Asia-Pacific "Ring of Fire", has at least 129 active volcanoes.

Mount Merapi, which some locals consider sacred, overlooks the ancient city of Jogjakarta.

One of its deadliest eruptions was in 1930, when about 1,300 people were killed.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 767805.stm
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Java volcano activity increases

Activity on the Indonesian volcano Mount Merapi has intensified, with continuous clouds of ash, gas and rock fragments spewing from its crater.
One of the emissions sent a pile of debris 4km (2.5 miles) down one side of the mountain, scientists said.

Experts monitoring the volcano, in central Java, raised its alert status to the highest level on Saturday.

Thousands of people have been moved from the volcano's upper slopes, but a small number are refusing to leave.

So far there have been no confirmed reports of fresh lava flows from Mount Merapi on Monday, but the volcano is becoming more active by the day.

At least one village about 3 km ( 2 miles) from the crater has already been covered in a thin coat of volcanic ash.

Subandriyo, a vulcanologist on Merapi, told the BBC that he now believes the volcano is in the early stages of an eruption, adding that it was not possible to predict "when it will reach its peak".

But the Centre of Vulcanological Research and Technology (CVRT) in Yogyakarta - an historic university town about 25 miles (40 km) from Mount Merapi - said that the clouds were not necessarily a sign that the volcano was erupting.

"It is only a sign of extraordinary activity," said Jilal, a CVRT official.

Evacuation

By Sunday more than 4,500 people living in the villages closest to the crater, or next to rivers that could provide channels for hot lava, had been moved to emergency shelters.

Many more are still lining up by the side of the road, waiting for trucks to take them to safety.

But there are still a few farmers refusing to move. Without their crops and animals, they have no income and cannot support their families, so they are waiting until the government offers financial help.

Others - mainly fathers and their sons - are spending nights outside the danger zone but are travelling back during the day to tend to farms and livestock.

The mountain is also revered by many locals, who believe mystical sprits live in the volcano's crater. Many say they are waiting for specific signs - such as clouds in the shape of a sheep's fleece - to show them an eruption is imminent.

Merapi, which means "mountain of fire", is one of the most fearsome volcanoes in the Pacific "Ring of Fire".

A gas cloud from the volcano's last eruption in 1994 killed 60 people.

One of its deadliest eruptions was in 1930, when about 1,300 people were killed.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you live in the area? Have you or do you know anyone who has been affected by the evacuation? Send us your experiences by using the form below:
I was born in a village about 10 km east from Merapi. Now I live in Cilegon, near the volcano of Krakatau in Banten. I have climbed Merapi twice. The villagers around Mount Merapi have a strong believe in whatever the keeper of Merapi Mr. Marijan says. He is the one, who can see the condition of the volcano from the mystical side. If Mr. Marijan does not leave the mountain, the villagers won't leave either. Most of them are not well educated and believe in superstitions. Rochedi Zuwono, Indonesia

I have friends in Indonesia and I know that the evacuation is not good. I've seen migration from homeland to kenya and faced many problem. Human life is much more important than the life stock because life stock is replaceable but human life is not replaceable. On the other hand the soil will become much more fertile after the eruption. This is why volcano eruptions are important. Geele Farah, Kenya

Mt Merapi certainly seems to exhibit clear signs of an imminent eruption. The scale of the potential disaster depends on the location of the local communities. They thrive within these areas because of the fertile soil secured by regular eruptions. However it is the increased density of the population that draws more concern for the potential hazard. It is not surprising that many farmers are reluctant to leave their land given that there is no compensatory package provided by the government. The risk to human lifes is becoming ever greater, and the socioeconomic infrastructure is under serious threat. The power of nature cannot be undermined, that is always the case in areas prone to geophysical hazards.....You've got to learn to live with the hazard, but the disaster can be significantly reduced by appropriate preparedness - something the Indonesians seem to have achieved, at least in part. Chris Brodie, Denny

I was born and lived for 7 years in the District of Magelang, where half of Gunung Merapi is located. I still remember every time I went back from school, I faced Merapi. Every time I heard that Merapi is going to explode, I often heard the terrible news from people, and also heard the myths connected with it. Can't imagine the condition now. I also visited Merapi, but I did not climb, and remember there were a lot of houses. I often wondered what will happen to them.William Tanoto, UK

I visited Merapi in 1994. What concerned me most was that the city of Jogjakarta has a population of over 10 million people. If Merapi was to erupt on a massive scale this could be one of the worlds greatest humanitarian disasters.Tim Butler, UK

I have friends in Indonesia and wish everyone is more willing to leave since the eruption is very dangerous and death is imminent. don't worry about life stock because they are replaceable but your life can't. The soil in the farmland will become much more fertile after the eruption.Sherwin Lo, Marietta, USA

I live 35 km to the east of mount Merapi. Luckily for me, the eruption never affect areas in the east of Merapi but only to the north and northwest. After the eruption, the sky will be very dark and it will rain of ash and dirt for about two hours. When I was a kid, the eruption didn't affect us directly but the whole town was covered by thick-gray-ash and we spent hours to sweep it off our roof and garden. Yesterday I heard that some poor farmers wanted the government to buy their cattle and livestock because it is the only possession they have. It's an old old story, EVERY TIME Merapi erupts, there are ALWAYS dead victims. Usually it's the ones who decided to stay in the Merapi's vicinity.Winarto, Solo, Indonesia

I am a Canadian who used to live in Yogyakarta 20 years ago. I fell in love with the people, the land and climbed Merapi. It was common to leave at dusk in order to watch the sunrise from the peak of Merapi. I stay in touch with my friends there who are nervous - remember this if from the land of Krakatoa and one only needs to think of Pompeii to realise what could happen. Spencer Campbell, Canada

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 771459.stm
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Drifting volcanic plume snapped by climate satellite

A volcanic plume that travelled halfway around the world is visible in the first image released from NASA's CALIPSO satellite.

CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations) took its first measurements on 7 June 2006 and spied a wispy plume of sulphur dioxide at an altitude of 20 kilometres above Indonesia.

The plume originated 17,000 kilometres (11,000 miles) away on the Caribbean island of Montserrat on 20 May. That day, a plug of viscous lava that had been rising from the Soufriere Hills volcano like toothpaste from a tube collapsed, sending ash flying 17 kilometres into the atmosphere.

"It wasn't one of those big eruptions, it was just a puff that went up high," says CALIPSO project scientist Chip Trepte of NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia, US.

Laser pulses
He says the fact that CALIPSO could see the plume 18 days after the eruption illustrates the satellite's sensitivity. The plume appears to be made up mainly of sulphuric acid droplets. Watch a movie of the plume – taken by NASA's Aura satellite – drifting around the world (.mov format, 856KB).

CALIPSO launched on 28 April with its sister satellite, CloudSat (see NASA finally launches climate satellites). Both satellites take vertical profiles of clouds from space, but CloudSat uses radar, which uses radio and microwaves to penetrate the thick clouds that CALIPSO cannot. CALIPSO uses lidar, which emits pulses of laser light and is useful for detecting thin cirrus clouds that radar might miss.

CALIPSO's main task is to measure aerosols – fine particles from dust, smoke, volcanic activity or combustion. Aerosols can absorb, scatter and emit sunlight and infrared radiation.

Rivers of air
Ultimately, scientists hope to use CALIPSO to help understand the relationship between aerosols and climate change. Over its three-year mission, CALIPSO should be able to observe seasonal changes in aerosol levels.

And CALIPSO may shed light on how the ozone holes above the Earth's poles form. The satellite has already begun studying how polar stratospheric clouds – which are precursors to the ozone holes and lie at altitudes of about 20 kilometres – change over time.

In addition, the CALIPSO team has already seen dust storms in Africa and plumes of aerosols in the Arctic regions that may be connected to forest fires in Canada and Russia.

"That's one of the exciting things when you look at the data – you start to appreciate how the rivers of air are connected," Trepte told New Scientist.

Mission scientists are currently in Georgia, US, trying to compare CALIPSO's data with similar measurements taken by a high-altitude aircraft called the ER-2.

http://www.newscientistspace.com/articl ... llite.html
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newscientistspace.com/articl ... llite.html
Link is dead. The MIA webpage (quoted in full above) can be accessed via the Wayback Machine:
https://web.archive.org/web/2006082...canic-plume-snapped-by-climate-satellite.html
 
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New type of volcano fires imaginations

A new type of volcano has been discovered in the western Pacific Ocean. The findings may reduce the strength of a popular theory of “hotspot” volcanism, researchers say.

Naoto Hirano at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, and colleagues have discovered miniature volcanoes – between 0.005 cubic kilometres and 1 km3 in size – near the underwater Japan Trench. These volcanoes, dubbed “petit spot” because of their size, cannot be accounted for by any of the conventional theories of volcanism.

The team thinks the mini-volcanoes were created when cracks formed in the Earth's crust during the elastic bending of the northwestern Pacific plate, which is diving under the Kuril and Japan trenches. They think partially melted material from the upper mantle squeezed out of the cracks, to form the volcanoes.

“I was unbelievably excited to discover this volcanism,” Hirano says. “The possibility had been proposed in the past, but had never been adequately documented.”

Buoyant plumes
Volcanoes are thought to form in three settings: where tectonic plates are diverging (for instance at mid-ocean ridges); where tectonic plates are converging (in island arcs, for example); and in “hotpots” (a generic term for volcanic activity that cannot be attributed to plate tectonic movements. Hotspots are generally thought to be formed by hot, buoyant plumes rising rapidly from the boundary between Earth’s core and the mantle.

The "new" volcanoes, which are actually between one and eight million years old, are not at plate boundaries. But neither were they formed by deep plumes.

When Hirano’s team analysed the trace element geochemistry and compositions of noble gas isotopes in their volcanic flows, they concluded that the material originated in the asthenosphere – a layer of the mantle directly under Earth’s crust. Samples of the flows were collected by submersibles.

Universal explanations
“These findings are probably the best evidence to date that not all chains of mid-plate volcanoes are formed by plumes,” says Marcia McNutt of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, California, US, who wrote a commentary on the paper published in Science. “These findings do not mean that plumes don’t exist at all – there may be some volcanic chains that are caused by plumes, but they are no longer a universal explanation.”

The question remains whether this new type of volcanism could explain other volcanic hotspots. There are lava fields near Samoa and in Hawaii for which a flexing of the tectonic plate had been suggested as a cause. But these suggestions had not been documented well, and the studies were largely discounted by other researchers, according to Hirano.

Now, in the light of the new research, scientists will go back to observations for other volcano chains with a more critical eye, McNutt believes. “They’ll look to see what observations were ignored or swept under the rug because they couldn’t explain the finding in the context of plume theory.”

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9 ... ions-.html
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Volcanic eruptions score melodies

The low-frequency, seismic rumblings of volcanoes are being transformed into delicate musical scores in an effort to predict when they will erupt.

Researchers in Italy have already created a concerto from the underground movements of Mount Etna on Sicily.

They are now creating melodies from Ecuador's recently erupted Tungurahua.

By correlating the music with precise stages of volcanic activity on both volcanoes the team hope to learn the signature tune of an imminent eruption.

"If you can identify the musical patterns that warn of an eruption then you can implement civil protection measures, days or even hours before the event," said Professor Roberto Barbera of the University of Catania.

Difficult predictions

At the moment there is no definitive method to predict the eruption of a volcano.

Scientists monitor seismic waves, the number of earthquakes and the intensity of a specific type of quake known as harmonic tremors in the run up to eruptions.

Other researchers monitor the change in the shape of the volcano or concentrations of gases emitted from the cone.

This week, researchers in Italy also put forward a new technique, known as seismic tomography, which may help to monitor volcanic hazards in the future.

The method, reported in the journal Science, gives detailed snapshots of magma movements inside the volcano in a similar way to a medical CAT scan.

The technique has been used to show magma movement during Mount Etna's pre-eruptive and eruptive phases between 2001 and 2003.

The musical method, known as data sonification, adds a further tool to the vulcanologist's tool box.

Musical scores

Data sonification transforms complex data into audible sounds. It has previously been used to analyse astronomical data from the Shoemaker Levy comet collision with Jupiter.

The data sonification software used on Mount Etna was invented by Dr Domenico Vicinanza at the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics. It transforms the inaudible seismic waves that travel through the Earth into music.

Researchers in Hawaii have previously listened for the sound signature of a pre-eruptive volcano using infrasound - low-frequency sound beyond the scope of the human ear.

The Pacific team used the global infrasound network, a "listening system" that was originally intended to detect nuclear explosions to verify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

The system put forward by the Italian researchers creates music audible to the human ear.

To create the volcanic score, the team take a seismogram - a graphical record of an earthquake that records the timing and intensity of seismic waves - and trace the peaks and troughs on to blank music bars.

They then overlay the contours with musical notes. A digital synthesiser can then play the score.

"It's like a musician playing a piano. You would never imagine it was a volcano playing the music," said Professor Barbera.

Data tap

To look for tell tale signatures in the tunes the team use music pattern recognition software.

The software has previously been used to analyse symphonies by Mozart to look for similarities between different compositions and to detect copyright fraud.

Because there is a huge amount of data to crunch the team distribute the data on a grid network.

Grid computing uses a distributed approach to solving one problem. The processing power of hundreds of computers are tapped, vastly cutting down on the time it takes to get a result.

"You can send data to France, Argentina, Mexico and Italy and then merge the results," said Professor Barbera. "You can grab computing power wherever it is."

The team use the two grid networks run by the EU funded Enabling Grids for E-science (EGEE) and the E-Infrastructure shared between Europe and Latin America (EELA) projects.

So far the team have crunched several hours of music from Etna and have found some distinctive patterns. They are now expanding the analysis to Tungurahua in Ecuador to check whether the same tunes reoccur.

The Latin American project is still in its early stages but the team have big hopes for their technique.

"The volcanoes are completely different but from the musical point of view perhaps we can identify some similarities," added Professor Barbera.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4777565.stm
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Seismic scan of Etna reveals an eruption in the making

Mount Etna just got a full-body scan. While nothing serious was diagnosed this time around, similar scans might give warning of a future volcanic eruption.

The Sicilian volcano is almost always bubbling with activity, but despite this thousands of people live safely on its slopes. In 2002, however, there was an unusually violent eruption that geophysicists believe was caused by gas-rich magma rising within the volcano.

Now a team led by Domenico Patanè at Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania, Sicily, has used seismic data to peek inside the volcano. From variations in the seismic waves from local earthquakes that passed through Mount Etna before and after the 2002 outburst they were able to build up a 3D picture showing magma rising within the volcano a few months before the eruption (Science, vol 313, p 821). "We used a technique similar to a medical CAT scan," Patanè says.

The monitoring exercise was helped by the existence of a dense grid of seismic stations around the volcano. Patanè hopes that such networks will be placed around other volcanoes too. "This could be a powerful tool for forecasting highly explosive eruptions," he says.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg1 ... aking.html
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Volcanic crater lake primed to spill

The crater lake of New Zealand’s Mount Ruapehu is brimming and could burst at any time, releasing at least one million cubic metres of water and sending a mudflow – or lahar – gushing down the volcano.

The last Mt Ruapehu lahar, in 1953, was on a similar scale. It swept away a railway bridge, killing 151 people travelling across it. Some local newspapers are raising the prospect of another potential disaster – but scientists say they are scare-mongering.

A new automatic monitoring and alarm system, in combination with alterations to bridges and roads, and detailed predictions of the track of a lahar, mean the public should not be at risk, says Harry Keys, a geologist with the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DoC) in Tongariro/Taupo, the area that encompasses Mt Ruapehu.

Local claims that a simple engineering fix was rejected because of protests from Maori, who consider the mountain sacred, are also wrong, Keys says. Bulldozing a trench through the dam to let water escape slowly would have been a short-term solution to only this lahar threat. “What we have in place now is the best solution for managing lahars in the long term,” he says.

Alpine sports
Mt Ruapehu, which is 2797 metres high, is in the North Island, about 40 km southwest of Lake Taupo, and is hugely popular for skiing, kayaking and hiking.

Its crater lake has been filling up since spectacular volcanic explosions in 1995 and1996, which deposited ash and rocks around the crater. The lake’s level jumped by more than a metre after a minor eruption on 4 October 2006, and is now 2.8 metres below the crest of the tephra barrier.

This natural barrier – made up of rock ash produced during eruptions – is eroding as the water rises. While a breach is not inevitable, it is probable, and the most likely time for that to happen is February or March, says the DoC.

If the dam bursts, the DoC says it knows where the water will go. “It will flow down the channel where the Whangaehu river flows,” says Keys, following the route of the 1953 lahar. “There’s no doubt about that.”

Stronger bridge
The river channel route is believed to be the most active lahar path in the world. It tracks east down the mountain and then south, before emptying into the ocean.

There are no human settlements in the route, but at Tangiwai, 40 kilometres (25 miles) downstream and at least a 1.5 hour journey for a lahar, there is a rail-bridge – a much stronger replacement for the bridge that failed in 1953. The road bridge at the same location has been raised.

Furthermore, a barrier has been erected alongside another major road, which is at the most likely spot where the lahar could breach the natural channel, says Keys. A lahar would take 20-minutes to reach this site. The alarm system would prevent trains and cars from crossing the bridges.

Prime opportunity
The monitoring and alarm system is the result of an 8-year review following the 1996 eruption. Critics argue that a drainage trench would have been much simpler, cheaper and safer, and that the idea was abandoned because of spiritual objections by Maori. “Nothing is further from the truth,” maintains Keys.

Digging a trench would have been dangerous and could have dealt with only this lahar threat, he says. Lahars are often caused suddenly by eruptions, which are largely unpredictable. Making better-protected roads and bridges, as well as an alarm system, is a better option, he argues.

If a lahar does happen, it will give scientists a prime opportunity to observe one up close. International researchers are currently setting up additional sensors, including flood height monitors and cameras. “We will get the best scientific data on a lahar, which will have utility [for hazard management] around the world,” says Keys.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn1 ... spill.html
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Volcanic Italian island on alert

Emergency plans have been put into operation after two new craters opened on the summit of the volcanic Italian island of Stromboli.
One of the new lava streams created on the island, just north of Sicily, has already started flowing into the sea.

Coastguard patrol boats have been deployed and the population of 750 people has been urged to stay away from the danger areas.

The last major eruption in 2002 caused a collapse that led to a small tsunami.

The wave reached 10 metres (33ft) high and caused serious damage to Stromboli village on the north of the island.

'Clearing zones'

The BBC's Christian Fraser in Rome says the new lava flow is heading down the west flank of the volcano and at the moment poses little risk. But experts say it has to be watched closely.

A member of the civil defence authorities for the Aeolian Islands told Reuters news agency: "There's a general alert. The emergency services are monitoring the situation, clearing zones at risk.

"But at the moment we don't foresee an evacuation."

The volcano, which rises 2,000 metres from the ocean floor, has been active for the past 2,000 years.

Most eruptions consist of gas explosions that hurl small blobs of lava over the crater rim. There are several explosions each hour.

The larger eruptions and lava flows are less frequent.

The one in December 2002 forced the closure of the island to visitors for a number of months.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6401701.stm
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Predicting Eruptions

Kevin Krajick and Abby Seiff

See the photo gallery for an illustrated look at how scientists are using technology to better forecast volcanic eruptions
Located 30 miles off the coast of Sicily, Stromboli (the three-mile-wide island, not the tasty pizza roll) is home to several hundred people and one of Europe’s most active volcanoes. On February 27, all dough-and-tomato-sauce jokes were suspended when two new craters opened up on the volcano’s summit, sending streams of lava pouring down into the sea. A similar incident in 2002 triggered a massive landslide and a 33-foot tidal wave, damaging local villages and closing the island to visitors for months. Although this week’s eruptions caused little damage, authorities ordered residents to move away from the coast, all the while assuring them that the chance of any serious damage was minimal.

The official word may sound dangerously nonchalant, but the Italians are practiced in these matters. The volcanoes that dot the landscape are folded deeply into the country’s history, their eruptions resulting in the same intensive cultural shifts caused by wars or pandemics elsewhere (not that Italy hasn’t had its share of those, too). In fact, the Stromboli eruption occurred just days after scientists at the National Geophysical and Vulcanology Institute in Pisa revealed the first four-dimensional simulation of what would occur if Vesuvius erupted again. (As many as 300,000 people living near the volcano could perish, mirroring the total destruction of Pompeii after its most catastrophic eruption in 79 A.D.)

And several weeks ago, scientists from the National Geophysical and Vesuvian Vulcanology Institute Observatory in Naples published a paper noting how the ground near Naples is slowly undergoing a volcanic uplift. The area, Campi Flegrei, is an ancient collapsed volcano about four miles across. It’s part of the volcanic arc that encompasses Mount Vesuvius, and when it last erupted five centuries ago, it expelled enough lava to create an entirely new mountain.

If all this sounds pretty bleak, take heart: Knowing when to expect the next big one is a coup for Italians living among dozens of volcanoes. The modeling of Vesuvius demonstrates how dangerous the next eruption will be, but it also shows how the lava will flow, when evacuation should start, and where evacuees will safely be able to go. The data on the Campi Flegrei was collected with little more than GPS measurements, but it can be used to forecast the magnitude of hazard at any site of potential volcanic activity.

www.popsci.com/popsci/science/acf8786f9 ... drcrd.html
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Snowmobiler survives 1,500ft fall into volcano
By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles
Last Updated: 2:56am BST 15/04/2008

A snowmobiler who fell up to 1,500 feet down the inside of volcano crater has survived with just leg injuries.

John Slemp, 52, from Oregon, climbed with his son and a friend to the western rim of the still active Mount St Helens, in Washington state most famous for a devastating eruption in May, 1980.

He got off his snowmobile and, with his son, Jared, crawled out on to a cornice overhanging the crater.

Jared was pulled back by their companion but his father plunged around 200 feet before landing on the inner slope of the crater and sliding another 1,300 ft on his hands and knees to the bottom.

His fall is thought to have been cushioned by the heavy snow pack.

"It just gave way," Mr Slemp, who has been riding snowmobiles for 20 years, told the Seattle Times.

"I didn't have a chance to do anything."

When he reached the bottom, he tried to climb up but an avalanche knocked him back.

Instead he made for a steam vent to stay warm while a rescue helicopter was dispatched.

He suffered injuries to the knee on one leg but was able to be helped to the helicopter which flew him to hospital in Portland, Oregon.

Mr Slemp described his rescuers as "incredible". "I couldn't believe they got there that fast", he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... all115.xml
 
Chile volcano prompts evacuation
By Gideon Long
BBC News, Santiago

A volcano has erupted in southern Chile, scattering ash over the surrounding area and forcing more than 1,000 people to leave their homes.

The eruption of the Chaiten volcano caught local authorities by surprise, as experts say it has been dormant for at least 450 years.

But on Friday morning, it blew a thick cloud of ash high into the air.

This prompted the evacuation of sick and elderly people from the town of Chaiten, just six miles away.

Residents have been told not to drink the water, because the reservoirs in the area are covered in a layer of ash.

Emergency workers are handing out face masks to help people breathe more easily.

The eruption also dumped a layer of ash in neighbouring Argentina, forcing the closure of schools and a regional airport.

Chile is one of the most volcanic countries on Earth, with more than 100 active volcanoes. Of those, experts say about 20 are in danger of erupting at any time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7381652.stm
 
Volcano shatters Pacific calm around Tonga
Friday, 20 March 2009

An undersea volcano that has been erupting for days near Tonga – shooting smoke, steam and ash thousands of feet into the sky – is to be studied by scientists. Officials said the eruption did not pose any danger to islanders at this stage, and there have been no reports of fish or other animals being affected. Spectacular columns are spewing out of the sea west of the islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha'apai in an area where up to 36 undersea volcanoes are clustered, geologists said.

The eruption was visible from Nuku'alofa, the Tongan capital, but trade winds continued to blow gas and steam away from the island yesterday. The deputy police commander, Taniela Faletau, said coastal villages close to the site of the eruption were not yet at risk. Police were waiting for a team of officials and scientists to survey the area before taking any action. Coastal residents said the steam and ash column first appeared on Monday morning following a series of sharp earthquakes.

Tonga, a 170-island archipelago about halfway between Australia and Tahiti, is part of the Pacific "ring of fire" – an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching from Chile through Alaska and down through Vanuatu to Tonga.

A powerful magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck 132 miles south-east of Nuku'alofa, Tonga, yesterday, generating a tsunami. However there were no reports of damage or of sea levels rising and the tsunami warning was later cancelled.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 49555.html

Good series of photos of eruption via link.
 
The pileus cloud on top of the ash plume is particularly interesting. I saw one of these clouds myself the other day, forming on top of a cumulonimbus, Strange clouds, pileus, clouds that form on top of other clouds as they rise in the atmosphere.

I think I can see three pyroclastic flows in those images; one which appears white, because it is in full sunlight, and two more, each at about 120 degrees from each other. A remarkably symmetrical eruption, in many ways.
 
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