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Volcanos / Volcanoes

Will Krakatoa rock the world again? Last time, it killed thousands and changed the weather for five years, now it could be even deadlier...
By Marcus Dunk
Last updated at 9:37 AM on 31st July 2009

Bright orange lava spews up into the air, dark smoke mingles with the clouds and the gloomy night takes on an ominous red glow.

Towering 1,200ft above the tropical stillness of the Sunda Strait in Indonesia, one of the most terrifying volcanoes the world has ever known has begun to stir once more.

Almost 126 years to the day since Krakatoa first showed signs of an imminent eruption, stunning pictures released this week prove that the remnant of this once-enormous volcano is bubbling, boiling and brimming over.

With an explosive force 13,000 times the power of the atomic bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa killed more than 36,000 people and radically altered global weather and temperatures for years afterwards.

The eruption was so violent and catastrophic that no active volcano in modern times has come close to rivalling it, not even the spectacular eruption of Mount St Helens in the U.S. in 1980. Now, almost a century-and-a-half on, are we about to experience the horrors of Krakatoa once again?

'Volcanic prediction is getting better,' says Professor Jon Davidson, chair of Earth Science at Durham University and a volcanologist who has studied Krakatoa first-hand. 'But we are never going to be able to fully predict big and unusual eruptions, precisely because they are unusual.'

Yet there is little doubt that if Krakatoa were to erupt again with such force and fury, the impact would be far more devastating than that which was experienced in the 19th century.

Official records of the time show that the 1883 eruption, together with an enormous tsunami it generated, destroyed 165 villages and towns, seriously damaged a further 132 and killed 36,417 people outright.

Nearly 150 years on, the region where Krakatoa is situated between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian archipelago is more densely populated, with small farmers drawn to the rich and fertile volcanic soils of the area. It is not inconceivable that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed if there were another massive eruption.

Krakatoa had an extraordinary effect on the planet last time round. Average global temperatures following the eruption fell by as much as 1.2 C, as the huge quantities of sulphur dioxide pumped into the atmosphere resulted in clouds that reflected a greater amount of incoming light from the sun.

Marco Fulle, 51, from Trieste, Italy, captured these images last month. A scientist, astronomer and volcano expert, Fulle has photographed comets and volcanoes for years. Having spent months building up his portfolio of images, Fulle was uniquely placed to capture the fury and terror of this giant's reawakening.

'These volcanoes repeat explosions like that of 1883 many times during their life,' he says. 'The common opinion is that Krakatoa will again become really dangerous when it reaches the size it had been in 1883. It was two-times taller than now.'

Despite this optimism, there is no guarantee that another eruption will not occur sooner. It was the morning of May 20, 1883, when a German ship, the Elizabeth, reported seeing a column of ash and smoke rising seven miles above the island of Krakatoa.

It had been two centuries since there had been a proper eruption. Over the following months the smoke, noises and expulsion of ash continued. Far from prompting locals to evacuate the area, these natural firework displays resulted in festivals.

That all changed just after midday on August 26, when the first of a series of large explosions sent debris shooting 22 miles into the air. Then, at 5.30am the next day, four enormous eruptions blew two-thirds of the island into the sea.
'It was a potent mix of magma and seawater that made the eruption so explosive,' says Professor Davidson. 'The water had managed to access the magma chamber and the result blew the island to pieces.'

etc...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... dlier.html
 
Previously Unknown Volcanic Eruption Helped Trigger Cold Decade
http://www.physorg.com/news176049231.html
October 29th, 2009 in Space & Earth / Earth Sciences



The previously unknown eruption in 1809 was larger than the Mt. Pinatubo eruption. Credit: USGS


(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of chemists from the U.S. and France has found compelling evidence of a previously undocumented large volcanic eruption that occurred exactly 200 years ago, in 1809.

The discovery, published online this week in the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters, offers an explanation as to why the decade from 1810 to 1819 is regarded by scientists as the coldest on record for the past 500 years.

“We’ve never seen any evidence of this eruption in Greenland that corresponds to a simultaneous explosion recorded in Antarctica before in the glacial record,” said Mark Thiemens, Dean of the Division of Physical Sciences at UC San Diego and one of the co-authors of the study. “But if you look at the size of the signal we found in the ice cores, it had to be huge. It was bigger than the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, which killed hundreds of people and affected climate around the world.”

Led by a chemist from South Dakota State University, the team of scientists made its discovery after analyzing chemicals in ice samples from Antarctica and Greenland in the Arctic, where the scientists visited and drilled ice cores three years ago. The year-by-year accumulation of snow in the polar ice sheets records what is going on in the atmosphere.

“We found large amount of volcanic sulfuric acid in the snow layers of 1809 and 1810 in both Greenland and Antarctica,” said professor Jihong Cole-Dai of SDSU’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, who was the lead author of the paper.

Joël Savarino of the Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l’Environment in Grenoble, France, and a former postdoctoral fellow at UC San Diego, was also part of the team.


UCSD’s Mark Thiemens (upper left) pulls a cylinder in Greenland containing an ice core. Credit: UCSD

Cole-Dai said climate records show that not only were 1816 — the so-called “year without a summer”— and the following years very cold, the entire decade from 1810 to 1819 was probably the coldest for at least the past 500 years.

Scientists have long been aware that the massive and violent eruption in 1815 of an Indonesian volcano called Tambora, which killed more than 88,000 people in Indonesia, had caused the worldwide cold weather in 1816 and after. Volcanic eruptions have a cooling effect on the planet because they release sulfur gases into the atmosphere that form sulfuric acid aerosols that block sunlight. But the cold temperatures in the early part of the decade, before that eruption, suggest Tambora alone could not have caused the climatic changes of the decade.

“Our new evidence is that the volcanic sulfuric acid came down at the opposite poles at precisely the same time, and this means that the sulfate is from a single large eruption of a volcano in 1809,” Cole-Dai said. “The Tambora eruption and the undocumented 1809 eruption are together responsible for the unusually cold decade.”

Cole-Dai said the Tambora eruption was immense, sending about 100 million tons of sulfur gas into the atmosphere, but the ice core samples suggests the 1809 eruption was also very large — perhaps half the size of Tambora — and would also have cooled the earth for a few years. The researchers reason that, because the sulfuric acid is found in the ice from both polar regions, the eruption probably occurred in the tropics, as Tambora did, where wind patterns could carry volcanic material to the entire world, including both poles.

Cole-Dai said the research specifically looked for and found a special indicator of sulfuric acid produced from the volcanic sulfur gas in the stratosphere.

The special indicator is an unusual make-up of sulfur isotopes in the volcanic sulfuric acid. Isotopes are different types of atoms of the same chemical element, each having a different number of neutrons (but the same number of protons). The unique sulfur isotope composition is like a fingerprint of volcanic material that has reached the stratosphere, said Cole-Dai.

The stratosphere is the second major layer of the Earth’s atmosphere, reaching from about six miles to about 30 miles above the Earth’s surface at moderate latitudes. To impact global climate, rather than local weather, the sulfur gas of a volcanic eruption has to reach up into the stratosphere and once there, be spread around the globe.

“The way in which that these volcanoes affected the average temperatures of our planet gives us a better idea of how particulates in the atmosphere can affect our climate,” said Thiemens. “People talk about the possibility of geo-engineering our climate, but the question is how? In this case, nature has done an experiment for us.”

Provided by University of California - San Diego
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Maybe its not such a bright idea. Naples: if Mafia doesn't get you then the Magma will.


Will Drilling Into a Volcano Trigger an Eruption That Destroys Naples?
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2 ... oys-naples
By Clay Dillow Posted 11.09.2009 at 2:30 pm 4 Comments


Pompeii Geologist will drill seven boreholes in the caldera at Campi Flegrie in around Naples, Italy, in an attempt to better predict volcanic disasters like the one that destroyed Pompeii in A.D. 79. Critics say the drilling could trigger that very volcanic disaster. Wiki Commons

Scientific research has helped humankind avoid or mitigate many of nature’s best attempts to send us to a violent end, but what do researchers do when the pursuit of research could trigger the very disaster from which science is trying to protect us? That’s the question facing geologists in Naples, Italy that will begin sinking seven four-kilometer bore holes into the Campi Flegrei caldera, the site of a “supercolossal” volcanic eruption 39,000 years ago.

Those doing the drilling hope to learn more about the geological activity beneath the giant collapsed crater so they might better predict future volcanic disasters. Critics say the drilling could precipitate that very cataclysmic eruption the researchers are trying to avoid.

Previous studies show that Campi Flegrei is one of Earth’s most volcanically high-risk places; just 4,000 years ago series of violent eruptions cut the landscape into what it is today. Prior to those eruptions the Earth’s crust rose by several meters across the entire caldera. The crust has been rising again since the 1960s, causing concern among scientists that it might be ready to blow its top once again. An eruption now would be devastating: In a New Orleans-esque display of engineering foresight, the majority of the metropolitan area of Naples is situated within the caldera.

Predicting the next big eruption from Campi Flegrei, then, is of utmost importance not only from a scientific standpoint, but to avoid the kind of disaster that befell nearby Pompeii two millennia ago. The boreholes could reveal exactly where magma might surface and collect prior to eruptions, as well as reveal locations of fracture zones and pockets of magma underneath the caldera. Rock samples could also be collected and tested to help researchers model ground deformation in the area.

But drilling so deep into the earth is fraught with risks, critics say, not least of which could be eruptions of varying magnitudes triggered by the drilling. Explosions caused by super-hot magma flooding into the borehole and vaporizing the drilling fluid are common in such projects. The Iceland Deep Drilling Project, a geothermal energy play, was recently halted 2,014 meters down for exactly that reason. The difference, critics say, is that an explosion is worst case scenario for most drilling projects like the IDDP; hitting a main vein of pressurized silica-rich magma in Campi Flegrei could theoretically cause a complete disaster, sending the volcano into full eruption (and Naples to its demise).

The boreholes at Campi Flegrei won’t likely hit magma, researchers say, as the holes will reach only half as deep as any known reservoir, and even if it does, the result will not necessarily be a disaster. It could, rather, provide researchers with important new information about the inner-workings of volcanoes in general, and Campi Flegrei in particular. Meanwhile, Naples will simply have to hold its breath.
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Now heres an interesting piece.

Ancient DNA Reveals Caribou History Linked to Volcanic Eruption
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 200900.htm

Researchers report that DNA recovered from ancient caribou bones reveals a possible link between several small unique caribou herds and a massive volcanic eruption that blanketed much of the Alaskan Yukon territory in a thick layer of ash 1,000 years ago. (Credit: iStockphoto/Andrew Coleman)

ScienceDaily (Feb. 26, 2010) — DNA recovered from ancient caribou bones reveals a possible link between several small unique caribou herds and a massive volcanic eruption that blanketed much of the Alaskan Yukon territory in a thick layer of ash 1,000 years ago, reports research published in Molecular Ecology.

It's just part of the story being read from ancient caribou remains by an international team of scientists from the U.S., U.K. and Canada who have been studying the history of this iconic and fragile Canadian species.

Tyler Kuhn, a Whitehorse native and Simon Fraser University graduate researcher, were able to coax short bits of ancient DNA from caribou bones found in 6,000-yr-old ice patches scattered across an area just north of the British Columbia border.

He and colleagues from Alberta, Alaska, Pennsylvania and Oxford compared this ancient DNA with DNA from caribou living nearby today. To their surprise, DNA from bones older than 1,000 years in the Whitehorse area did not match with the local caribou grazing nearby.

The modern caribou also turn out to not be related to caribou herds to the North, East or West. They represent new arrivals, possibly from farther south, though the caribou currently living just south are ecologically very different.

Critically, the 1,000-yr-old replacements coincide with the eruption of a huge volcano in nearby Southern Alaska that deposited a thick layer of ash called the White River Tephra.

The research is the first to identify a possible link between changes in local wildlife and the volcanic eruption.

The eruption has already been linked to major changes in the cultures of the First Nations, aboriginal peoples from the region, marking the transition between the atl-atl (throwing dart) hunting technology and newer and more effective bow and arrow technology.

Kuhn and his colleagues believe this surprising decoding of the history of caribou herds in the Yukon is more than just a scientific curiosity. "Most woodland caribou herds in Canada are threatened, and their survival will likely depend on our ability to act in the best interest of these herds," says Kuhn.

"Understanding the relationships among herds is important, but understanding how herds react to environmental changes through time is equally necessary for us to manage caribou properly."

Journal Reference:

1. Kuhn et al. Modern and ancient DNA reveal recent partial replacement of caribou in the southwest Yukon. Molecular Ecology, 2010; DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2010.04565.x
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Volcano tsunami could sink southern Italy 'at any time'
Europe's largest undersea volcano could disintegrate and unleash a tsunami that would engulf southern Italy "at any time", a prominent volcanologist has warned.
Published: 2:10PM BST 29 Mar 2010

[Map]

The Marsili volcano, which is bursting with magma, has "fragile walls" that could collapse, Enzo Boschi told the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"It could even happen tomorrow," said Mr Boschi, president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).

Our latest research shows that the volcano is not structurally solid, its walls are fragile, the magma chamber is of sizeable dimensions," he said.

"All that tells us that the volcano is active and could begin erupting at any time."

The event would result in "a strong tsunami that could strike the coasts of Campania, Calabria and Sicily," Mr Boschi said.

The undersea Marsili, 9,800ft (3,000m) tall and located some 90 miles (150km) southwest of Naples, has not erupted since the start of recorded history.

It is 43 miles (70km) long and 19 miles (30km) wide, and its crater is some 1,476ft (450m) below the surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

"A rupture of the walls would let loose millions of cubic metres of material capable of generating a very powerful wave," Mr Boschi said.

"While the indications that have been collected are precise, it is impossible to make predictions. The risk is real but hard to evaluate."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... -time.html
 
More underwater volacanos. And this article ends with a huge cliff-hanging tease!

Eruptions from Caribbean abyss throw up secrets of ocean life
Frank Pope, Ocean Correspondent

British scientists hope that the discovery of the world’s deepest undersea volcanos is about to unlock the secrets of life at the bottom of the ocean.

More than three miles beneath the surface of the Caribbean, in a chasm cut off from the rest of the ocean for millions of years, are a cluster of ethereal spires teeming with life.

Formed by volcanically charged jets of superheated water shooting from the spires, hydrothermal vents rewrote the rules of biology when they were first seen three decades ago.

Now scientists aboard the Royal Research Ship James Cook have located the deepest volcanos yet found, 3 miles (5km) down.

“Seeing the world’s deepest black-smoker vents looming out of the darkness was awe-inspiring,” says Jon Copley, a marine biologist based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, and leader of the overall research programme. “Superheated water was gushing out of their two-storey-high mineral spires.”

The Cayman Trough in the Caribbean is the world’s deepest undersea volcanic rift. Almost entirely unexplored until this expedition, it gained fame as the setting for The Abyss, James Cameron’s underwater epic.

An American team began the search for the world’s deepest vent last November. Once forced from the seabed — leaving spires of copper, iron and precious metal ores behind — the superheated water rises about 200m (655ft) before it cools to the near-freezing temperature of the abyss. Then the mineral-rich water begins to spread like a cloud.

The American team detected this cloud using a chemical sensor and the British team took over last month. They sent a torpedo-shaped autonomous submersible Autosub6000, which sniffed out the plume of volcanic water, allowing it to home in on the vent itself. The deep-sea sampling probe HyBIS then sent back the first pictures.

“It was like wandering across the surface of another world,” said Bramley Murton, a geologist of the National Oceanography Centre, who piloted the HyBIS. “The rainbow hues of the mineral spires were like nothing I had ever seen.”

Their first glimpse of the animals living there would instantly solve a longstanding mystery: what links these communities that rely on deep-sea vents?

If they saw brittle stars and shrimp, as have been found near other Atlantic vents, the scientists would know that currents linked the sites. If they spotted the huge tubeworms found on Pacific vents, then geological time must be the link.

But the scientists refused to be drawn. “If I even said what the animals were, biologists around the world would instantly be able to make the interpretation,” Dr Copley said.

The team will wait for publication in a peer-reviewed journal before announcing their findings. 8)

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/s ... 094749.ece
 
More here (with video clip)

World's deepest undersea vents discovered in Caribbean
By Alasdair Cross
Producer, Costing the Earth

...

The discovery was made with the help of two deep-sea vehicles.

Firstly, a robotic submarine called Autosub6000 enabled the team to map the seafloor of the Cayman Trough in fine detail. Then a vehicle called HyBIS equipped with hi-definition cameras, was lowered down and captured detailed images of the smokers.

"It was like wandering across the surface of another world," said geologist Bramley Murton, who piloted the HyBIS underwater vehicle around the world's deepest volcanic vents for the first time.

"The rainbow hues of the mineral spires and the fluorescent blues of the microbial mats covering them were like nothing I had ever seen before."

By studying life around the hydrothermal vent systems, which are dotted along the deep sea mountain range that girdles the planet, the team hopes to increase the understanding of the way marine communities interact. This, in turn, could aid efforts to better protect endangered marine species.

Senior researcher Dr Alex Rogers, from the Zoological Society of London, said: "The densities of animals and the biomass of life around these hydrothermal vents is just staggering."

However, scientists will not have these extraordinary environments to themselves for long.

Gold, silver, copper and zinc are all present in the mineral-rich emissions of the vent systems and recent advances in deep-sea oil exploration are giving miners the chance to exploit these areas for the first time.

Nautilus Minerals, a small Canadian company backed by the giant mining company Anglo-American, has just received an environmental permit from the government of Papua New Guinea to conduct the world's first deep-sea mining in the vent fields of the Bismarck Sea.

Giant undersea excavators will be built this year, and ore could be rising from depths of 1,600m by 2012.

Conservation biologist Professor Rick Steiner, formerly of the University of Alaska, was called in to examine the company's original environmental impact assessment study.

He is concerned about the dumping of thousands of tonnes of rock on the seabed and about the danger of spillages of toxic residue, but his real objection is more fundamental.

He explained: "The site that they mine, they're going to destroy all these vent chimneys where the sulphide fluids come out."

He added that it could cause the extinction of species that are not even known to science yet.

"I think that, from an ethical stand-point, is unacceptable," he said.

Steven Rogers, CEO of Nautilus, said that he accepted that the mined area would be damaged, but said he was convinced that it could recover.

He believes deep-sea mining will be less damaging to the environment than mining on land.

He said: "I think there's a much greater moral question…. here we have an opportunity to provide those metals with a much, much lower impact on the environment."

The success of the Nautilus enterprise is dependent less on questions of morality than of profit.

Steven Rogers estimates that this first mining site could yield anything from tens of millions of dollars up to $300m in value.

But Professor Steiner believes that success in the Bismarck Sea will provoke a "goldrush" at vent systems around the world, most of which have yet to be properly studied.

Dr Jon Copley is well aware of the moral and political questions being thrown up by the team's ground-breaking work.

He believes that we are at a crucial crossroads in the use of the deep ocean.

He can see a future where nation states squabble over natural resources, but he is optimistic that the international co-operation demonstrated on his current voyage will lead to sensitive study and sustainable exploitation of the deep sea's riches.

"Hopefully there's a different path forward if we've got the courage and determination to take it," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8611771.stm
 
Thousands flee volcanos in Ecuador and Guatemala
Page last updated at 7:54 GMT, Saturday, 29 May 2010 8:54 UK

Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes as two volcanos erupted in Guatemala and Ecuador.

In Guatemala, the Pacaya volcano began spewing lava, rocks and debris on Thursday, killing at least two people and injuring more than 50 others.

In Ecuador, the Tungurahua volcano forced the evacuation of seven villages and shut the airport and schools in Guayaquil, the country's largest city.

There is no suggestion the upsurge in volcanic activity is related.

In Guatemala, at least 1,700 people have fled the eruption, some 30km (19 miles) south of the capital city.

President Alvaro Colom has declared a state of emergency in Escuintla region, Guatemala City and areas surrounding the capital.

He said two people had died and three children were missing. One man was killed when he fell from a building while sweeping up the ash. A TV reporter also died while covering the eruption.

The volcano has covered parts of Guatemala City in ash - up to 7cm thick in some areas - forcing the closure of the country's main international airport.

Seismologists have warned of more eruptions from the Pacaya volcano "in the coming days".

In Ecuador, the Tungurahua volcano sent ash plumes six miles (10km) into the air.

Strong winds blew the ash over the country's most populous city, Guayaquil, and forced aviation officials to close the country's main airport.

Several thousand people have evacuated their homes in the area, 95 miles (150km) south-east of the capital Quito.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/latin_ ... 189054.stm
 
Thousands flee Indonesia volcano on Sumatra

Thousands of Indonesians have been forced to flee after a volcano erupted on the island of Sumatra.

Officials issued a red alert after Mount Sinabung began to spew lava shortly after midnight (1900 GMT).

Smoke and ash reportedly shot 1,500m into the air, and witnesses said they could see lava from the volcano from several miles away.

Mount Sinabung, some 60km (40 miles) south-west of Sumatra's main city Medan, has not erupted for 400 years.

The volcano had been pumping out smoke all day Saturday, but alert levels had not been raised, and local media reported that villagers had been taken by surprise.

The Medan Tribune quoted one local resident as saying he panicked and ran when he saw lava coming towards his him "like a ball of fire".

Priyadi Kardono from Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency told the BBC that more than 10,000 people were being evacuated from nearby villages.

But he added that some had already gone home as volcanic activity was decreasing.

Surono, head of the nation's volcano disaster alert centre, told AFP news agency that the alert level had been raised to red because the situation was "clearly dangerous".

"Initially we thought the ash and smoke were triggered by rain but now we know the driving pressure was from magma," he said.

The Indonesian archipelago lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and has at least 129 active volcanoes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11123169
 
Scientists to drill 13,000ft into active volcano in test that could cause earthquake
Scientists are planning to drill 13,000ft into the heart of an active volcano in Italy in an attempt to protect the nearby city of Naples by gauging when it is likely to erupt.
By Nick Squires in Rome
Published: 9:38PM BST 21 Sep 2010

But experts have warned that the project could trigger an explosion of red hot magma or even an earthquake.

The team of scientists wants to insert a borehole inside Campi Flegrei, a huge volcanic formation outside Naples, in the hope of gauging how active it is.

Also known as the Phlegraean Fields, Campi Flegrei is an eight-mile-wide caldera lying west of Naples.

It comprises 24 volcanic fissures and craters – one of which was believed by the ancient Romans to be the home of Vulcan, the god of fire - although much of it lies under water as it extends into the Bay of Naples.

It last erupted in 1538, and recent seismic activity in the area has raised fears that it could be ready to blow again.

The project is due to start early next month, when the team will drill 1640ft into the ground at a site in Bagnoli, near Naples.

The second phase, due to start in the spring, will involve the drilling of a 4,000 metre deep borehole at the same location.

Scientists will use sensors to measure seismic activity and the temperature of the rock at different depths in an attempt to understand how unstable the area is.

"Calderas are the only volcanoes that can cause truly catastrophic eruptions with global consequences, yet they are still poorly understood," Giuseppe De Natale, the project's coordinator and a geophysicist at Italy's National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology, told the science magazine Nature.

But there are fears that the experiment, which will tap into 500-600C hot magma, could lead to an eruption which would endanger the 1.5 million people who live in and around Naples.

Benedetto de Vivo, a professor of geochemistry at the University of Naples, said a similar drilling project in Iceland had to be stopped last year after magma was found at a much shallower depth than expected.

The Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed by a catastrophic eruption by nearby Mt Vesuvius in AD79.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... quake.html
 
Volcanoes have shifted Asian rainfall
http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-vol ... nfall.html
November 3rd, 2010 in Space & Earth / Earth Sciences


Large, explosive volcanoes such as Indonesia's Merapi (erupting here in 2006) have the potential to change weather patterns if their eruptions are big enough. Credit: NASA

Scientists have long known that large volcanic explosions can affect the weather by spewing particles that block solar energy and cool the air. Some suspect that extended "volcanic winters" from gigantic blowups helped kill off dinosaurs and Neanderthals. In the summer following Indonesia's 1815 Tambora eruption, frost wrecked crops as far off as New England, and the 1991 blowout of the Philippines' Mount Pinatubo lowered average global temperatures by 0.7 degrees F -- enough to mask the effects of manmade greenhouse gases for a year or so.

Now, scientists have shown that eruptions also affect rainfall over the Asian monsoon region, where seasonal storms water crops for nearly half of earth's population. Tree-ring researchers at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory showed that big eruptions tend to dry up much of central Asia, but bring more rain to southeast Asian countries including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar—the opposite of what many climate models predict. Their paper appears in an advance online version of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The growth rings of some tree species can be correlated with rainfall, and the observatory's Tree Ring Lab used rings from some 300 sites across Asia to measure the effects of 54 eruptions going back about 800 years. The data came from Lamont's new 1,000-year tree-ring atlas of Asian weather, which has already produced evidence of long, devastating droughts; the researchers also have done a prior study of volcanic cooling in the tropics. "We might think of the study of the solid earth and the atmosphere as two different things, but really everything in the system is interconnected," said Kevin Anchukaitis, the study's lead author. "Volcanoes can be important players in climate over time."

Large explosive eruptions send up sulfur compounds that turn into tiny sulfate particles high into the atmosphere, where they deflect solar radiation. Resulting cooling on earth's surface can last for months or years. (Not all eruptions will do it; for instance, the continuing eruption of Indonesia's Merapi this fall has killed dozens, but this latest episode is probably not big enough by itself to effect large-scale weather changes.) As for rainfall, in the simplest models, lowered temperatures decrease evaporation of water from the surface into the air; and less water vapor translates to less rain. But matters are greatly complicated by atmospheric circulation patterns, cyclic changes in temperatures over the oceans, and the shapes of land masses. Up to now, most climate models incorporating known forces such as changes in the sun and atmosphere have predicted that volcanic explosions would disrupt the monsoon by bringing less rain to southeast Asia--but the researchers found the opposite.

The researchers studied eruptions including one in 1258 from an unknown tropical site, thought to be the largest of the last millennium; the 1600-1601 eruption of Peru's Huaynaputina; Tambora in 1815; the 1883 explosion of Indonesia's Krakatau; Mexico's El Chichón, in 1982; and Pinatubo. The tree rings showed that huge swaths of southern China, Mongolia and surrounding areas consistently dried up in the year or two following big events, while mainland southeast Asia got increased rain. The researchers say there are many possible factors involved, and it would speculative at this point to say exactly why it works this way.

"The data only recently became available to test the models," said Rosanne D'Arrigo, one of the study's coauthors. "Now, it's obvious there's a lot of work to be done to understand how all these different forces interact." For instance, in some episodes pinpointed by the study, it appears that strong cycles of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, which drives temperatures over the Pacific and Indian oceans and is thought to strongly affect the Asian monsoon, might have counteracted eruptions, lessening their drying or moistening effects. But it could work the other way, too, said Anchukaitis; if atmospheric dynamics and volcanic eruptions come together with the right timing, they could reinforce one another, with drastic results. "Then you get flooding or drought, and neither flooding nor drought is good for the people living in those regions," he said. The study also raises questions whether proposed "geoengineering" schemes to counteract manmade climate change with huge artificial releases of volcanism-like particles might have complex unintended consequences.

Ultimately, said Anchukaitis, such studies should help scientists refine models of how natural and manmade forces might act together to in the future to shift weather patterns—a vital question for all areas of the world.

More information: 'The Influence of Volcanic Eruptions on the Climate of the Asian Monsoon Region' is at: http://www.agu.org … 4843-pip.pdf

Provided by Columbia University
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New vent opens in Kilauea volcano
AP
Monday, 7 March 2011

[Video: Lava flows on the Pu'u O'o crater on Kilauea Volcano yesterday]

A new vent opened at Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, sending lava shooting up to 65ft, scientists said.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said the fissure eruption was spotted shortly after the floor at the Pu'u O'o crater collapsed at around 5pm local time on Saturday. It occurred along the middle of Kilauea's east rift zone, about two miles west of Pu'u O'o.

"As a volcanogist, this is what we do. These are the moments we wait for," Janet Babb said. "It is exciting to see an eruption begin particularly if you can see it from the very start."
Kilauea has been in constant eruption since January 3, 1983.

At the summit, lava receded rapidly late on Saturday but seemed to slow yesterday. There were also about 150 small earthquakes were recorded within Kilauea in the past 24 hours.

Scientists said areas near the vent could erupt or collapse without warning, posing a threat to visitors or hikers to the area. Also potentially lethal concentrations of sulphur dioxide gas could be present within about a half-mile downwind of vent areas.

Because of the latest activity, the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has closed Chain of Craters Road and all east rift zone and coastal trails. Kulanaokuaiki campground was also closed until further notice.

Ms Babb told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald that the fissure had expanded to about 535 yards long and that scientists were hiking into the remote area to observe it and take readings.
No homes are under threat.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 34528.html
 
An earthquake enthusiast (?!?) on ATS is reporting increased activity in Yellowstone.
On ATS they think it is related to the Japanese earthquake in some way of course.

The japanese people got an advanced warning system for earthquakes available for PC users. The system is counting down to when it will start.
 
SameOldVardoger said:
The japanese people got an advanced warning system for earthquakes available for PC users. The system is counting down to when it will start.
Click to expand...

The system has been in place for a long time, and is not just the pc program. You can buy special cable link devices, etc, dedicated just for this purpose. It only helps though if you`re not very close - it doesn`t count down until an earthquake... It just tells you approximately how long it is until the tremor waves from an earthquake that has already occurred reach your area.

Also, if you have the television on, all stations will report this information.
 
Chile: Puyehue volcano chain erupts, forcing evacuation

A chain of volcanoes has erupted in southern Chile, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents.
Large columns of smoke have been rising from the Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle volcano range, about 800km (500 miles) south of the capital Santiago.
Witnesses also reported a strong smell of ash and sulphur. A dozen small earthquakes were recorded before the eruption began.

The officials have issued a red alert - the maximum warning level for the area.
Evacuation orders were issued for some 3,500 people, the local authorities said.
They added that the residents would be relocated in temporary shelters in safe areas.

So far there have been no reports of any injuries.
However, ash clouds have drifted to neighbouring Argentina where officials have ordered residents to stay indoors.
A regional airport in the Argentine city of Bariloche has been closed due to the volcanic ash.

Eyewitness Juli Kessler told the BBC she saw "big black clouds hanging over the Andes" and ash dust lying on the road.
It is the first time since 1960 that the volcanic chain has erupted.
Chile is one of the most volcanic countries in the world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13657187

(BTW, discussion of Yellowstone, etc, should go on the Super Volcanoes thread.)
 
Some good photos of the eruption and associated lightning here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394503/Chile-volcano-causes-ash-cloud-lightning-tears-sky-apart.html

(But note that some of the pics labelled 'time lapse' are in fact 'long exposure' shots, as can be seen from the star trails.)
 
Ash cloud grounds more flights in Australia
AP
Tuesday, 21 June 2011

International and domestic flights through Australian airports were cancelled today as an ash cloud from a Chilean volcano moved into the country's airspace.

Ash from the Cordon Caulle volcano grounded hundreds of flights and stranded tens of thousands of passengers last week when it hovered over several Australian cities and New Zealand.
By Friday, all flights were running normally, but the ash has lapped the globe and is causing more problems.

Australian flagship carrier Qantas said today it had suspended all services to and from the southern city of Adelaide, all flights through the national capital Canberra starting at noon, and all flights through Sydney, Australia's largest city, from mid-afternoon.

Qantas flights to Europe via Bangkok were moved up to early afternoon, while six flights to New Zealand were cancelled.

Qantas budget subsidiary Jetstar made similar cancellations in Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra. Jetstar cancelled a handful of flights between Melbourne and Perth.

Budget airline Tiger said it grounded its entire fleet at least until early afternoon because the planes were in cloud-affected areas.

Virgin Australia cancelled all flights to Adelaide, and flights through Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne from early afternoon.

Chile said on Sunday that the Cordon Caulle volcano, which began erupting on June 4, was becoming less active.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 00413.html
 
Return of the Iceland ash cloud? Fears grow of volcanic eruption that 'would be worse' than last year's which closed Europe's skies
Earthquake activity registered near the volcano meaning an eruption could be imminent, experts say
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:06 AM on 14th October 2011

An Icelandic volcano that could have a more devastating impact than the one that paralysed air traffic last year may erupt at any moment, experts have warned.
Seismologists are nervously watching rumblings beneath Katla, a volcano on the southern edge of the north Atlantic island nation, which could mean an eruption is imminent.

Katla is a much bigger volcano than nearby Eyjafjallajokul, the 2010 eruption of which cost airlines £1.27billion after ash grounded flights across Europe.
Named after an evil troll, Katla has a larger magma chamber than Eyjafjallajokul's. Its last major eruption in 1918 continued more than a month, turning day into night, starving crops of sunlight and killing off some livestock.
The eruption melted some of the ice-sheet covering Katla, flooding surrounding farmlands with a torrent of water that some accounts have said measured as wide as the Amazon.

Now, clusters of small earthquakes are being detected around Katla, which means an eruption could be imminent, seismologists say.
Worryingly, earthquakes have been growing in strength: after a long period of magnitude three tremors, a magnitude four quake was detected last week.
'It is definitely showing signs of restlessness,' said Piall Einarsson, a professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, who added that the Eyjafjallajokul was 'small', despite its impact.

Teams of seismologists and geologists at the university are now working with disaster officials to prepare nearby communities like Vik, a small town of some 300 people that is flanked by black sand beaches.
Disaster officials have drafted an evacuation plan and set aside temporary housing, but many fear they may have less than an hour to evacuate once the volcano erupts.

Iceland sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge. Eruptions, common throughout Iceland's history, are often triggered by seismic activity when the Earth's plates move and magma from deep underground pushes its way to the surface.
The longer pressure builds up, the more catastrophic an eruption can be. Records show that Katla usually has a large eruption twice a century and is long overdue for another.

Icelanders are getting nervous as they mark the anniversary of Katla's last blast.
'We've been getting calls recently from people concerned that Katla is about to erupt because it erupted ... in 1918 on October 12,' said Einar Kjartansson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
'As scientists we don't see that much of a correlation in the date but there is most definitely increased activity. The question is whether it calms down after this or whether there is an eruption.'

Of Iceland's more than 22 volcanoes, seven are active and four are particularly active - including Katla and Hekla.
Although it does not pose the same flood risk as Katla because it's not situated beneath an icecap, Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes and sits in the path of most international flight patterns.
Like Katla, Hekla is also overdue for a large eruption and could produce a disruptive and dangerous ash cloud that, in addition to disrupting air travel, could lower overall temperatures across continents by blocking out sunlight for days or weeks.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1akrFK5FB
 
Supposedly an eruption on Mount Sakurajima in Japan.
Unfortunately hidden in the clouds at the moment. Be patient.
Meanwhile, enjoy the insect life close to the camera ... :D

Webcam: http://122.20.254.201:443/Camera10
 
Anonymous said:
Years ago - well the early 80's anyway - when I was at school I'm sure I remember reading/being told (probably in a geology lesson) about a plan to tap into geothermal energy in Cornwall. There's a large batholith under Cornwall which is stilll comparatively warm and the idea was to sink a shaft down and use the heat to power turbines. Obviously nothing ever came of it, but I've always wondered whether it might one day be practical - and it's as 'green' as it's possible to get.
Click to expand...
It appears that it is happening for real.Geothermal Engineering.
 
Monstrosa said:
Anonymous said:
Years ago - well the early 80's anyway - when I was at school I'm sure I remember reading/being told (probably in a geology lesson) about a plan to tap into geothermal energy in Cornwall. There's a large batholith under Cornwall which is stilll comparatively warm and the idea was to sink a shaft down and use the heat to power turbines. Obviously nothing ever came of it, but I've always wondered whether it might one day be practical - and it's as 'green' as it's possible to get.
Click to expand...
It appears that it is happening for real.Geothermal Engineering.
Click to expand...
Yep, it's been going for some time down here.

But it's not strictly volcanic, as the volcanos that produced Cornish granite went extinct a looong time ago! So this topic should really be in the clean energy thread.

And going down deep mines (coal, gold, whatever) will also show significant temperature increases that can be useful..

But in Iceland they do get geothermal energy from active volcanos!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal ... in_Iceland
 
The quote from Anonymous was from this thread.Perhaps the thread title could be changed to Vulcanism?
 
Superb photo here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picture ... -2011.html

Lightning bolts illuminate the ash cloud from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain in Chile.

Photographer Ricardo A. Mohr Rioseco's images, taken on 5 June, have recently won plaudits from National Geographic. He explains: "They were taken on at 21:30, two days after the beginning of the Caulle volcano eruption. It was very loud and dark in the night but I decided to find a good place to take some picture of the eruption at night. The power of the eruption and the lightning was very frightening, but the pictures obtained were able to reflect all the energy that we have under our feet." Monica Corcoran, National Geographic senior photo editor, said of the images: "Sometimes taking a step back makes all the difference. Instead of zooming in on the eruption, the photographer wisely chose to show all of the layers, complexity, and power of nature."

And above the fire and passion of the volcano, the stars shine serenely on!
 
Canary Island volcano: A new island in the making?
By Rob Hugh-Jones

An undersea volcano erupting just south of Spain's Canary Islands may be the beginnings of a new island, or an extension to an existing one. For some, it's a colourful spectacle - for others a major blow to their livelihood.

"It's angry today. Look at it go!" says fisherman Elio Morales Rodriguez in the village of La Restinga, on the south coast of El Hierro island.
"That green patch on the water is a dead zone," he says, looking out to sea. "It kills everything. No fishing, no dive schools, no tourists, just dead fish on the surface."

For more than a month, the underwater volcano has been erupting three miles to the south of El Hierro, the smallest of the seven Canary Islands, about 50km (30 miles) south-west of its nearest neighbour, La Gomera, and 100km (60 miles) from the most populous of the islands - Tenerife.
From about 60m below the sea, the so-called "submarine" volcano is spewing gases and burning lava, some of which is breaking the surface of the water.

That has drawn lots of camera crews racing to the island to see what's going on, but far fewer tourists than usual. Local journalist Barbara Belt says the islanders don't know when all the fuss will die down and they will be able to get on with their lives again.
In the coastal village of La Restinga, many bars, restaurants, and hotels are shut, and many of the village's residents have already left.

Scientists say the eruption is part of the long-term volcanic evolution of the Canary Islands, which may result in a new island, or add new territory to the southern coast of El Hierro.
There is seismic activity to the north of the island too.

"There has been an enormous amount of seismic activity around the island," says Nemesio Perez, scientific coordinator at Involcan, the Canaries Institute of Volcanology.
"Off the south coast, the magma has broken through the crust. The question is whether that will also happen off the north coast too."
Mr Perez studied volcanology in Japan and the United States before returning to his native Canary Islands in 1997 to help improve the archipelago's volcano monitoring network.

In the past four months, the network has detected more than 11,000 tremors across El Hierro island, one of which measured four-point-six on the Richter scale, and was strong enough to be felt on La Gomera and Tenerife. One resident of El Hierro said it was like an "energy jolt", while another described the noise as "a deep roar".

Most of the tremors on El Hierro have gone unnoticed by the 10,000 residents, but a number have been powerful enough to make some a little nervous.
"Islanders have had suitcases ready by the door, with a change of clothes, battery radio, torch, blanket and emergency rations," says Barbara Belt.

On the north of the island, in an area called La Frontera, a teacher named Carmen says she's using games to encourage children at her infant school to follow emergency procedures. "When I blow a whistle, they scramble to get under the tables as fast as they can. We sing songs until the all-clear, then line up holding a rope to go outside," she adds.

"Islanders are told to stay inside during tremors," says Barbara Belt. "When calm returns, they move outside to prearranged meeting points."

The island got a visit from the Spanish defence minister in September.
In La Caleta, a civil defence task force has arrived from the Spanish mainland and is on stand-by to help in case of emergency.

The islanders' daily lives were disturbed by the temporary closing of a vital road tunnel. There have also been evacuations from homes in potentially hazardous areas.
For some, the worst of it has been the impact on the tourist trade.
"The TV and papers dramatise everything," says Maximo Rodriguez, chatting in a near-empty bar in La Restinga. "It scares people off. People should come. How often do you get the chance to witness this?" he asks.

On the north side of the island, in La Frontera, the owners of the Tasca La Cantina bar, Jose Antonio Padron Perez and his wife Maria Fonte Armas, say they are similarly fed up.
"We get walking groups from northern Europe throughout the winter season. Everyone cancelled. But real life isn't as dramatic as the press say. We are all aware of volcanic activity. These are volcanic islands!"

El Hierro has more than 500 open-sky cones, making it the most volcanic of all the Canary Islands, and this may be why so many Herrenos say they are unperturbed. Carmen says her children's paintings of volcanoes are colourful and fun, not dark and sinister.

Dr Joachim Gottsmann, a volcanologist at Bristol University in the UK, who leads a European Commission-funded volcano study, says there is no obvious or impending prospect of an Iceland-style "ash cloud" developing in the Canaries.
"Right now, the eruption south of El Hierro is really a submarine eruption only," he says. But he adds that this could change at any minute.

So a cloud of uncertainty does hang over the heads of the islanders. They would like the fuss to subside - or at least for more tourists to come to the island to witness volcanic evolution for themselves.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15917740

(More details on page.)
 
How volcanoes shaped Britain's landscape

Britain's volcanic fires may be no more, but remnants of an enduring eruptive past can be found throughout the country, writes Professor Iain Stewart.

"So there I lie on the plateau, under me the central core of fire from which was thrust this grumbling grinding mass of plutonic rock, over me blue air, and between me the fire of the rock and the fire of the sun, scree, soil and water, moss, grass, flower and tree, insect, bird and beast, wind, rain and snow - the total mountain."

Those words - from Nan Shepherd's recently resurrected gem The Living Mountain (Canongate) - perfectly evoke the intimate relationship between the flora and fauna of upland Britain and its ancient volcanic past.

etc...

Professor Iain Stewart and Kate Humble present Volcano Live - starting on BBC Two on Monday 9 July at 20:00 BST

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18674655

I'm surprised that this article doesn't mention the granite spine that runs up through Cornwall and Devon; this was similarly caused by ancient upwelling of magma, and now its weathered remains form the high hills and moors of the west country.

As an example, here's a pic I posted elswhere of Carn Brea near Redruth:

CarnBrea.jpg
 
I don't think I've heard of pumice from an underwater volcano before:

Vast volcanic 'raft' found in Pacific, near New Zealand

A vast "raft" of volcanic rocks covering 10,000 sq miles (26,000 sq km) of ocean has been spotted by a New Zealand military aircraft.
A naval ship was forced to change course in order to avoid the cluster of buoyant rocks, located 1,000 miles off the New Zealand coast.

The unusual phenomenon was probably the result of pumice being released from an underwater volcano, experts said.
One navy officer described it as the "weirdest thing" he had seen at sea.
Lieutenant Tim Oscar told the AFP news agency: "As far ahead as I could observe was a raft of pumice moving up and down with the swell.
"The [top of the] rock looked to be sitting two feet above the surface of the waves and lit up a brilliant white colour. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf," the officer said.

Researchers aboard the ship, HMNZS Canterbury, suggest that the source of the pumice was an underwater volcano (seamount) known as Monowai, located to the north of New Zealand.
The pumice is likely to have been formed when lava from the seamount came into contact with seawater, and as it is less dense than water it quickly rises to the surface of the ocean.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19207810
 
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