Vikings Volcanic Activity Thread

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

Also, Redoubt is now lowered to Yellow due to diminished lava dome growth! Is Redoubt going to sleep?

Meanwhile, spaceweather.com have posted several images of volcanic sunsets across Asia, America and Europe thanks to the levels of SO2 in the atmosphere from the 12th June Sarichev eruptions. I wonder how much SO2 has been emited and what impacts it may have on global temperatures due to increased solar radiation.

Unfortunately, Sarichev has calmed down considerably after its impressive eruption on the 12th June!

Karyo

As regards Redoubt, I did say a wee while ago that it looked like she was nodding off again and it seems AVO agree with me. There has been very little from her now in quite some time.

The amounts of SO2 emitted by Sarychev will probably remain an unknown quantity. The volcano is not monitored at all. There is no monitoring network on the island, and it is very isolated they will have some measurements from the satellite passes so they will eventually release some figures although this will take time as they have to be analysed first. Also bear in mind this is in the Russian Far East and funding for this sort of thing is very limited.

Edited July 1, 2009 by Shetland Coastie

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

NASA Earth Observatory have some excellent 'before' and 'after' pictures of the recent Sarychev Peak eruption in the Central Kuril Islands. Check this out:

NASA Earth Observatory

The upper picture is the 'after' shot. The false colour shows vegetation as red. You can see how the eruption has devasted the northern end if the island whilst the southern end seems virtually untouched. Also not that this eruption has added a few extra sq km of coastline.

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

ERUPTION! - MANDA HARARO - ETHIOPIA

Satellite imagery from the MODIS instrument on NASAs TERRA satellite has confirmed an effusive eruption of the basalitic shield volcano Manda Hararo in Ethiopia.

The volcano is in the far NE of Ethiopia on the border with Eritrea and was previously thought to be inactive, however this is now the second eruption from this volcano since August 2007. This eruption is believed to have begun on 27 June and satellites have also detected a large SO2 cloud drifting over the capital, Addis Abeba. The area is sparsely populated although the 2007 eruption resulted in an evacuation and 5 deaths.

The most intense period of the eruption seems to have been on 30 June (when the SO2 cloud was detected) although all of this is still to be confirmed by reports on the ground.

The whole Manda Hararo complex measures some 105km long and 20-30km wide and is part of an uplifted segment of a mid-ocean ridge spreading centre and has been responsible in the past for large, effusive lava flows.

Edited July 3, 2009 by Shetland Coastie

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

UPDATE - MANDA HARARO - ETHIOPIA

The image below is from the OMI satellite instrument showing the extent of the SO2 cloud from this eruption on 30 June:

As you can see it covers a fairly large area and the concentrations in Dobson Units (DU) are very high). The volcano itself lies to the NE at the point where the border of Eritrea & Ethiopia meets that of Djibouti.

The eruption appears to have subsided now as the MODIS instrument on the TERRA satellite is showing no thermal anomalies since Weds (1 July).

Edited July 3, 2009 by Shetland Coastie

[karyo]

UPDATE - MANDA HARARO - ETHIOPIA

The image below is from the OMI satellite instrument showing the extent of the SO2 cloud from this eruption on 30 June:

As you can see it covers a fairly large area and the concentrations in Dobson Units (DU) are very high). The volcano itself lies to the NE at the point where the border of Eritrea & Ethiopia meets that of Djibouti.

The eruption appears to have subsided now as the MODIS instrument on the TERRA satellite is showing no thermal anomalies since Weds (1 July).

Pretty impressive! There's been a lot of SO2 released in the atmosphere over the last month! First Sarichev and now the Manda Hararo volcano. I hope this continues... :o

Karyo

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

UPDATE - SARYCHEV - CENTRAL KURILES

No significant changes and no further explosive eruptions. The volcano remains at alerts state ORANGE however. Scientists from Russias Institute of Minerology and Geology intend to visit Matua Island (where Sarychev Peak is situated) this week for a field trip. Hopefully we'll get more information and perhaps pictures as a a result of that.

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

UPDATE - SARYCHEV - CENTRAL KURILES

There being no further significant activty over the past week, SVERT have lowered the alert state at Sarychev to YELLOW.

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

ADVANCE WARNING OF POSSIBLE ERUPTION - MAYON - PHILIPPINES

Philvolcs is warning of heightened unrest at Mayon. A rise in volcanic earthquakes has been observed over the last 24 hours, moderate steaming and a glow has been noted from the main crater. In addition to the 6km Permanent Danger Zone around the volcano a further 7km Expanded Zone has been put in place and locals and tourists are being advised to stay away from the volcano.

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

ADVANCE WARNING OF POSSIBLE ERUPTION - SAN MIGUEL - EL SALVADOR

Servicio Nacional de Estudios Territoriales (SNET) is warning of increased activity at San Miguel (also know locally as Chaparrastique). San Miguel is El Salvadors most active volcano and lies only 15km away from the city of the same name, which has a population of some 200,000.

In a special report SNET states that increased seismic activity began at 0300 on 6 July and continues. The normal level of 'microsesimicity' at the volcano is 30-50 units per day but this has now increased to some 700-1300 units per day, This sort of activity has led to eruptions in the past and it is associated with the heating of water within the volcanic system.

A 2km 'security zone' has been imposed around the volcano/

[MR EXTREMES]

Pretty impressive! There's been a lot of SO2 released in the atmosphere over the last month! First Sarichev and now the Manda Hararo volcano. I hope this continues...

Karyo

lol i wonder why you hope it continues?

i wonder if its for the same reasons as me haha few more major so2 realeses wollies on lol.

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

ALERT LEVEL INCREASED AS UNREST CONTINUES AT MAYON

Phivolcs have increased the alert level at Mayon to 2 (on a scale of 1-4) due to continuing and increasing unrest at one of the Philippines most active volcanos.

Seisimic activity has continued to steadily increase and it si now at a level which Phivolcs believes indicates the movement of magma within the volcano. There has also been moderate steam emissions, a night-time glow from the main crater and steadily increasing ground deformation. As a result of all this, Phivolcs are warning of the possibility of an explosive eruption sometime soon. It is reported that some 500 villagers living within a 6km exlusion zone around the volcano are to be evacuated today and consideration is being given to evacuationg some larger villages and towns just outside this zone.

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

ALERT LEVEL AT LLAIMA LOWERED TO GREEN

After a sustained period of unrest, due to declining seismicity, the laert level at Llaima, Chile, has been lowerd to GREEN. However, given that the volcano burst back into life last time with little or no warning, the Chilean authorities are maintaining a state of vigilance and the 4km exclusion zone around the volcano remains in place and they will continue to monitor the volcano 24/7.

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

UPDATE - REDOUBT - ALASKA

Swings and roundabouts regarding Redoubt at the moment. On the one hand, in a sign of the decrease in activity, AVO has ceased 24/7 monitoring of the volcano. However, on the other hand they are also warning that the lava dome looks increasingly unstable and there could be a collapse at any time.

The oil industry seem to believe the worst is over as they are about to open up the Drift River Oil Terminal gain. This time, however, they will no longer be storing any oil on the site, instead it will be pumped ashore from the rigs and then immediately pumped into waiting tankers.

[LadyPakal]

While we wait for some more activity, why not take a gander at these pics. Excellent work:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthpict...ick-Koster.html

[ukweathergirl]

wow such great images

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

While we wait for some more activity, why not take a gander at these pics. Excellent work:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthpict...ick-Koster.html

Yeh they're pretty hot

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

UNREST CONTINUES AT MAYON - PHILIPPINES

Unrest continues at one of the Philippines most active volcanos, Mayon. Elevated seismic activity including volcanic earthquakes, an intense glow from the crater and vigorous steaming all indicate growing heat within the volcano. Also, the locals are telling the usual stories associated with this sort of activity, animals fleeing, wells drying up etc. Animal behaviour Im not so sure about but there is a possibiity that increasing volcanic activity could affect the local water table which may give the "wells drying up" idea some credence.

Phivolcs has requested that the local authorities ban all tourist activity around the volcano as a precautionary measure and the authorities have already given consideration to a major evacuation, having already drawn up plans and made evacuation centres ready.

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

ANOTHER ALEUTIANS VOLCANO AT ALERT STATE YELLOW

AVO have increased the alert state at Shishaldin in the Aleutians to YELLOW with the volcano emitting a steam plume and a thermal anomaly being detected. The webicorder shows episodic bursts of seismic unrest which may indicate something is afoot.

Shishaldin webicorder

As per usual, there is a webcam covering Shishaldin but it isn't working, sigh!

Edited July 21, 2009 by Shetland Coastie

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

UNREST INCREASING AT MAYON - PHILIPPINES

Phivolcs is reporting a doubling of volcanic earthquakes at Mayon over the past week and ground deformation of over 8mm as unrest continues at the volcano.

Phivolcs is also closely monitoring another volcano, Taal, following a spike in volcanic quakes between 13-19 July. Since then things seem to have subsided again but a close eye is being on the volcano in any case.

[Rainy]

Apologies if this link showing the Sarychev eruption has already been posted. Stitched together footage from ISIS flyover in June I gather.

Relative in Oregon reports lovely orange sunsets there still, followed by noctilucents recently. What a show. If only our skies were less cloudy.

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

Apologies if this link showing the Sarychev eruption has already been posted. Stitched together footage from ISIS flyover in June I gather.

Relative in Oregon reports lovely orange sunsets there still, followed by noctilucents recently. What a show. If only our skies were less cloudy.

Nice one Rainy - thanks for that

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

UPDATE - ALASKA

Both Redoubt and Shishaldin remain on yellow alert although there is little activity currently. The lava dome at Redoubt, however, is still highly unstable and could collapse at any time, leading to major debris avalanches and the possibility of an explosive eruption as the volcano is suddenly 'uncorked.' Shishaldin is showing little activity at the moment after an increase in seismicity/steaming a couple of weeks back. I expect the alert state to be lowered to GREEN fairly shortly.

Edited July 30, 2009 by Shetland Coastie

[Typhoon John]

Some activity at Redoubt since yesterday from the look of the webicorders but nothing exceptional.

Chaiten keeps erupting along at an amazing pace, there's been some good shots on the webcam the past few days. I really wish we knew more about what is going on there, imo it's by far the most interesting and important eruption ongoing atm.

[Guest Shetland Coastie]

Some activity at Redoubt since yesterday from the look of the webicorders but nothing exceptional.

Chaiten keeps erupting along at an amazing pace, there's been some good shots on the webcam the past few days. I really wish we knew more about what is going on there, imo it's by far the most interesting and important eruption ongoing atm.

Chaiten continues adding to the already massive (and unstable) lava dome. The expected dome collapse has not happened yet and obviously the bigger it grows the more spectacular it will be when it does go! The main fear is a dome collapse,say months or even a year or so from now, could precipitate an almighty explosion, with accompanying debris avalanches, pyroclastic flows and lahars which would devastate the surrounding area. Fortunately this is a sparsely populated part of Chile.

[Typhoon John]

Chaiten continues adding to the already massive (and unstable) lava dome. The expected dome collapse has not happened yet and obviously the bigger it grows the more spectacular it will be when it does go! The main fear is a dome collapse,say months or even a year or so from now, could precipitate an almighty explosion, with accompanying debris avalanches, pyroclastic flows and lahars which would devastate the surrounding area. Fortunately this is a sparsely populated part of Chile.

I find it a little patronising that you feel the need to post the above which let's be honest is basic volcanism and general facts you could pick up with a quick Google search. I don't post a lot but I think it's clear from when I do post that I have a bit more knowledge than that or that I at least have the capability to do my own research. It sort of strikes me that you feel you have to have the final word in this thread, as if you are some overall authority on volcanoes, when in reality you are not.

Otherwise I think you make an excellent contribution; although I do think you should link to your sources more.

Edited August 1, 2009 by fozi999