Volcano watch

[Sevan Makaracı]

Japan: A new island appears in the Ogasawara Islands - November 2013

Active volcanoes (Sep 28, 2012)

Source

Source

"Of course all volcanoes will explode, as this is going to be a very severe pole shift. What about the months and years preceding the pole shift? It is no secret that Mammoth Lake and the caldera of Yellowstone are warming up, and the populace has been prepared for these occurrences by the movie Volcano where there, in the middle of LA, lava is bubbling up. In fact, there is a fault line running from the approximate San Diego/LA area, up into the Sierras, and this is liable to rupture rather violently during one of the quakes that precedes the pole shift by some months. Volcanic eruptions from that area in the Sierras can be expected. Will Mount St. Helen erupt? All volcanoes that have been active within the memory of man will begin spewing and burping and oozing, and many that were not expected to become active will reactive. "   ZetaTalk - Feb 15, 2000

[Derrick Johnson]

Rinjani volcano (Lombok Island, Indonesia): small eruption reported this morning

Sunday Oct 25, 2015 16:25 PM | BY: T

A small explosive eruption with ash emissions was reported from the volcano this morning. It seems to have occurred from the Baru Jari cone inside the caldera lake (and the site of all recent eruptions of the volcano) at around 10:45 local time.  Hikers from and near the camp at the lake were evacuated and all trekking routes through the Rinjani National Park were closed, including those through Sembulan and Timbanuh, East Lombok, and Senaru and North Lombok. 
No significant seismic activity seems to have accompanied the explosion. The ash emission was too small to be detected on satellite data. The aviation alert level of the volcano was raised to Orange (VAAC Darwin).

Source: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/rinjani/news/55057/Rinjani-volcano-... 

[Howard]

Volcanoes Erupt in Russia and Indonesia (Oct 22)

Shiveluch Volcano on Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula erupted this morning.

"Seismic stations nearby Shiveluch have registered that the giant volcano sent a plume of ash up to six kilometres into the sky today [October 22]," a spokesperson for the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geophysical Service told TASS on Thursday.

Earlier, TASS cited the Klyuchevskaya volcano observatory of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences as saying that Shiveluch had been demonstrating increased activity in recent days as fire avalanches were going from the lava dome down up to 0.5-1km along the volcano slopes towards the Baidarnaya and Bekesh rivers.

In southern Indonesia, Batu Tara volcano also erupted this morning, producing an ash plume at estimated 5,000 ft (1.5 km) altitude was reported extending 50 km SW of the volcano.

Sources

http://tass.ru/en/society/830786

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/batu-tara/news/55008/Batu-Tara-volc...

[Howard]

Volcanoes Erupt in Mexico and Peru (Oct 21)

Ubinas volcano, in the Moquegua region of Peru, erupted this morning at 7:56 a.m. and sent an ash column 1,000 meters into the sky.

Winds then sent the cloud of ash 10 kilometers to the northeast and east of the crater.

The cloud affected the districts of Querapi, Ubinas and Escacha.

On Oct 20, Mexicos Popocatepetl volcano erupted, belching ash and smoke that rose 2,500 metres above the volcano.

Mexico's National Centre for Disaster Prevention (Cenapred) reported that a total of 42 exhalations were reported that day.

Sources

http://www.peruthisweek.com/news-ubinas-volcano-erupts-emitting-ash...

http://www.ibtimes.co.in/mexico-rumbling-popocatepetl-volcano-erupt...

[Derrick Johnson]

Second volcano spews ash near Ecuador's capital

The Associated Press 
Published Monday, October 12, 2015 1:57PM EDT 

QUITO, Ecuador - A second volcano is once again spewing plumes of ash in the mountain chain near Ecuador's capital.

The country's Geophysics Institute says the Tungurahua volcano shot out several bursts of gas and ash over the weekend, with one reaching about 2 kilometres above 5,023-metre summit. It also hurled incandescent rock onto its slope.

The Cotopaxi volcano closer to the capital was relatively calm Monday after several outbursts in recent days. It shot ash and gas about 2.5 kilometres above its crater on Sunday.

It poses a greater threat to populated areas, standing about 50 kilometres southeast of Quito. Tungurahua is 140 kilometres south of the capital.

Source: http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/second-volcano-spews-ash-near-ecuado... 

[Howard]

Strong Explosions at Colima Volcano (Oct 5)

Mexico's Colima volcano erupted late on 4 October and continued on until 5 October spewing ash and smoke into the air, authorities reported. According to Jalisco Civil Protection, the plume of gas and ash reached a height of 1,500m, heading north.

Along with the ash cloud and gas, the volcano expelled pyroclastic flows that travelled hundreds of metres down the slope. The day before, a spectacular explosion was recorded at 6.29pm, sending clouds of ash and smoke 2,500m above the crater.

Located in the south-western Mexican state of Colima, the Fire Volcano has been exhibiting activity since 9 July. Over the past two months, nearby villages have been blanketed with thick coats of ash, prompting evacuations.

Source

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/mexico-colima-volcano-erupts-again-spewing...

[Howard]

Strong Activity at Guatemala's Fuego Volcano (Oct 8)

A volcano near the Guatemalan capital roared back to life on Wednesday, spewing ash high into the air.

Pulsating lava fountains from two summit vents also fed two lava flows that descended the southern and western flanks of the volcano through the Trinidad and Santa Teresa canyon, reaching 1000 and 600 m, respectively.

The Fuego volcano, which is just 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Guatemala City and its population of one million people, coughed out gas and ash 4,800 meters (16,000 feet) above sea level.

Despite at least two lava flows, Alejandro Maldonado, secretary of the disaster reduction office CONRAD, said the so-called "Fire Volcano" was not yet sufficiently dangerous to justify the evacuation of nearby villages.

The activity so far has not resulted in the generation of the much-feared pyroclastic flows, but remains intense and could trigger such flows, if parts of the lava flows on the steep flanks collapse.

Experts say the volcano -- one of the most active in Central America -- may become increasingly violent in the coming hours and could affect air traffic.

In February, a powerful eruption at Fuego forced authorities to declare an alert and close the airport in the capital.

Sources

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/fuego/news/54819/Fuego-volcano-Guat...

http://news.yahoo.com/guatemala-volcano-roars-back-life-214146249.html

[Howard]

Ecuador Volcano Spews Giant Ash Columns (Oct 8)

Ecuador's restive Cotopaxi volcano has been spewing plumes of ash and gas far above its crater and volcanologists say its activity has been on the upswing.

The country's Geophysics Institute says Cotopaxi shot out a plume more than a mile (2 kilometers) high on Wednesday, and an impressive new emission burst from the volcano on Thursday. And it says incandescent material has been seen in the crater.

The giant ash column was visible from Quito, 45km to the north of the volcano, considered one of the world's most dangerous because its snow cap is vulnerable in an eruption and because of its close proximity to densely populated areas.

Ecuador's security coordination ministry said ash rose 2 000m above the volcano's crater, and warned some could fall on Quito's southern neighbourhoods.

The government declared a state of emergency in August after the volcano roared to life and has been conducting evacuation drills among the population.

An estimated 325 000 people could be affected if the eruption triggers mudslides and avalanches, according to the authorities.

The 19,347-foot (5,897-meter) volcano is just about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from Ecuador's capital of Quito and a sizable eruption could affect tens of thousands of people. The last large eruption was in 1877.

Sources

http://www.news24.com/Green/News/Ecuador-volcano-spews-giant-ash-co...

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/10/08/new-bursts-ash-and-gas-rise...

[Howard]

Active Undersea Volcano Discovered off Alaska (Sep 23)

Scientists have found another underwater volcano in Southeast Alaska waters. And this one is active.

About two years ago, geologists studying an ocean channel near Ketchikan spotted something unusual. It was a submerged volcano, about 150 feet below the surface.

It was dormant. The experts estimated it hadn’t erupted for about 10,000 years.

Now, scientists have discovered another underwater volcano, near Dixon Entrance, just north of Alaska’s maritime border with British Columbia.

“Nothing like that had been mapped in the area before, so we knew then that we had discovered something new,” said Gary Greene, a marine geologist working with the Sitka Sound Science Center.

He and a Canadian counterpart found the volcano Sept. 23 during a study of the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault System. That’s been the epicenter of some recent earthquakes.

“We had just completed some survey work and we modified our line to go to another place to look. And as we were transiting, we came across this big plume and this big cone where the plume was coming out of,” he said.

The plume, made up of methane gas, was being released by a volcanic vent about 3,000 feet below. It stretched up about two-thirds of the way to the ocean’s surface.

But Greene said there was no fresh lava — or anything else to worry about.

“We worked over the vent, right over the vent. And we’re still around to tell about it. So I think it’s probably OK for mariners,” he said.

He said the discovery sheds light on the workings of the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault System, which is offshore British Columbia and Southeast Alaska.

It’s where a huge, moving chunk of the Earth’s crust, called the Pacific Plate, rubs up against the North American Plate.

“It means that this fault acts as a conduit to deeper in the Earth to places where either magma or fluids that are heated by magma or geothermally heated at depth can migrate up through the fault to the surface,” he said.

Tory O’Connell, research director for the Sitka Sound Science Center, said the research is providing “really important new information about earthquake hazards in our area.”

“It’s also helping direct future research that will help define the significance of understanding the fluidity of that fault,” she said.

Lava and other volcanic fluids lubricate faults, lessening the chance of sudden movement. But that can increase pressure on other areas along the fault, forcing them to jerk forward, causing earthquakes.

Greene said the new volcano was found as scientists investigated another underwater hazard.

“This is an area that had had indications that there were failures occurring on the slope here. And large failures, that is, large landslides that may general tsunamis,” he said.

The new volcano is not alone. Greene said the study found others nearby, but none were active.

Several other venting volcanos have been found along the fault in recent years off the shores of British Columbia.

The Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault study took place Sept. 15-23 on board a Canadian Coast Guard ship, the John P. Tully. It included Greene, Vaughn Barrie of the Geological Survey of Canada and other scientists and technicians from the Geological Survey of Canada and the U.S. Geological Survey. Funding for Greene’s work came from the U.S. Geological Survey, through the Sitka Sound Science Center.

Source

http://www.alaskapublic.org/2015/10/02/active-underwater-volcano-fo...

[Howard]

Large Pyroclastic Flows at Guatemala's Santa Maria Volcano (Sep 29)

A series of partial collapses from the Caliente lava dome have been generating pyroclastic flows over 5 km in length that contain rock fragments and hot gas 500 degrees Celsius moving 100 km per hour.

The National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology (Insivumeh) and the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) report that Santiaguito volcano is in a phase of high activity.

So far no community near the volcano is being affected.

Sources

http://www.soy502.com/articulo/volcan-santiaguito-encuentra-activo-...

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/guatemala/santiaguito/news/54715/Sa...

[Howard]

 Eruptions Increasing at Peru's Ubinas Volcano (Sep 29)

The Ubinas volcano in southwestern Peru erupted again today for the second time in as many days, sending a cloud of ash up to 13,000 feet into the air.

Authorities have issued an ash alert for towns and communities surrounding the volcano.

On Sunday, Ubinas volcano registered a large explosion lasting 59 seconds and sending a large amount of ash 3,600 feet above the base of the crater,

“In the last six days, OVS stations reported an increased number of earthquakes of the volcano-tectonic type, but with low energy. This activity is associated just to the variation in the internal pressure in the mountains,” said Orlando Macedo, director of the South Volcano Observatory (OVS).

The OVS report said that the emission of ash was recorded for about 37 minutes. The wind blew the current toward the east of the volcano.

It is estimated the eruption emitted an energy of 5 Megajoules (MJ). OVS experts don’t doubt that new mild or moderate exhalations will occur in the upcoming days.

Prior to Sunday's eruption, the last strong eruption occurred Sept. 21 and caused a plume of ash that reached 1,500 meters above the crater and then scattered in a radius of 10 kilometers.

Sources

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/video-news/world/video-perus-ubin...

http://www.peruthisweek.com/news-ubinas-volcano-registers-new-explo...

http://www.peruthisweek.com/news-new-ubinas-volcano-explosion-affec...