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

[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...

[Howard]

Increased Explosions at Nicaragua's Telica Volcano (Sep 26)

The Telica volcano in northwestern Nicaragua belched gas, ashes and rocks on Saturday in a series of blasts that raised fears of a full-on eruption, authorities said.

A series of 5 moderately strong explosions lasted half an hour. It produced dense ash plumes and ejected blocks to up to 500 m distance.

"Five explosions of medium intensity accompanied by a volcanic tremor were registered," said First Lady Rosario Murillo, citing reports by the Nicaraguan Institute of Earth Studies.

Murillo, who is the government's chief spokesperson, said the activity had raised concerns that a volcanic eruption may be in the offing. "We had 25 minutes of anomalous activity," she said, adding that experts were closely monitoring the activity.

Earlier this week, the volcano sent up dense columns of ash after a series of explosions and produced ash plumes that rose to approximately 500 meters. Ash fell up to 30 km west of the volcano in the department of Chinandega.

Telica, which is 1,060 meters (3,478 feet) high, is located some 150 kilometres (93 miles) northwest of the capital Managua.

Sources

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/nicaraguan-volcano/215328...

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/telica/news/54675/Telica-volcano-Ni...

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/telica/news/54692/Telica-volcano-Ni...

[Howard]

Residents Warned of Falling Debris from Mexico's Colima Volcano (Sep 24)

The area highlighted in yellow is the most susceptible to ash fall.

The Colima Volcano continues to be active, sending a 1,500-meter column of smoke skyward at 7:08 this morning.

Civil Protection’s national coordinator, Luis Felipe Puente Espinosa, reported the eruption on his Twitter account, advising that the smoke, with a low ash content, was moving southwest.

The ash expelled by the volcano consists of material less than two millimeters in diameter and moves with the wind. But rock projectiles from the Volcano of Fire, as it is also known, are a different matter.

They can be up to 50 millimeters in diameter and are sent shooting out of the crater at high speed, before falling to the ground. This volcanic material can cause damage and injuries in populated areas, particularly if they are hot, which can result in fires.

The falling pieces of rock can be a danger within a five-kilometer radius of the volcano.

Puente Espinosa issued a call to residents near the volcano to stay informed about the volcano’s activity. It has been active since early July, when ash falls were severe enough to require the evacuation of 700 people from nearby communities. The volcano straddles the border between Colima and Jalisco.

Sources

http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/more-activity-seen-at-the-colima-vo...

http://media.watoday.com.au/featured/timelapse-of-mexican-volcano-6...

[jorge namour]

Strong activity Telica volcan / Nicaragua

Wednesday September 23, 2015

http://www.el19digital.com/articulos/ver/titulo:33841-fuerte-activi...

https://translate.google.es/translate?sl=es&tl=en&js=y&...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_66OtNhpl14

The Telica volcano in western Nicaragua , expelled a large amount of gas and ash Wednesday morning.
From about 8 am, the colossus began to emanate a huge column that could be seen from several kilometers.

As a result of this strong activity, ashfall was reported in communities like Los Angeles and Quezalguaque.

political secretary in the department of León, reported that already activated the Municipal Committee for the Prevention and Attention to Disasters (COMUPRED) to address the effects on families by falling ash in the already cited communities. CONTINUE...

MAP; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telica_%28volcano%29

[Mark]

Mauna Loa recent volcanic activity could pave the way for an eruption

http://www.dailytimesgazette.com/mauna-loa-recent-volcanic-activity...

Hawaiian authorities from the USGS (US Geological Survey) have heightened alert levels for Mauna Loa, the largest of the volcanoes that comprised Hawaii and currently holds the distinction of being the largest volcano in the planet.

As per West Hawaii Today, the USGS had reported that the volcano had been displaying “signs of unrest” since Sept. 17, 2015, paving the way for the change in alert levels from normal to advisory.

Frank Trusdell, a geologist, said that. “It doesn’t mean an eruption is imminent, but it’s a reminder to the residents of Hawaii, that Mauna Loa is still an active volcano.”

Mauna Loa, which last erupted in 1984, has been observed with an increase in seismic activity, prompting officials to issue warning to residents.

10 earthquakes every week is common for the area, but as of late more than 40 earthquakes were registered per week have been registered by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO).

[Howard]

Large Ash Plume at Sumatra's Mt Sinabung (Sep 15)

A large pyroclastic flow occurred this morning (08:22 local time) at the volcano.

The associated ash plume rose to 18,000 ft (5.4 km) altitude.

During the past months, Sinabung has continued to extrude viscous lava that accumulates at its top in the form of a dome with lobes on the upper slopes.

When parts of these unstable features collapse, they generate avalanches of hot gas and rock that can reach speeds of 700 km/h (450 mph) and temperatures up to 1,000 °C (1,830 °F).

Source

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/sinabung/news/54599/Sinabung-volcan...

[Mark]

Flurry of activity at Kilauea Volcano last week on Hawaii Island

http://www.hawaiimagazine.com/content/flurry-activity-kilauea-volca...

Kilauea Volcano on Hawaii Island, continuously erupting since 1983 and considered one of the world’s most active volcanoes, has not disappointed these last few days. Last Thursday, Aug 27, a large new lava breakout occurred on the north side of its Puu Oo cone; lava broke the surface inside Puu Oo crater in a new eruption; and the summit lava lake in Halemaumau crater has been rising, falling and even spattering with recent seismic activity.

Readers may recall the Puu Oo cone from its June 27, 2014 flow that sent lava northeast from its crater and oozing toward subdivisions, roads and even homes late last year.
The new Puu Oo cone breakout occurred off of a lava tube supplying distant and ongoing flows. The activity died on the same day, after traveling about 1,640 feet. Lava is still being supplied to a forested area northeast of the crater, but is not near structures and remains within about five miles northeast of the Puu Oo crater. The portion of the lava flow that edged close and threatened residential communities stopped receiving fresh lava in early March.

According to the USGS’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s (HVO) daily updates, none of Kilauea’s lava flows or breakouts from existing flows currently pose a threat to area communities. However, it is unknown how breakout activity—like the one that occurred on Thursday—might impact “the vigor of the distant flows to the northeast,” reports HVO.
Beginning on Friday, Kilauea’s summit experienced some inflation and deflation—an indication that magma below the surface is moving—and seismic tremors have caused some spattering on the summit lava lake, sometimes visible on Hawaii Volcanoes National Park webcams [see below for links].

[M. Difato]

Mount Lokon erupts on August 28, 2015

Mount Lokon in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, erupted on 11:49 p.m. local time on Saturday and spewed volcanic ash from its Tompaluan Crater, which reached several areas of Manado city.

Local residents reported that Mt. Lokon spewed a column of ash around 1,500 meters high, which spread in a northern and northeastern direction away from the volcano.

“Winds have pushed the volcanic ash areas, starting from Manado to North Minahasa. The ash is covering our houses. We have to get masks,” said Amanda, a Winangun resident, on Sunday.

Kompas.com reported that Saturday’s eruption had caused flight delays at Sam Ratulangi Airport in Manado as thick volcanic ash covered its runways.

At least three flights that should have departed for Balikpapan (East Kalimantan), Jakarta and Surabaya (East Java) on 6 a.m. local time on Sunday had to be rescheduled.

Authorities said they delayed their departures because of the poor condition of the airport’s runways.

There have been no reports of fatalities or injuries during the eruption. Lokon is one of active volcanoes in North Sulawesi that has frequent eruptions. Lokon last erupted in May. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/08/30/mount-lokon-erupts.html