Tag Archives: Eruption

Fuego Volcano in Guatemala – Large Eruption

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Fuego in Guatemala has Largest Eruption in Years

Tinakula Volcano Eruption As Seen by Satellite

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Tinakula volcano (Solomon Islands) eruption captured by satellite

Last update: February 17, 2012 at 12:27 pm by By 

Tinakula is a conical stratovolcano which forms an island north of Nendo in Temotu Province, the Solomon Islands. It lies at the north end of the Santa Cruz Islands. It is about 3.5 km wide and rises 851 m above sea level, but rises three or four km above the sea floor. It erupts approximately every hour in a plume of ash and rocks. The volcano was first recorded in eruption in 1595 when Álvaro de Mendaña sailed past on his round the world voyage.

Image courtesy NASA Earth observatory

This natural-color satellite image (top) shows a plume of volcanic gas, possibly mixed with a little ash, rising above the island’s summit. On February 13th and 14th, 2012, NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) detected heat signatures on Tinakula, and a small plume was apparent in visible imagery (lower image). Over the past decade satellites have detected intermittent “thermal anomalies” that suggest eruptions have taken place, but eyewitness observations are infrequent. The images was collected by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite (top) and MODIS on the Terra satellite on February 14, 2012.

Google earth profile image

The island is uninhabited. A previous population was eradicated when the volcano erupted around 1840 and pyroclastic flows swept all sides of the island.
In 1951, polynesians from Nukapu and Nupani settled on the island, which reached a peak population of 130, before it had to be evacuated again during the 1971 eruption. The village of Temateneniwas on the southeast coast. In the late 1980s, two families (less than 10 people) from Nupani made another attempt at settlement.

Transport can be arranged, but landing on the island is very difficult since there are few good beaches. One must bring plenty of water and be prepared to swim ashore. The island is covered with jungle, except for the western side, which is covered with ash. It was scraped by landslides in 1965. When the volcano erupts, it is possible to watch large boulders tumbling down the mountain side.

The island is in the range of the endangered Santa Cruz Ground Dove (Gallicolumba sanctaecrucis), but as ornithologists have not visited the island in a long period, it is unknown whether they survive there. Doctor Gunter Kittel, an Austrian doctor, who came and worked for Lata Hospital climbed Tinakula four times in 2002.

Text : NASA Earth Observatory and Wikipedia

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/02/17/tinakula-volcano-solomon-islands-eruption-captured-by-satellite/

Lascar Volcano Activity — Chile

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– Chile / Lascar (11:47 UTC)
As mentioned already yesterday Lascar volcano in the Atacama desert in Chile is waking up gradually. Sernageomin has detected a lot of earthquakes. Click here for their detailed report published on January 5 (Spanish). A new one is expected soon.
On the webcam this morning, we see sulfur rich fumeroles at the left side of the volcano. Lascar is known to be spectacular if erupting and sending ashes kilometers high in the sky !

Image captures from the Sernageomin webcam near Lascar Volcano Chile

from:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/12/31/worldwide-volcano-news/

Mt. Etna’s First 2012 Eruption

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Mount Etna Erupts (VIDEO)

First Posted: 1/5/12 12:01 PM ET Updated: 1/5/12 12:03 PM ET

Europe’s tallest active volcano Mount Etna erupted for the first time this year.

On Wednesday night, the volcano released a column of ash, and lava was seen running down its eastern flank. The volcano is located on the island of Sicily.

According to Reuters, the eruption caused no damages or air traffic disruptions.

Check out the link below for some ectacular footage from the eruption.

from:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/05/mount-etna-erupts_n_1186391.html

El Hierro – Economic Impact of Major Explosion

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El Hierro Volcano eruption : Economic impact on El Hierro and the Canary Islands if an aerial eruption would occur

Last update: November 9, 2011 at 4:36 pm by By 

A quick exposure-risk picture of what could be affected should a full blown eruption occur

El Hierro Island has 10,960 inhabitants producing a GDP per capita of around 8000 euros, the equivalent of around 88 million Euros.

The economy is sustained via livestock(goats, sheep and cattle – milk for cheese), agriculture (fruits and wine), fishing (tuna etc.) and tourism (not as great as the rest of the Canary Islands – they do mostly rural/adventure tourism and have around 2000 beds.

La Restinga is the main port for fishing,  already strongly affected by the eruption. Water temperatures in the vicinity of the volcano / port have been measured at 35.3 degrees instead of the usual 24 degrees and the poisoned water has killed almost all marine life near the port.

Livestock (as seen in previous eruptions, especially in Iceland) can be killed if fluoride poisoning occurs of water sources.

The rest of the Canary Islands relies greatly on tourism (32% of the GDP) and could be affected significantly if El Hierro is to produce an aerial eruption. Tourism accounts for around 14 billion Euros of the 43.248 billion Euro GDP.

Over 9 million tourists visit the Canary Islands each year, with around 16.9 million people moving through the 8 airports each year (around 46300 people a day). Should all the airports be out for a week at anytime, the predicted loss in GDP would be around 400 million Euros in tourism losses.

As much of the other GDP is centralized on the islands, limited losses would occur in other sectors, apart from directly affected losses in the livestock, fishing and agriculture sector.

What is also interesting is that a €54 million project is currently being undertaken on El Hierro to create a 11MW wind farm and two hydroelectric projects using an extinct volcano to be the first island around the world to have complete energy self-sufficiency. Water release from the extinct volcano (when pumped up 700m), will create 11.3 MW. This system is expected to save €4 million.

It is unknown how much this would be affected.

Tsunami risk we will not mention at this point, however there is always the chance of underwater landslides, on-shore landslides through seismic activity.

Wind for El Hierro can be seen in the last 18 hours here.

It can be seen that at the moment, winds are favourable with winds blowing from the north to the south. This means that should there be an aerial eruption, the other islands in the Canaries would not be significantly affected by the resulting ash cloud.

In fact, the general wind direction is a NNE-northerly, meaning that it is unlikely that for the month of November there could be a major ash impact on the rest of the islands. We thank windfinder.com  and recommend their service.

for more, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/11/09/el-hierro-volcano-eruption-economic-impact-on-el-hierro-and-the-canary-islands-if-an-aerial-eruption-would-occur/

Rwanda Volcano Eruption

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Rwanda Nyamulagira Volcano eruption in DR Congo

Last update: November 8, 2011 at 12:54 am by By 

Nyamulagira volcano, Democratic Republic of Congo – image courtesy Gorilla.cd – Virunga National Park

A spectacular fire show started last night when Nyamulagira volcano (also known as Nyamuragira) began an eruption that happens about every two years. The eruption could be seen clearly from the Virunga park headquarters – probably the best view you could ask for. It appears that the eruption isnot happening on the volcano itself, but on the side and lower to the ground. We’ll fill you in on details once we have them.

This is NOT the volcano that tourists hike to see the lava lake, but a far more active volcano just to the north. Most of the lava flows north into an area where no one lives, so it shouldn’t bring harm to people or wildlife as the flow is moving slowly.

Eruptions like this one can go on for days, weeks, or even months, so we’ll update you on the status.
(text courtesy gorilla – Virunga National Park)
Volcano information

Africa’s most active volcano, Nyamuragira is a massive high-potassium basaltic shield volcano that rises about 25 km north of Lake Kivu, NW of Nyiragongo volcano. Nyamuragira, also known as Nyamulagira, has avolume of 500 cu km, and extensive lava flows from the volcano blanket 1500 sq km of the western branch of the East African Rift. The broad low-angle shield volcano contrasts dramatically with its steep-sided neighbor Nyiragongo.

to read more, go to:   http://earthquake-report.com/2011/11/08/rwanda-nyamulagira-volcano-eruption-in-dr-congo/

More Activity at El Hierro

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Signs of second eruption off coast of El Hierro
English.news.cn   2011-10-31 20:54:10

MADRID, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) — A second volcanic eruption off the coast of the island of El Hierro could be on the point of happening, scientists warned.

The warning came just over a week after the end of the first eruption, which forced a village on the island to be evacuated.

The offshore eruption began at a depth of over 100 meters below sea level on Oct. 10 off the southern coast of El Hierro, the smallest and most westerly of the Canary Islands, a group of islands off the western coast of Africa, which are governed by Spain.

It led to the creation of a stain caused by emissions of sulphur, pumice stone and magma which extended beyond El Hierro.

Although the first eruption died down and seismic activity began to fade, it has gained momentum again in recent days with El Hierro suffering over 120 earth tremors with the strongest reaching 3.9 on the Richter scale on Sunday.

In contrast to the first eruption, there are signs that a second eruption could happen off the northern coast of El Hierro.

Experts have met with government members of the Canary Islands to discuss the new developments. Although no new measures will be taken for the moment to evacuate the population from areas closest to a possible eruption site, the authorities will maintain their close observation of the area.

“What is happening in el Hierro has a lot of questions that still need answers. The movements have been changing their location and we need to continue studying the process to find conclusions,” explained volcanologist Nemesio Perez to Spain’s national broadcaster RTVE.

“What we do know is that there is activity with magma and this chapter has still not been closed,” he said.

 

from:    http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-10/31/c_131222445.htm

Hudson Volcano in Chile—Alert

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Last update: October 27, 2011 at 6:58 pm by By 

Cerro Hudson volcano, a Southern  Andean volcano  located in the border area in between Chile and Argentina has started a minor eruption.
SERNAGEOMIN, the Chilean authority who is guarding the activity of the volcanoes hasincreased the alert level from 3 to 5 (Red Alert).

Onemi, the Chile government organization who is coordinating all actions to protect people and infrastructure from being damages /injured has called the RED alert for the following localities : Aysén, Río Ibáñez and Chile Chico in the Aysén area.

Both organizations will of course follow up the situation of Cerro Hudson 24 hours on 24 and 7 days on 7. Due to the remote location of this volcano, the reporting from the eruptions will be far less than it was the case with the Puyehue – Cordón Caulle

ONEMI update October 27 – 18:51 UTC :
There are now three steam vents on the volcano. One of the vents is also emitting ash. The 3 vents are approx. 500 meter from each other (triangular form). This was observed this morning (Chile time) and was analyzed by SERNAGEOMIN technical staff.
119 people are currently evacuated from the Lake Caro area and have moved to houses from relatives in the area. Chile police is trying to evacuate an additional 13 people. Onemi Chile has reported that until this morning nearly 900 volcanic earthquakes were noticed. Only a limited number were felt by the people living in the area. New FlyBy’s are planned later today to follow up what is happening. Onemi also told the press that they are ready to take whatever measures are necessary to control the situation. Emergency staff in the volcano area have been equipped with satellite phones.

Activity report October 26, 2011
Translation of the Sernageomin press statement by Earthquake-Report.com
The Red alert (Level 5) has been called by SernaGeomin out of fear that a major eruption could happen in the coming hours or days.
The Hudson volcano eruptions are characterized by eruptive columns of several km high.
The dispersion of this material in the atmosphere could affect localities to N, E and S of the volcano. Unlike most volcanoes in other regions of Chile, Aysen population centers are situated downwind of volcanic centers and therefore are highly likely to receive fall of pyroclastic material.
The huge quantities of ice in the caldera could eventually generate destructive lahars(volcanic mudflow), mainly affecting the river valleys of  Cupquelan and Huemules, located to the NW of the volcano.
Pyroclastic flows could, depending on the magnitude, affect the immediate vicinity of the caldera (within a radius of 15 to 20 km),
SERNAGEOMIN staff and local authorities today conducted a flyby in Hudson Volcano, which could see a column of gas, white and with little ash, about 1.5 km in height, with the subsequent formation of the Rio Huemules lahars. Erupting lava has not been seen. We have to state however that during the 1973 eruption a subglacial eruption occurred. This suggests a process of fissure opening at shallow levels and the onset of an eruptive process that is still minor but can evolve into a major eruption in hours and / or days.

for more, photos, updates and info, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2011/10/27/chilean-authorities-are-raising-hudson-volcano-cerro-hudson-to-red-alert-after-minor-eruption/

 

 

 

 

Central Indonesian Volcano Eruption

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Mount Lokon Volcano Erupts In Central Indonesia, No Injuries Reported

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A volcano in central Indonesia has erupted, spewing hot smoke and ash thousands of feet into the air. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Mount Lokon, located on northern Sulawesi island, had been dormant for years before rumbling back to life several months ago.

Surono, a government volcanologist who uses only one name, says it unleashed two strong eruptions at 5:19 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

They were preceded by several smaller blasts hours earlier.

Mount Lokon is one of about 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 240 million people. Its last major eruption in 1991 killed a Swiss hiker and forced thousands of people to flee their homes.

from:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/mount-lokon-volcano-erupts-indonesia_n_1032303.html.

Katla Volcano in Iceland Getting Restless

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Eruption fears grow as Iceland Katla Volcano becomes restless; Scientists

Published on October 13, 2011 10:45 am PT
– By TWS Staff Reporter
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Katla is a feared volcano because it is the largest in the region, which would put the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokul Volcano to shame in size and impact.(TheWeatherSpace.com) – Just like the Canary Islands, scientists are monitoring the Iceland Katla Volcano for a potential future eruption, which could be nearing as quakes continue to rattle the region.

Katla has been putting out a lot of magnitude three quakes over the last few months, but a magnitude four was recorded this last week, marking the larger quakes taking over
$2 billion was lost with the Eyjafjallajokul Volcano euruption, halting air-traffic across the area.

“It is definitely showing signs of restlessness,” said Einarsson, a professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland.

So Katla is showing signs of a pending eruption and scientists continue to watch it

from:    http://www.theweatherspace.com/news/TWS-101311_volcano-eruption-katla-iceland.html