General Volcanic Activity Thread!

[john pike]

Etna volcano updates and eruption news:

Etna volcano update: Paroxysm from New SE crater ?

Sunday Jun 15, 2014 16:52 PM | BY: T

Eruption at Etna's New SE crater

Current tremor amplitude (ESLN station, INGV Catania)

A violent phase of explosive / effusive activity began over night. Strombolian activity at the New SE crater and volcanic tremor started to increase last evening. This increase continued throughout the night and this morning,- great luck for those on our current tour to Stromboli - Vulcano and Etna.

At the moment, tremor is stagnating, and it is not clear whether the current eruptive phase will culminate in a true paroxysm (lava fountaining).

Near-continuous explosions from the several vents at the summit of the NSEC occur in rapid succession and eject glowing spatter to heights of 100-200 m during in what could be described as pulsating lava fountains. A vent at the eastern part of the summit occasionally ejects dark jets of ash. Brown ash plumes rise from time to time from the northeastern rim of the crater, presumably from collapse events.

Unfortunately, heavy cloud cover, and thunderstorms around noon/early afternoon that deposited approx. 10 cm of fresh hail prevented detailed observations during most of the afternoon.

Starting from early this morning, several lava flows were effused that descended from the summit through the valley on the SE side of the crater and headed slowly towards the Valle del Bove rim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/etna/news/45203/Etna-volcano-update-Paroxysm-from-New-SE-crater-.html

[john pike]

Volcanic activity worldwide 16 Jun 2014: Etna, Pavlof, Shiveluch, Piton de la Fournaise, Batu Tara, ...

Monday Jun 16, 2014 16:57 PM |

Etna's lava flows this morning (photo: Marco Fulle)

Ash emission at Shiveluch volcano on 14 June

Comparison of thermal satellite images of Pavlow volcano from 2 and 9 June. The lava flow has almost disappeared. (ASTER / GSJ)

Current seismic activity (CEAP station / AVO)

Light ash emission from Ubinas today

Etna (Sicily, Italy): Lava effusion and pulsating low lava fountains continued from the New SE crater throughout the night and today. Tremor remains at fluctuating elevated levels but with a now slightly decreasing trend. The lava flows have descended the western slope into the Valle del Bove where they spread into several broad fronts.

Shiveluch (Kamchatka): Explosive activity of the volcano continues. Since the larger explosion on 11 June, the volcano has only produced a few smaller explosions and ash emissions.

Not much glow is currently visible on clear night-time images, suggesting that extrusive activity of the lava dome is reduced at the moment.

Batu Tara (Sunda Islands, Indonesia): Activity at the volcano is relatively intense at the moment. Several ash plumes rising to 5-7,000 ft (1.5-2.1 km) altitude, originating from stronger-than-normal strombolian explosions, were seen on satellite imagery during the past days.

Sangeang Api (Indonesia): Small ash emissions continue at the volcano. VAAC Darwin last reported a volcanic ash plume rising to approx. 7,000 ft (2.1 km) and extending 30 nautical miles to the NW on Saturday.

Kavachi (Solomon Islands): Some intermittent eruptive activity seems to be occurring at the volcano. On 10 June, another spot of discolored water had been visible above the shallow submarine volcano.

Pavlof (Alaska Peninsula, USA): Based on seismic data, eruptive activity continues at the volcano according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. However, it has significantly dropped (if not stopped) over the past week. No hot spot is currently visible on satellite imagery.

No ash emissions or lava fountains could be detected recently. A weekly alimented lava flow could still be seen on satellite data from 9 June.

Shishaldin (United States, Aleutian Islands): Low-level eruptive activity continues at Shishaldin, although nothing was observed in cloudy satellite images over the past 24 hours. Web camera views of the volcano were obscured by clouds. (AVO)

Semisopochnoi (United States, Aleutian Islands): The earthquake swarm at the volcano that started on June 9 and escalated on June 12 continues. No eruptive activity is currently indicated and nothing was observed in cloudy satellite images over the past day. (AVO)

Ubinas (Peru): Near-continuous, but light ash emissions interrupted by sporadic explosions continue at the volcano. Two stronger explosions on 12 and 13 June produced ash plumes that rose 2.5-3.5 km above the summit.

Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion): Seismic activity above normal background levels have been detected under the volcano past week. The prefecture decided to raise the alert level and advises climbers and hikers to avoid the rims and crater walls of Dolomieu crater due to an increased risk of rockfalls and collapses.

[john pike]

Fiery columns of lava erupted into the air above Mount Etna last night, forcing the closure of Catania airport. Airport authorities had to redirect flights to other airports in Sicily to avoid the hazardous ash clouds caused by the eruption. Europe's most active volcano has been putting an impressive display throughout the year with activity seen around its southern crater. While the present eruption is not of concern to the local community, the sound of the explosions and the ash clouds have been an annoyance. In June 2013 Mount Etna was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=VE-20140616-44152-ITA

[keithlucky]

Worlds biggest active Volcano Mauna Lua seems to be waking up.http://t.co/jTr2XUEDwq

[john pike]

Tuesday, Jun 17, 2014

Stromboli volcano (Eolian Islands, Italy): small lava overflow

Eruption from Stromboli's NE vent and small lava overflow today (INGV thermal webcam)

Activity at the volcano remains elevated. A small lava overflow from the NE crater occurred today and an increase in tremor was reported.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/stromboli/news.html

[Buriedundersnow]

5.3 mag earthquake in northwest Iceland seems to be a single quake wonder if its tectonic or is there anything volcanic up there.

 

http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/snaefellsnes/

Edited June 17, 2014 by Buriedundersnow

[john pike]

the nearest volcano is

Ljósufjöll volcano

at 47km away

 

The Ljósufjöll volcanic system at the eastern end of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula is a group of basaltic cinder cones and lava flows along short fissures on a roughly 90-km-long WNW-ESE line.

The volcanic field is about 20-km wide at the eastern end and narrows to about 10-km width on the west. Young-looking cinder cones and lava flows with morphologically fresh surfaces testify to numerous eruptions during the past 10,000 years. The latest eruption post-dated the settlement of Iceland, and took place about 1000 years ago.

 

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcanoes/europe/iceland/ljosufjoell/

 

looking at this at present i would say plate shift

 

but hard to say for certain

[john pike]

[Buriedundersnow]

magnitude 3.1 earthquake in middle of katla caldera at 1.8km depth

 

 

 

Wednesday 18.06.2014 10:20:53 63.653 -19.163 1.8 km 3.1 99.0

4.5 km ENE of Goðabunga

 

that 5.3 mag in the northwest seems to have disappeared from the charts so will be a little sceptical of this one for now but if its real it could be katla stirring.

[karyo]

magnitude 3.1 earthquake in middle of katla caldera at 1.8km depth

 

140618_1200.png

 

 

Wednesday

18.06.2014 10:20:53 63.653 -19.163 1.8 km 3.1 99.0

4.5 km ENE of Goðabunga

 

that 5.3 mag in the northwest seems to have disappeared from the charts so will be a little sceptical of this one for now but if its real it could be katla stirring.

Come on Katla! Give us the big bang before summer's out!!!

 

Karyo

[Buriedundersnow]

Come on Katla! Give us the big bang before summer's out!!!

 

Karyo

 

yeah mate it would be good especially with the weather patterns just now if it did go we could see ash falling widely over the uk.

[jonboy]

yeah mate it would be good especially with the weather patterns just now if it did go we could see ash falling widely over the uk.

 

Why would it be good when it would likely to cause severe disruption as we enter the key summer holiday period?

[Buriedundersnow]

Why would it be good when it would likely to cause severe disruption as we enter the key summer holiday period?

 

 

cause I aint got a holiday booked

[Gael_Force]

magnitude 3.1 earthquake in middle of katla caldera at 1.8km depth

 

140618_1200.png

 

 

Wednesday

18.06.2014 10:20:53 63.653 -19.163 1.8 km 3.1 99.0

4.5 km ENE of Goðabunga

 

that 5.3 mag in the northwest seems to have disappeared from the charts so will be a little sceptical of this one for now but if its real it could be katla stirring.

 

Unlike the big one from last night - c30%, the quality of this one looks good at 99%

 

[lorenzo]

Am due to go on holiday in 12 days for the first time in 7 years - bugger off Katla !

[Buriedundersnow]

Am due to go on holiday in 12 days for the first time in 7 years - bugger off Katla !

 

ah LORENZO you just know its going to blow in a big way and shut down all the airports now you have said that lol

[karyo]

Why would it be good when it would likely to cause severe disruption as we enter the key summer holiday period?

What kind of question is this and why are you here if you don't want to see volcanic activity happening? 

It's like going storm chasing and wishing it doesn't rain!

 

Karyo

[The PIT]

All Volcanoas at Green in Iceland so no need to get excited folks yet. http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/volcanic-eruptions/

[Crepuscular Ray]

It wouldn't just be ash we had to worry about. With that HP sitting to our west, we would run the risk of a lot of the other nasties landing on our doorstep, including sulpuric acid aerosols. Not good for anyone with breathing difficulties.

[john pike]

Volcanic activity worldwide 18 Jun 2014: Bezymianny, Sangeang Api, Etna, Santa María / Santiaguito,...

Wednesday Jun 18, 2014 16:15 PM |

MODIS hot spots at Sangeangapi (MODVOLC, Univ. Hawaii)

This morning's seismic signal from Fuego volcano (FG3 station, INSIVUMEH)

Etna (Sicily, Italy): A series of photos from the recent eruption at the New SE crater, observed from various viewpoints during 15-16 June.

Zhupanovsky (Kamchatka, Russia): New ash emissions occurred this morning. VAAC Tokyo reported an ash plume at 11,000 ft (3.3 km) altitude drifting WNW from the volcano.

Bezymianny (Central Kamchatka Depression): KVERT raised the alert level of the volcano to orange because increased seismic activity has been detected recently. The last major eruption of the volcano was an explosion on 1 Sep 2012.

According to the Russian volcanologists, this seismicity could suggest that fresh magma started to rise within the volcano and/or a new phase of lava extrusion has already started at the summit. This process which is often accompanied by explosive activity (when gasses inside the fresh very viscous magma are trapped and accumulate to build up pressure).

In addition, the fact that the volcano has been more or less quiet for almost two years could suggest the presence of a solid plug currently clogging the conduit, in which case a larger explosion that clears it is a realistic scenario.

Sangeang Api (Indonesia): A new lava dome and a lava flow traveling down to the southeastern flank have started to grow during the past week, probably since 7 June.

VSI (who lowered the alert status back to 2 out of 4, WASPADA) reported in a bulletin that red glow is visible at the volcano's top known as Doro Api. Satellite imagery show a hot spot and steaming from the dome and the new lava flow, which had a length of approx. 2 km on 11 June.

Santa María / Santiaguito (Guatemala): Weak lava effusion continues in the 9 May collapse scar on the eastern side of the Caliente dome. Incandescence is visible at night.

Fuego (Guatemala): Activity is at moderate levels with frequent strombolian-type explosions that eject incandescent material to 100-150 m above the crater and produce ash plumes that rise up to 700 m. Jet-like degassing noises lasting 1-3 minutes accompany the explosions.

Fine ash fall was reported in the villages Panimaché, Morelia, Santa Sophia, Los Yucales, El Porvenir, Panimaché II, Sangre de Cristo and others.

Sabancaya (Peru): According to local news, steaming at the volcano has been observed since yesterday morning and it is believed that the volcano could erupt in a near to medium term future: few weeks to months.

Luis Macedo from Peru's Geophysical Institute in Arequipe (IGP) was quoted that seismic unrest, which had begun with a strong earthquake on 22 Feb 2013, continued at the volcano with averages of 30-120 quakes per day.

He also said that these tremors have been showing a trend of becoming closer to the crater and that explosions could occur within few weeks or months if this activity continues.

[john pike]

There are signs that a volcanic eruption occurred in Reykjanes Ridge, 400 to 500 kilometers southwest of Iceland, sometime over the past 20 years.

 

http://icelandreview.com/news/2014/06/03/signs-eruption-reykjanes-ridge

[john pike]

Volcanic activity worldwide 19 Jun 2014: Etna, Popocatépetl, Ubinas, Suwanose-jima, Santa María / ...

Thursday Jun 19, 2014 17:18 PM |

Thermal image of the New SE crater (INGV webcam)

The lava flows from Etna's New SE crater this morning (photo: Marco Fulle)

3 vents at Nishinoshima volcano (13 June)

Eruption at Sakurajima this morning

Eruption at Suwanosejima volcano this morning

Current seismic activity (PVV station, AVO)

Current seismic activity (CEAP station / AVO)

Explosion from Popocatépetl yesterday

Small ash puff from Reventador today

Explosion at Ubinas volcano today

Etna (Sicily, Italy): The latest eruptive episode at the New SE crater, which again grew a few meters during this time, is now over. The lava flow is no longer active and there are no (or only very weak and sporadic) explosions at the crater itself. Tremor has descended back to low levels.
...18 Jun:
This morning, weak strombolian activity and lava effusion were still going on. Marco Fulle who is still on location took this picture of the scene complete with a rare steam ring.
...18 Jun:
Activity and tremor have further decreased - it seems that the latest eruptive (explosive-effusive) phase at the New SE crater is coming to an end.
A series of photos taken during 15-16 June has been posted here.

Zhupanovsky (Kamchatka, Russia): VAAC Tokyo reports continuous ash emissions to approx 3 km altitude.

Nishino-shima (Volcano Islands): Eruptions continue to add land to the remote island volcano. Recent pictures by the Japanese Coast guard on 11 and 13 June show steaming along the shoreline, indicating active lava flow fronts, possibly tube-fed since no surface incandescence was visible.
A large steam plume mixed with bluish gas and light brown ash was rising from at least 3 vents, two of which belong to the large central cinder cone, while the other smaller vent to the east of the base of the cone emitted most of the bluish gas (SO2) and seems to host a small lava lake feeding an active flow.
Pulsating strombolian eruptions ejecting tephra and brown ash plumes were seen from the central cinder cone.

Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): Activity at the volcano continues to be elevated. However, the rhythm of Sakurajima's typical vulcanian-type explosions (all from the Showa crater) has been very irregular recently and averages about 1-2 per day.
Some of the recent explosions have been relatively large, such as one this morning (13,000 ft ash plume) or one on 6 June when an ash plume rose to 18,000 ft (5.4 km) altitude.

Suwanose-jima (Ryukyu Islands): A new explosion occurred at the volcano minutes ago. An ash plume rising several 100 meters from the active crater can be seen on webcam images.

Pavlof (Alaska Peninsula, USA): According to AVO, seismic activity suggests that weak eruptive activity (minor lava effusion?) continues at the volcano.

Shishaldin (United States, Aleutian Islands): Low-level eruptive activity continues at the volcano according to AVO: "No activity was observed in mostly cloudy satellite images over the last 24 hours. Web camera views of the volcano are currently obscured by weather, however, views from late yesterday afternoon show a low-level plume from the summit."

Semisopochnoi (United States, Aleutian Islands): The earthquake swarm continues. No eruptive activity has been detected.

Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): A moderate explosion occurred yesterday morning at 11:10 local time and generated a 2.5 km high ash column drifting NW. Overall, the activity at the volcano has been low during the past weeks. The alert status remains at Yellow Phase 2 (CENAPRED).

Santa María / Santiaguito (Guatemala): Strong degassing from the Caliente lava dome, occasional small explosions (one was reported this morning with a gray ash plume 600 m tall), and a slowly advancing viscous lava flow in the 6 May collapse scar characterize the volcano's activity.

Fuego (Guatemala): Strombolian activity remains at moderate unchanged levels. Ash plumes rose to 600 m above the crater and shock waves from stronger explosions rattle roofs and windows in houses of nearby villages.

Reventador (Ecuador): Effusive-explosive activity continues at the volcano. Small ash eruptions occurred today and weak lava effusion on the upper flanks of the cone can be seen on thermal webcam imagery.

Ubinas (Peru): Mild to moderate explosive activity continues with little changes. A number of smaller explosions and phase of continuous ash emissions occurred today at the volcano:

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/photos/stromboli/2014/june/strong-activity.html

Edited June 20, 2014 by john pike

[john pike]

This morning at 1:35 am tourists on the French Indian Ocean Islands La Reunion tourists witnessed a spectacular many had been waiting to see for some time. The Piton de la Fournaise volcano erupted. "It made a few days that we were waiting for it, said Pascal Viroleau, CEO of Reunion Island Tourism, about the eruption of the volcano of Reunion Island, the Piton de la fournaise. According to Viroleau, "the volcano entered in activity this morning at 1:35 am." Most recently, an eruption occurred on December 9, 2010 and lasted for two days. The volcano is located within Réunion National Park, a World Heritage site. It is considered one of the major attractions of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands. "Sleeping since December 2010," Piton de la fournaise is considered as one of the major attractions of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands. Situated in the national park, classified in the World heritage by the UNESCO, its visit, combined with the attractions of the other islands constitutes a "must-seen" at the world level, added Viroleau. Piton de la Fournaise, a typical basaltic shield volcano, located on the French island La Réunion, is one of the world's most active and productive volcanoes. It is in a phase of frequent but short-lived eruptions that start with lava fountains and produce large lava flows. Since the active areas of the volcano are not inhabited, its eruptions pose little danger and cause little damage. Piton de la Fournaise is a typical example of a hot-spot volcano. The volcano is about 530,000 years old and during much of this time, its activity overlapped with eruptions of its older neighbor, the deeply dissected Piton des Neiges shield volcano to the NW. Three calderas formed at about 250,000, 65,000, and less than 5000 years ago by progressive eastward slumping of the volcano. Numerous pyroclastic cones dot the floor of the calderas and their outer flanks. Most historical eruptions have originated from the summit and flanks of Dolomieu, a 400-m-high lava shield that has grown within the youngest caldera called the Enclos, which is 8 km wide and breached to below sea level on the eastern side. More than 150 eruptions, most of which have produced fluid basaltic lava flows, have occurred since the 17th century. Only six eruptions, in 1708, 1774, 1776, 1800, 1977, and 1986, have originated from fissures on the outer flanks of the caldera. The Piton de la Fournaise Volcano Observatory, one of several operated by the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, monitors this very active volcano. La Reunion is a French province in the Southern Indian Ocean and a member of the newly formed Vanilla Island group.

 

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/site/?pageid=event_desc&edis_id=VE-20140621-44214-REU

[john pike]

Volcanoes Today, 23 Jun 2014: Poas, Piton de la Fournaise, Sangeang Api, Ubinas

Monday Jun 23, 2014 17:00 PM |

The new lava flow at Sangeang Api volcano (Photo: Aris Yanto)

Series of images from a phreatic eruption at Poás on 20 June (OVSICORI)

Small ash emission from Ubinas volcano on Saturday

Sangeang Api (Indonesia): The volcano continues to extrude a lava flow and produces a steam-and-ash plume that rises several 100 m from the crater. Seismic activity remains high.

Our correspondent Aris visited the island briefly a few days ago and shared some impressive images of the new lava flow as well as of the devastation caused by the pyroclastic flows that traveled down the volcano during the massive eruption on 30 May.

Poas (Costa Rica): Phreatic explosions from the acid crater lake continue to occur at the volcano. During a field campaign on 18 June, OVSICORI scientists observed 5 eruptions during 3 hours. Some of them damaged solar panels of measuring instruments.

A strong eruption on 20 June ejected a dense plume of steam and mud up to 200m above the lake. As the pictures show, it also produced a circular base surge (fast-traveling turbulent pyroclastic flow), typical for explosive magma-water interaction.

Ubinas (Peru): Activity has been lower during the past days. Ash emissions have become less frequent and smaller.

Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion): The new eruption at the SE flank of the Dolomieu crater appears to have ended already during the night Saturday to Sunday 22 June. It had produced a series of small lava flows that traveled down to the base of the cone and remained well inside the Enclos.

It was one of the volcano's shortest and smallest eruptions in recent years, which is surprising given the relatively long interval of repose.

[john pike]

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/

 

link for alaska volcanic activity