Volcano watch 2011

I found this wonderful picture from Iceland's Grímsvötn volcano from May 23.
National Geographic

Anyone got any ideas regarding the Dubbi Volcano in Eritrea? Seems like a petty big volcano that has had 5.4 seismic activity around 40 minutes ago. Dubbi is on the coast of the Red Sea in Eritrea and last blew in 1861.
Dubbi Volcanoquakes.globalincidentmap.com...

New Quake Eritrea

Seems to be hotting up...

It seems as though there are concerns now about Katla.
Here

A smoke cloud emerging from volcanic area in Eritrea

Here is a link to the running satellite feed

www.sat24.com...

Originally posted by asala
A smoke cloud emerging from volcanic area in Eritrea

Here is a link to the running satellite feed

www.sat24.com...

edit on 12-6-2011 by asala because: (no reason given)

you think the cause for all of these quakes is a volcanic eruption? could be all we can do is wait and see what happens because so far no major news netwark is picking up these quakes.

from what i can see, nothing there has errupted for a very long time? can anyone else add anything of importance regarding eritrea.

www.volcanolive.com...

Keep an eye on this thread for the latest along with theories of what may be happening there,
www.abovetopsecret.com...

By the way - John Frimann is blogging about harmonic tremors at Katla (Iceland).

www.jonfr.com...

There appears to be an harmonic tremor pulse going on in Katla volcano. While I currently do not think that this is going to start an eruption. It is worth watching this harmonic tremor pulse in Katla. But in the year 1999 this type of activity did result in minor eruption in Katla volcano on the 17. July that year (it is believed).

reply to post by asala

theories

Not theories. Nabro is erupting. You can see the ash cloud on EUMETSAT.

Link to ash here www.abovetopsecret.com...

Position of Nabro here www.abovetopsecret.com...

en.wikipedia.org...

well if shes erupting shes erupting


and i wanna sue cnn ,bbc, sky news , foxnews and who ever else i can find for failing to report the news

www.irishweatheronline.com...

link to the news story


you were right Pm

The ash cloud from the volcano could potentially cause some disruption to air traffic in the region. According to Irish Weather Online senior forecaster Peter O’Donnell, the ash cloud is heading west towards Sudan. “The eruption happened in Nabro, a stratovolcano that has not erupted in historic times. (some early reports mention Dubbi or Dubbo to the north but satellite imagery confirms the source as Nabro). Potentially, there could be impacts on visibility and optics over at least parts of southern Europe and west Africa, the Middle East … but there would be no direct impacts on Ireland from present information.”

im sorry that i was confused and that i doubted you for even a moment ... your our expert on this stuff .

aha and we got stuff from the slow pokes
hisz.rsoe.hu...

By request I will re-post some of my earlier postings at "Quake Watch" here. Please forgive if you already read it there. This is a condensed, edited up-to-date posting of this days observations I made there. I started off at Quake Watch because until only last two hours there was no official confirmation of actual Volcanic eruption.

POST #1:
I spend a year there on geological survey around Somaliland, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan in 2002/2003.
Very rugged isolated lonely location of earth. Have plenty small rumblings and shakes all the time, seldom more than 1.5RS. Because of remoteness, not really know as a thread for present, no big population - the volcanoes are not really monitored.

The thought to be extinct Nabro Volcano is about 2,200 m high, classified as Stratovolcano.
Last eruption unknown. From 15h30 to 22h00 (present) there were two main quakes about 10 km apart and a further 11 aftershocks between 4.5 and 5.7; all however likely to be part of the same quake/movement.

This is not a subduction zone (Like Japan) where one plate moves over another. This is a rift, as in tearing of the Earth; thus a series of 4 or 5 scale quakes are very strong in relation. Add the issue of all quakes shallow between 3 and 15km depth; makes me really wonder.

If you look on Google Earth most of the earthquakes were about 10 km NWN from the old Nabro caldera in direction of the village Afambo. To the NE there is the Dubbi (Strato) volcano with last big eruption in 1862 - 300 km ash fallout and lava flowing into the Red sea about 40 km to the North. Today very nice diving spot and coral on that lava flow; isolated, quiet NO PEOPLE area and two dream like islands.

What is not a dream but reason for nightmares: Nabro and Dubbi volcanoes, 23 km apart are actually two 'pipes' of the same volcanic complex: Bidu Volcanic complex. Back in 2003 we suspected this is actually one very large volcano. Today when looking at Google Earth, center on Nabro and zoom to 62km you can see the whole complex. Kind of like a Yellowstone in Africa. Zoom in closer and observe the many volcanic pipes all over this area.

That time our main interest was gemstones and this area has some real stunning quality obsidian, opal and spesartine garnets. Unfortunately there are no volcanic monitoring (Instruments like GPS) anywhere in this region. If we could know whether the caldera was lifting during past few months - I would run very fast from there.

ETHIOPIA:
During same time of the above, there were two earthquakes, 5.0 and 4.5 in Ethiopia, located about 100 km to the South, also 10 km depth. I am not sure how much it will be geophysical linked, but it might be a wakeup call that this Horn of Africa is moving again.

I hope this will follow the usual path of just shuddering a bit and go back to sleep. In May there were a series of similar quakes in the Gulf of Aden, fortunately everything went back to peaceful sleep. If not, and it blows its top we will have potentially big problems. More ash and also risk for marine traffic through Red Sea.

POST #2:
I just spoke to a friend of mine in Djibouti, about 200 km South of Nabro.
(They live in the night and sleep in the day!)
They felt the earthquakes in the evening and initially thought it were bombs.

Until now, they did not hear anything about volcanic eruption; but he also state that their goats and camels are unsettled since late last night; to such extend they posted guards fearing someone was trying to steal them.

I still don't see any confirmation on any news; including Aljazeera and Ethiopia First news agency.

This is Africa and this area is very remote, not many people living there. BUT Africa has its own; when it comes to news travels very fast and wide. Somewhat strange nobody officially reporting yet.

POST #3:
ERITREA - Nabro?
I am so jealous! Teams of geologists from Djibouti left 4 hours ago (soon after midnight local time), but they did not tell anybody where they are going. The son of my friend Emur Tahir just told me his father had a call last night; then he got very excited and took off to his office, telling everybody he will be away for a few days on expedition. They would probably take off by boat to Beraisole, meet up with Saudi group and 4x4 trek over land - about 50 km distance of which there are no roads, normally we would use the river beds or lave 'snakes' to drive on. In total about 25 to 30 hours trekking - ohhhhh darn!

I know this is an earthquake tread, but since it was the quakes that draw the attention I would appreciate if you would allow this relation to remain here.

Still about one hour to day light, another to get sat pictures converted to photo images before we will know for 100% sure what exactly is happening. Most likely it is the North flank of Nabro that blew up into the sky. By IR the ash cloud is very hot and fast moving, probably very big amount of ash. It is blowing towards and over the Sahara.

I expect this to be classified as the biggest volcanic eruption in Africa for at least the past 200 years. Blissfully unaware of this or the main World Media is just ignoring it. However this will potentially affect the whole world - and in very short time more particularly Europe and Western Asia. The more likely scenario is that this cloud will spread over the Sahara, that will cool the Sahara down. The Sahara is the Liver of Europe (heat) - that will affect the complete global air circulation patterns.

Let us see how long this will last and how much ash is there. Adding to the Chile volcano, this could really COOL the world down!

Truly exciting times!

POST #4:
OK, here is the first daybreak SAT photo:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/813f2a409890.png[/atsimg]

This photo shows ash cloud reaching Khartoum in Sudan; 1,000 km away and only in 8 hours!
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/89972d84dc83.png[/atsimg]

POST #5:
This Nabro blew off around 21h00 GMT/UTC on 12 June. It is nearly 5 days since the M2.5 major solar 'flare' I talked about here on Page 137. A little long, but considering the Flux from that solar incident is still hitting the Earth environment and there was a minor somewhat strange spike midday yesterday:

I would still rate this volcano as potential result triggered by that solar incident.
Since there are a few things happening worldwide; it is a good indication things might be linked.

Nabro volcano blew off in Eritrea
Near same time volcano KIZIMEN in NE Russia also blew it's caldera off at 23h50 on 12 June in a series of at least eight strong explosions. Second eruption on 7 February to 23 March. Air traffic code now RED for NE Russia and parts of Alaska.
ChristChurch 6.0 quake;

POST #6:
SPEED:
Speed of the plumes are related to wind. The higher atmosphere wind at present is blowing towards East, the lower atmosphere is blowing West to North. Thus this plume should be quite low - perhaps only 8,000 to 12,000 ft. BUT there wind is seldom blowing at 100 km/hr; even more rare to have such strong winds at night over the desert. I am still jumping around all the things that are happening today, excited like 6 yr kid waking up in middle of candy store.

What is of big interest is that the ash plume remains so dense, indicating it is pushing a lot of dust into the air and air is moving very fast. This volcano did not have ice cap, so it is not the same kind of explosions you would find in Iceland, Russia or Chile volcanoes. More likely then this was/is a massive boooom and most likely it will not blow smoke for long time. As for LAVA flow, that could be quit big.

TWO CLOUDS:
Nobody yet able to physically view the eruption. I only expect first teams to arrive late this afternoon. There are no roads nearby; at least for 40 km the only way would be river beds and volcanic veins. It is possible there might be two pipes that opened up. Concern is also about the smaller series of quakes some 100 km to the South of current eruption. This COULD be a bigger incident than just this volcano; we will have to wait and watch for next few months.

POST #7:
(@SKELLON noticed a secondary cloud to the North of the big ash flare)
Looking at SAT photo's: The secondary Northern cloud does not have much of a heat signature on IR while the main cloud is hot. It is more likely to be a secondary vent opened, probably higher altitude and not as hot.

HOWEVER: we will only know that for sure once geologists reached there to look. As at present, I am not aware of any aircraft flying over that area yet; Eritrea is very concerned about 'spies' and aircraft

Interesting on EU MET SAT (sat24.com) there seems to be a clockwise cyclonic movement in the clouds with this Nabro volcano right in the eye. If that is true then it has a lot of heating up in the air. Might indicate strong magma flows.

POST #8:
'Extinct' might have been the wrong word to use. There are very few volcano's really EXTINCT.
In this particular case, this particular mountain did not had an eruption in current human memory.
Generally it is referred to 'Holocene' which is the past 12,000 years. Until as recent as about 2,500 years ago this area was lush savannah with large human and animal population; originally known as the "Land of Kush".

There is another volcano in the same group 'DUBBI', about 23 km NE that is suspected to have four eruptions in past 300 years. It is part of what some people (including me) believe to be same 85 km big super volcano; with Nabro as the main original caldera.

POST #9:
Ash from Nabro seems to be reducing though the front is now reaching to Egypt, going North to North East and even expect to enter to Israel around midnight today Local Time.

Strange about main news media - BBC, CNN, Sky, Aljazeera; all quiet!
A few are waking up here and there; even some info still not verified or even purely wrong!
All official statements talk of Dubbi volcano, some 23 km NW from Nabro.

I suspect the eruption took place at 13.304 14.667 by looking at the last few quakes; big quakes stopped soon after eruption. On the other hand, the earthquake closest to the SAT pictures of eruption at 21h03 is way out 20 Km North; closer to Afambo; in effect that will then be a 'new volcano' thought there is a small vent near that epicentre.


BNO News: 25 minutes ago
An eruption is underway at the Dubbi volcano in the Southern Red Sea Region of Eritrea, the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) said on Monday.
The chief forecaster at the VAAC in France said the eruption at the Dubbi volcano began at around 2100 GMT on Sunday evening, sending a large plume up to 13 kilometers (8 miles) high.


IrishWeatheronLine - Best data to this moment; Congratulations Peter O'Donnell!
The Anabro (Nabro) volcano in the Northern Red Sea Region of Eritrea in Africa has erupted sending an ash plume more than 15 kilometres into the sky.

Part of the Afar Triangle, the stratovolcano is one of many volcanic caldera complexes in the north easternmost part of the East African Rift valley region. It is located in the Danakil Depression, close to Eritrea’s border with Ethiopia and north of Djibouti, and has not erupted in at least 150 years.

The volcano erupted at 2103 GMT Sunday evening. The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) said Monday that the 5,331 ft volcano has resulted in a large ash plume of up to 13 kilometres (8 miles) high.

The eruption was preceded by seven moderate earthquakes yesterday afternoon. A 5.6 magnitude quake at 9.03 signalled the start of the eruption. The quake was centred 48 km south of the town of Edd (pop 11,259) and 199 km southwest of the city of Al-h’udaydah (pop 617,871). A 4.6 magnitude quake followed less than 35 minutes later.

The ash cloud from the volcano could potentially cause some disruption to air traffic in the region. According to Irish Weather Online senior forecaster Peter O’Donnell, the ash cloud is heading west towards Sudan. “The eruption happened in Nabro, a stratovolcano that has not erupted in historic times. (some early reports mention Dubbi or Dubbo to the north but satellite imagery confirms the source as Nabro). Potentially, there could be impacts on visibility and optics over at least parts of southern Europe and west Africa, the Middle East … but there would be no direct impacts on Ireland from present information.”

The largest known historical eruption in Africa occurred on May 1861 when the Dubbi volcano, also located in Eritrea, showered maritime traffic in the Red Sea with pumice and plunged coastal settlements into darkness

AS OF 11h00 FIRST NEWS CONFIRMED IN ERITREA:
Government warn people to wear masks or cover face with cloth and protect thenselves against breathing ash into lungs! 11h30 MereoSat published: Meteo France Ash Map

Note: Eritrea was until recently France 'colony' and French is still the second official language there after Arabic.

Of all sites reporting; best info still coming from the original wistle blowers: Earthquake-Report Congratulations to them; Armand & James!

Ash cloud seems to have gone up about 13 to 15 km = 13,000 to 15,000 METERS (Not feet as I originally thought).

That is VERY HIGH; take it that most intercontinental flights are only at 10,000 meters. In comparison the Chile volcano blew 8,000 to 9,000 meters and last year's Eyjafjallajökull also reached 9,000 meters. If this is truly 13,000 meters it will explain how come the ash cloud moved so VERY fast; expect to start touching on Gazza/Israel in about 5 hours. Currently the front is passing over Aswan in Egypt, gray colour, not very dense yet/anymore? Fine dust deposits noticed on cars at resorts around Lake Nasser.

Friends in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia says the sun is almost not visible since 14h00 local time; quite an eerily semi dark feeling. More black than the usual red dusty afternoon; feel like they need to go pray in mosque all day.

Ash cloud seems to have gone up about 13 to 15 km = 13,000 to 15,000 METERS (Not feet as I originally thought).

That is VERY HIGH; take it that most intercontinental flights are only at 10,000 meters. In comparison the Chile volcano blew 8,000 to 9,000 meters and last year's Eyjafjallajökull also reached 9,000 meters. If this is truly 13,000 meters it will explain how come the ash cloud moved so VERY fast.

Friends in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia says the sun is almost not visible since 14h00 local time; quite an eerily semi dark feeling. More black than usual red dusty, feel like they need to go pray in mosque all day!

Looking at current sat pictures, I do not think the ash cloud will remain for very long. Already seems to be less ash but more heat signature. Probably will have substantial magma emission.

Nobody yet seems to have picked up to the likeliness that this is part of a HUGE volcanic complex?

reply to post by Aromaz


I am sure you hear this alot but you are an exceptional teacher thank you for sharing your knowledge

I dont think anyone will seriously look into a volcanic vein system as I like to think of it. until maybe yellowstone blows everyones mind. the studies they are doing there keep opening our eyes to the fact that our earth still is not flat...

Ok, so exactly how many volcanoes are currently erupting to date? It seems like a new one starts up at least once a month or more....Iceland, Chile, and now Eritea (sp)? Are there more and are they "interconnected" or related? Just curious....trying to get a better understanding. Thanks

reply to post by anjl32


I make it about 12 + the 16 always erupting, or thereabouts, with Hekla thinking about it. Pretty much normal then!

At any given time there will be between 20 and 30 volcanoes erupting and during the course of a year between 55 and 70 will erupt.

Unbelievable; Mainstream News Media are such a bunch of headless sheep. . .

Until now, a good 27 hours after the eruption, they still have their facts mixed up! Some remain with original press releases that it was Dubbi that erupted. An UK Telegraph even reported WEST Africa early this morning!

Others correctly states Nabro but then they wrongly state it been 140 years since last eruption. Where in the world do these fools get their info from? Even Dubbi was not 140 years but exactly 150 years and one month (May 1861) since last big eruption. Furthermore, that was not the last eruption of Dubbi - that was in fact around 1892; exact dates not recorded; it was only magma flows and dated from samples.

This makes me worried! The whole geophysical world can explode and these MSM will still be waiting for ? ? ?