Volcano Watch , 2013

I found this volcano interesting so thought I would share. It has been known about for awhile now but because uplift is unprecedented, and its last eruption was about 300,000 years ago it made me wonder why now? Because the magma chamber can only hold for 300,000 years? Even scientists don't know. What I find alarming is the New York Times reported on this with comments that it could be 1000 times more powerful than Mt St Helens.
In both articles it seems that they aren't sure if this is the waking of a super volcano.

Text Researchers realized about five years ago that the area below and around Uturuncu is steadily rising — blowing up like a giant balloon under a wide disc of land some 43 miles (70 kilometers) across. Satellite data revealed the region was inflating by 1 to 2 centimeters (less than an inch) per year and had been doing so for at least 20 years, when satellite observations began.

Uturuncu is surrounded by one of the most dense concentrations of supervolcanoes on the planet, all of which fell silent some 1 million years ago.

Scientists figured out from the inflation rate that the pocket of magma beneath the volcano was growing by about 27 cubic feet (1 cubic meter) per second.

Uturumcu itself is in the same class as Mount St. Helens in Washington state, but its aggressive rise could indicate that a new supervolcano is on the way. Or not. news.sudanvisiondaily.com...

2012 article

TextSuch a volcano could produce an eruption of ash, rock and pumice 1,000 times the strength of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state, the worst volcanic event in modern American history, and 10,000 times that of the Icelandic eruptions in 2010 that paralyzed global air traffic for weeks.

www.nytimes.com...

My initial reason for wanting to post was to see if anyone can make sense out of this long valley updated GPS data (Sept 30, 2013). It is the rate of growth or expansion for the last 90 days compared to previous 2.5 years. Basically "green" for this volcano means it's restless and growing all the time but I can't make sense out of this GPS data. I would take a snapshot and upload but can't get it all in one frame.

earthquake.usgs.gov...

Quake swarm at Torfajökull volcano in Iceland, they happened pretty much same time. Weird activity, we shall see if the swarm still continues. There has been unusually high activity in Hekla, Katla and Torfajökull. These volcanoes are dangerous if they erupt.

Notice how the quakes happen simultaneously.

Saturday, 12 October 2013, 12:00pm - White Island activity update; Volcanic Alert Level is raised to Level 2 and the Aviation Colour Code is raised from Yellow to Orange.

A moderate explosive eruption occurred at White Island (Whakāri) at approximately 8:09pm NZDT last night. The eruption lasted about 1 minute based on data from acoustic and seismic sensors, and was confirmed by subsequent analysis of web camera images during daylight hours. As a consequence of this activity the Volcanic Alert Level is now raised to Level 2 and the Aviation Colour Code to Orange.

Observations from the web cameras show an explosive eruption producing an ash cloud column that expanded across the Main Crater floor. New mud deposited on the crater floor is evident in the web camera images from the crater rim this morning. The present activity is a continuation of the unrest observed at White Island for the past 15 months and hazardous eruptions of this type may occur with no warning. This eruption is larger than recent events and would have been life threatening to people on the island. info.geonet.org.nz...

www.geonet.org.nz...

reply to post by muzzy


Here is the video from the eruption (5x normal speed). Could have been tragic if it had been during the day, when tourists or scientists may have been in the caldera.

The CalVO (California Volcano Observatory) certainly didn't waste any time squashing volcanic unrest worries, lol.
From their front page:

Magnitude 3.8 earthquake in Long Valley region is tectonic, and not volcanic, in origin

Here are the USGS specifics, which show normal-style faulting, with a small oblique, or strike-slip component.

I've been watching the unrest in this vicinity for a bit, wondering what was going on. The next two images can be found on the Long Valley monitoring page, with the time set to show the past 14 days. The 2nd pic shows depths over time.

(click image to enlarge)

Since the pros are fairly certain this is all tectonic, it is probably the Walker Lane/Eastern California Shear Zone accomodating more stress from the "locked" San Andreas. The Pacific Plate has done a lot of moving in recent years--except on its far eastern boundary. I get the feeling all these small upticks in activity (Salton Buttes, the smattering of deeper quakes up and down the Central Valley, etc) are leading to something...

The last eruption of Torfajökull volcano was 1477 she been keeping very quiet.

Source

A thermal camera standing 250 meters away from an active volcanic vent captured this video of molten lava spewing from Italy’s Stromboli volcano.

The camera used here detects heat, allowing the hot volcanic particles and their trajectories to be easily seen and tracked. By collecting an image every 200th of a second, the camera produces a series of images that can be put together as a video.

Zhupanovsky volcano in Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, erupted yesterday.

A new explosive eruption started yesterday night (23 Oct). An ash plume was detected drifting at an estimated 16,000 ft (5 km) altitude and drifting ESE. At least 1 mm of ash have been deposited in the Nalychevo valley, a natural park between Zhupanovsky and Avachinsky volcanoes. Zhupanovsky volcano lies about 70 km northeast of the capital of Kamchatka, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, and had its last eruption in 1959. It is a complex volcano composed of several overlapping cones aligned on a roughly east-west oriented axis. The new eruption comes from the same vent that has been also the site of all known historical eruptions, located west of the highest point of the volcanic massif.
hisz.rsoe.hu...

Zhupanovsky is massif composed of 4 overlapping stratovolcanoes. There has been 12 recorded eruptions, last time 1959. Its fully covered by snow and ice.


www.skimountaineer.com...

RE TONGA:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

ATTENTION ALL AUSSIES.....

there is a big story tonight on 60 minutes regarding a volcano.

reply to post by bellagirl


which volcano were they spotlighting becuase i'm an avid geology and volcanology studier and i keep a daily track of world wide earthquakes and volcanoes through many sites including the usgs site. do you or anybody know a better site to get my update from?

Mount Etna Last night



Calmer this morning. Live webcam www.villaducale.com...

volcanoes are erupting daily creating new land for the future as when the plate tectonics takes the old away.even newer ones are reawakening after thousands of years silent.

Vulcanologists of the world must be giddy at the moment, with a new island forming south of Japan, Etna becoming more and more exciting, and Sinabung in Indonesia sending 37,000 ft. ash plumes up.
(If you click the link above, you'll notice that Sinabung is located just north of Lake Toba. Yes, that beast.)

According to the Jakarta Post on the 24th of November, well over 11,000 people have been evacuated to shelters.

Here is a screen cap from a few minutes ago, taken from this webcam.


The mountain looks to be erupting right now.

it just might be getting ready to erupt anytime now.

As active as the world of volcanoes is right now, I'm surprised there isn't more updating on this thread. That's too bad, I was just checking in hoping for some more information on all the activity. I understand there are a number of volcanoes waking up after thousands of years of dormancy, and many others are awaking. I was hoping there are some ATS experts who could chime in with some info.

reply to post by Rezlooper


you can always keep track from usgs.com thats where i get most all my daily earth updates.

reply to post by Rezlooper

I understand there are a number of volcanoes waking up after thousands of years of dormancy, and many others are awaking. I was hoping there are some ATS experts who could chime in with some info.

Nothing out of the ordinary that I can see, except perhaps a new island off Japan as noted by Olivine.

volcano.si.edu...

The Japanese Coast Guard reported that a Surtseyan eruption 500 m SE from the coast of Nishimo-shima generated a new island called Niijima on 20 November. The island was about 300 x 200 m, and developed a crater 150m wide. Discolored water surrounded the island. Based on satellite images, as well as accounts from the Japanese Coast Guard and JMA, the Tokyo VAAC reported that a plume rose 600 m. On 22 November the eruption continued and incandescence within the crater was observed. An ash plume rose 900 m and drifted SE. On 24 November lava flows from the crater extended to the coastline of the island, and bombs continued to be ejected.

I don't know where you got your information but I track volcanoes every week in my geophysical report (see signature) and it is a steady 7 to 9 above the 16 always erupting every week and has been for over a year.

If you look at the trendline in my late report (22nd) you will see the trendline is completely flat indicating no average change over the year.

That is probably the reason there is not much on this thread because there is not much going on.

update to post by PuterMan


I have just finished doing the volcano lists for this last weeks report ending 29th. There are fewer volcanoes actively erupting this week than normal as it happens with the maximum number on any one day at just 4. (Not including the 16 always erupting)

Just in case anyone wonders if I miss any, this is the methodology. First I add all the data from Smithsonian. Next I look at the latest on Volcano Discovery (many of these are not updated so I check each one). Finally I check through all the Google alerts I have for the word volcano which gives me a long list including games etc. Each one of those I check out and, as with Volcano Discovery, any that don't meet the criteria are rejected. See the criteria on the graph below. I believe the chances of me missing anything are quite slim.

Click the image to enlarge

Volcanoes erupting this week contributing to the chart.

Etna (Sicily Italy)
Shiveluch (Kamchatka. Russia)
Sinabung (Indonesia)
Ulawun (New Britain Papua New Guinea)
Nishino-shima (Japan)

Volcanoes showing unrest

Chirpoi (Russia) (termal anomaly)
Cleveland Chuginadak Island (low ash/explosion)
Fuego (Guatemala) (low ash)

Can you imagine a column of lava shooting vertically into the sky ~1 kilometre high?



For more info: Source - Sky News


ETA: Here is an image from the ISS


Image taken by astronauts on the International Space Station showing an oblique view of an eruption plume emanating from the Kliuchevskoi volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. Credit: NASA.
Source