Volcano Watch 2012 !

UPDATE to post by PuterMan


One from NZ just arrived in my email

Senior Volcano Geophysicist at GNS, Steve Sherburn, told ONE News there could be more activity in the next few weeks.

"I think for the next week or two weeks at least we're possibly in a situation where we may get additional activity - it's really hard to work out. This is the difficulty of dealing with a volcano like Tongariro."

[orl=http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/scientists-caught-off-guard-mount-tongariro-blast-5230384]Scientists caught off guard by Mount Tongariro blast[/url]

One is NOT AT ALL inspired by their understanding and I feel that there is no way I can applaud the decision to re-open.

Have these people not heard of the Italian Syndrome??? Oh wait yes that is why they are doing it because the did not read about the court case.

en.vedur.is...=table




all is calm on the board in iceland .. in case people are going to scream omg the whole damn island will not be there after the next eruption of any volcano..
im here to tell you its just not going to happen...

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, November 28 (RIA Novosti) - An explosive volcanic eruption began in Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula on Tuesday, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) said on Wednesday.

en.ria.ru...

JAKARTA, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Mount Lokon volcano in North Sulawesi erupted on Wednesday, spewing ash up to 3.5 kilometers to the sky, without report of fatality and evacuation, officials said.

Head of National Volcanology Surono said that the eruption took place at 10:05 local time (0205 GMT).

news.xinhuanet.com...

I stumbled upon a pretty cool website this morning. (if this it old news, my apologies) VOGRIPA
The Volcano Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project. (that's a mouthful)

Searching the database is fun. You can just zoom in, use the "Draw Aol" button to draw a rectangle around your chosen area, then hit the "Submit" button at the bottom of the page. Or you can enter specific parameters, such as volcano name, eruption style or size.

Out comes a detailed list including: dates (back to the Quaternary), volumes, composition of magmas, column heights, etc.
Useful.

reply to post by Olivine


www.dailymail.co.uk...

Have to rush off now. Enjoy!

Looks as if White Island, New Zealand, is getting ready to join the 21st December festivities.

On 12 December the GeoNet Data Centre posted a report describing a new lava dome at White Island that volcanologists recently noticed. The spiny lava dome was 20-30 m in diameter and grew in a crater formed during an eruption on 5 August. A prominent steam plume rose from the dome. Comments from tour operators at White Island suggested that the dome may have been visible two weeks earlier, but not as clearly as on 10 December. The Alert Level was raised to 2 (on a scale of 0-5), and the Aviation Colour Code was raised to Orange (second highest on a four-color scale).

Smithsonian

nice pic's..

www.theatlantic.com...

reply to post by ressiv

Very cool photos! Thanks for sharing.

******

I found this blog post from the recent Fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union:
Ground under ancient Chilean volcano is rising fast

From the article:

When they set up three GPS stations to confirm this data, the results were startling: The ground is uplifting at a rate of almost 30 centimeters per year, and is now 1.4 meters higher than it was in 2007.

and this:

The scientists estimate that the horizontal reservoir of magma, called a sill, measures 7.5 by 5.5 km, and sits about 5 km underground. Not only is the sill growing, pushing up the earth above it, but its growth is also accelerating.

As the article indicates, there isn't very much known about the Laguna del Maule volcanic field, except that the date of the most recent eruption was sometime during the Holocene (from about 12,000 y.a. continuing to the present), and that it erupts rhyolitic lava (the very "sticky" type--that can be extremely explosive).

Here is the Smithsonian Global Volcanism page for this caldera.

And finally, an infrared image of the northern part of the caldera from NASA:




So we have the truly large Uturuncu volcano in the SW corner of Bolivia inflating extremely quickly, and Laguna del Maule in south-central Chile joining the inflating-magma-chamber party ...fun!

Simple but...

Wow! Where do I sign up for that tour?

Copahue volcano eruption puts Argentina and Chile on alert

The column of ash and gas poses a threat to many villages in both countries

The authorities in Argentina and Chile have issued an alert over increased activity at the Copahue volcano, which has begun spewing smoke and gas.

Many residents have already left the area as a precaution. An orange volcano alert, the second highest, has been issued in both countries. The 3,000m (10,000ft) volcano is in Argentina's south-western Neuquen province, which borders the Biobio region of Chile.

Source: BBC News

This Photo Blog has some amazing pictures!

And, more Pic tures

reply to post by UberL33t


More Info:

According to SERNAGEOMIN, the eruption is most likely a small phreatic event. This is a abbreviated translation of the latest press release:
- From 10:45 local time, the seismic signal recorded at stations installed around the volcano Copahue showed a rapid increase and was characterized by strong low frequency tremor.

- The tremor signal correlated with an increase in the gas column, which turned black as ashes were erupted. The plume reached a height of 1.5 km and drifted about 13 km to the SW.

- Given the nature of the suddenly rising seismic signal with no detected precursory seismic activity, the low height of the eruption column, which implies a low temperature, and the presence of an extensive hydrothermal system at the volcano, the still continuing eruption is a minor phreatic eruption. It is expected to primarily affect areas near the crater and ash fall confined to proximal surrounding areas.

However, it is possible that the current activity evolves into a major event.

Source

Copahue volcano raised to red alert - more explosions and incandescence evidence presence of fresh magma

At 21:43 local time Saturday, a strong harmonic tremor signal occurred with the same dominant frequency 1.36 Hz and an intermediate intensity (2x stronger than the one during earlier records). Immediately after this episode that lasted about 5 minutes there were 2 explosions with loud noises heard.

The camera installed around the volcano, allowed to observe glow reflected in the clouds, and an area of ​​it in the active crater. The raise in tremor and the explosions also correlated with an increase of the gas column.
The eruptions of Copahue during recorded history are mostly small to moderate in size. One likely scenario are frequent phreatic or phreatomagmatic (generated by interaction of magma and water) explosions. Under these conditions, the main danger is from the fallout of pyroclastic material (ash fall and ballistic impacts in proximal areas). Larger explosions could generate pyroclastic surges and lahars.

Source

There's more, and this one is worth watching for the amazing show that is mother nature! Good news is that it does not threatened highly populated areas.

Also, here are some webcams for anyone interested...

www.presstv.ir...

Chile’s National Office for Emergency of the Interior Ministry (ONEMI) raised the official yellow and orange alerts to red on Sunday after a mile-high cloud of ash billowed out of the Copahue volcano.

update

And San Cristobal in Nicaragua started erupting on Christmas - makes sense for the "Christ" volcano? :-)

The authorities in Nicaragua have ordered the evacuation of about 400 people living near San Cristobal volcano after it began spewing out hot gases and ash on Tuesday.

The authorities also declared an amber alert covering 5 sq km around the volcano, warning of a possible risk.

Airlines were also told to avoid flying over western Nicaragua.

First Lady and government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said 15 eruptions were recorded since Tuesday night.

The eruptions were small, but Ms Murillo said it was impossible to know for certain whether there would be larger ones that could put the population at risk.

The hot gases spewed by the San Cristobal volcano reached an altitude of 2,500 m.

Its ashes could reach 11 communities living in the vicinity.

The Nicaraguan army has sent rescue teams to the area.

San Cristobal, Nicaragua's highest volcano, is located about 135 km northwest of Managua.

Source

More info here - Volcano Discovery

reply to post by ns9504


As far as my records go it last erupted between the 8th and 17th September so maybe this is a follow on from that.

I am still working backwards so it may have erupted earlier in the year as well.