volcanic hazards
eklemetti | August 19, 2009Busy today with scouting out some field location for the class I'll be teaching this fall. Here's this week's USGS/SI Weekly Volcano Report. The report is a little more eventful than last week's, so enjoy!
Kliuchevskoi Volcano in Kamchatka, taken summer of 2009 by Theresa Kayzar.
Highlights include:
Three volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula are currently producing ash plumes: Kliuchevskoi, Koryaksky and Shiveluch. Shiveluch has been having the most intense eruptions, but the former two are both producing ash-and-steam plumes that reach over 3 km / 10,000 feet.
Talang in Indonesia saws its…
eklemetti | August 12, 2009The Royal Gardens subdivision in Hawai'i being inundated with lava flows during a 1983 eruption of Kilauea. Image courtesy of the USGS.
The game of insurance is everywhere in the news these days so it isn't too surprising to run across this brief article about the perils of getting insured if you live on an active volcano. Many people who live on the big island of Hawai'i face this challenge because a large swaths of the island fall into what is called a "Lava Zone 1", which more or less means that you live someplace that lava is likely to visit in the foreseeable future. Considering that the…
eklemetti | August 10, 2009Some more volcano news for the day ...
UPDATE 10:40AM Eastern: It has been pointed out to me that both of these articles are old. They apparently made it into my Google News feed thanks to a glitch in the magic interweb tubes somewhere. Just goes to show that blogging before coffee on a Monday after traveling across the country = bad idea. Sorry for any confusion.
A summit dome at Kelud during the 2007 eruption.
OLD NEWS ABOUT SARYCHEV PEAK IN JUNE 2009. An unnamed Russian volcano in Kamchatka is disrupting flights from Canada to Asia. No ID in the article on which volcano, and I couldn't…
eklemetti | August 9, 2009Does anyone else feel like this has been a rather quiet summer, volcano-wise? Maybe I've been too preoccupied by my move to Ohio, but I feel like beyond a few relatively minor events (Shiveluch comes to mind), the volcano news has been pretty slow compared to the spring of this year. Go figure.
The sulfur dioxide plume from the 2008 eruption of Kasatochi spreading over the northern Pacific Ocean.
Anyway, a few tidbits to tide us over:
Over eighteen years after the eruption, Mt. Pinatubo is still causing fatalities from the copious amounts of tephra deposited during the 1991 event. Five people…
eklemetti | August 5, 2009We've made it to Ohio! Tomorrow I'll hopefully be returning to regularly scheduled updates, but until then, enjoy this week's SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Report.
Highlights include:
KVERT mentions that seismicity has increased recently at both Kizimen and Kliuchevskoi on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
~4 km / ~13,500 foot steam-and-ash plumes spotted at Colima in Mexico.
Rumbling noises, incandescent ejecta and ~4.3 km / 14,000 foot ash plumes at Fuego in Guatemala. Explosions were increasing as the August began.
It was a busy week in Guatemala, as ash/gas plumes were spotted at Santiaguito and Pacaya…
eklemetti | July 30, 2009The next up in my Volcano Profiles Series, is one of the most remote volcanoes on the planet, yet also one of the more closely studied and monitored (albeit from afar). Joining Vesuvius, Hood and Rabaul is Mt. Erebus, an active volcano on Ross Island in Antarctica and it definitely has some unique features.
VOLCANO PROFILE: MT. EREBUS
Mt. Erebus in Antarctica with a local resident in the foreground.
Location: Antarctica* (technically, it is on the part of Antarctica claimed by New Zealand, but the Antarctic Treaty System more or less makes the continent an international zone.)
Height: 3,794…
eklemetti | July 30, 2009This is likely my last update until the end of next week sometime, so feel free to use it for any new volcano news you might see. Look for the Erebus Volcano Profile to be posted on Friday sometime, followed by the vote for the next Profile. Next time I post I'll be (back) in the eastern time zone!
With that, I leave you with the latest USGS/SI Weekly Volcano Report.
Highlights (not counting Shiveluch) include:
Small ash plumes were spotted several times from Batu Tara in Indonesia.
Explosions, ashfall and earthquakes were reported at Nevado del Huila in Colombia.
There were reports of…
eklemetti | July 22, 2009Your volcano news!
Thanks, as always, to the USGS/SI Global Volcanism Program.
Highlights include:
The alert level at Sakurajima was raised from 2 to 3 by the Japanese Meteorological Agency. This was due to the increasing frequency of explosions at the volcano, some of which produced ash plumes up to 1.8-2.7 km / 6-9,000 feet.
Ash was reported up to 3 km away from Ibu in Indonesia. However, officials in Indonesia lowered the alert from 3 to 2, but tourists are still restricted from going with 2 km of the volcano.
Lots of activity at Shiveluch in Kamchatka. You can see some of the activity in…
eklemetti | July 20, 2009Starting today and going until early August, you might see fewer posts on Eruptions than you're accustomed. This is because I'm in the process of moving to Ohio to get set up to start my new job as an assistant professor at Denison University. I'm excited about the move, but as you can imagine, trying to pull up stakes in California and trek two-thirds of the way across the continent will take up a lot of my time. I will miss the easy access to volcanoes here on the Left Coast, but I am excited to get (mostly) permanent employment, set up my own lab and to be able to teach geology again!…
eklemetti | July 17, 2009Some of the articles you might have missed this week ...
A lava flow from Kilauea breaks local traffic laws in the Royal Gardens subdivision, Hawai'i
The Mayon Watch continues in the Philippines. No eruption yet, but some of the local newspapers are printing stories talking about "odd animal behavior" and other local "myths" about predicting the volcano, such as the wells drying up. Now, this is not to say that these things might have some predictive value (especially changes in the water table near the volcano as it inflates/deflates), but so far there are no robust scientific studies that I…
eklemetti | July 16, 2009Shishaldin volcano in Alaska.
Yesterday I mentioned in the SI/USGS Weekly Report update that things appear to be afoot at Shishaldin in the Aleutians. Well, I checked the Shishaldin webicorder today and indeed, [SPECULATION] something seems suspect. Now, the increasing signal might be wholly unrelated to any magmatic activity, but it is interesting to see an increase in the seismicity after the increase in the intensity of thermal anomaly at the summit crater.
AVO's latest statement (from yesterday) seems to think that nothing too much is up:
Cloudy conditions prevented views of Shishaldin…
eklemetti | July 15, 2009Your weekly dose of volcanism from the USGS/Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program.
Highlights (not counting Mayon), include:
The activity at Mando Hararo in Ethiopia appears to be a fissure eruption. Ground observations saw a 4-5 kilometers / ~2.5-3 mile fissure with new predominantly 'a'a lava flows that were 2-3 m thick ... the fissure was lined with scoria ramparts 30-50 m high. They did not see any active lava, though.
As some Eruptions readers have pointed out from the OMI SO2 maps, Sarychev Peak (Russia) is still producing gas-and-steam (with some ash) plumes, mostly drifting off to the…
eklemetti | July 13, 2009Mayon erupting in August 2004.
The increasing unrest at Mayon in the Philippines has prompted National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) to recommend the evacuation of over 75,000 people from around the volcano. This, however, will only happen if the activity at the volcano continues to increase. The volcano currently sits at Alert Level 2 (increasing unrest) and if it were to increase to Level 3 (increased tendency towards eruption), then the evacuations of the first ~1,800 families closest to the volcano would begin. Only if the volcano reached Alert Level 4 (hazardous eruption imminent…
eklemetti | July 10, 2009Another fun weekend for me analyzing zircon on the SHRIMP-RG at Stanford University! I really know how to live it up during the summer.
Some news bits:
The 2009 dome at Redoubt in Alaska steaming on July 2, 2009. Image taken by Cyrus Read, courtesy of USGS/AVO
In another sign that Redoubt's 2009 eruption might be at an end, AVO has ceased 24 hour staffing of their operations center. They still warn that Redoubt might still have more activity up its sleeve, but as of now, things are pretty quite. The latest update on Redoubt reports that the new dome continues to steam away and seismicity…
eklemetti | July 8, 2009All the volcano news that is fit to print, all thanks to the USGS/Smithsonian GVP!
Highlights (not include Manda Hararo, Kilauea and Mayon) include
San Miguel in El Salvador has been experiencing increased seismicity. The last time the volcano erupted was in 2002.
A pilot spotted a ~10,000 foot / 3 km ash plume emanating from Anak Krakatau in Indonesia.
Another ash plume, this time at Ubinas, Peru, was spotted by pilots rising to ~6.7-9.1 km / 20-30,000 feet.
Explosions were heard from Suwanose-jima in Japan, but no associated ash plumes were spotted.
It sounds like a lava dome has been…
eklemetti | July 6, 2009Sorry about the lack of posts - the holiday and "real life" had stepped in the way.
On with the news!
Mayon Volcano in the Philippines with Legazpi City in the foreground.
Mayon, one of the most active volcanoes in the Philippines, is causing concern due to increasing signs of activity. Renato Solidum, the director of PHIVOLCS (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology), said that there has been increasing seismic activity and "glow" at the summit of the volcano near (~20 miles / 45 km) Legazpi City. However, even after this sense of increasing activity, the alert level (1) has not…
eklemetti | July 2, 2009Three days ago, I received an email from Eruptions reader Gijs de Reijke who was curious about something he noticed in the daily OMI SO2 images:
OMI sulfur dioxide map over Ethiopia for June 30, 2009.
Now, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it other than the fact that there was an awful lot of sulfur dioxide in the vicinity of Addis Ababa, which seemed odd. If we look at a map of the active volcanoes in Ethiopia (below), a majority of the ones we might suspect if the SO2 was volcano are to the north (Erte Ale, Dallafilla), but this patch is smack-dab in the middle of the country, looking…
eklemetti | July 1, 2009A wrap up of the week's volcanism, brought to you by Sally Kuhn Sennert and the USGS/SI Global Volcanism Program.
Highlights, not including Sarychev Peak, Redoubt and Shiveluch (busy week in the north Pacific), include:
A small ash cloud was spotted at Bagana in Papua New Guinea.
The Tavurvur cone at Rabaul (PNG) continues to glow at night and produce small ash/steam plumes.
The Santiaguito dome at Santa Maria in Guatemala produced 8,000-10,000 foot / ~2.9-3.3 km ash plumes, along with a lahar that carried blocks over 1.5 m downstream from the volcano.
A 25,000 foot / 7.6 km ash plume was…
eklemetti | June 29, 2009Shiveluch volano in Russia.
Just like last summer seemed like a busy time for the Aleutians (Cleveland, Okmok and Kasatochi), this summer could be dubbed the "summer of Kamchatka-Kurils" (alright, it isn't that catchy, sorry). The biggest news was/is, of course, the sizeable eruption from Sarychev Peak in the Kuril Islands, but not to be outdone, Shiveluch on the Kamchatka Peninsula has starting playing catchup.
KVERT is reporting that Shiveluch produced a 7 km / 23,000 foot ash column on Monday, with increased seismicity to go along with the explosions. These explosions are generating the…
eklemetti | June 26, 2009Chaiten in Chile erupting in January 2009. Even after over a year of activity, Eruptions readers are still captivated by the volcano.
Thanks for sending me your questions about volcanoes and volcanism. I'll try to tackle some hear - but as always, keep the questions coming! Send them to
For those of you who have submitted a question but don't see the answer here, do not fret. Likely it just means that I needed to do a little more research into the question and will get to it in a later mailbag!
So, without further ado ...
Mark M.: Here in the Appalachians we have very dense crystalline rock (…