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Eruption In Progress At Kamchatkan Volcano Making The Winter Cold Much Worse

January 24, 2014 by
Kamchatkan eruption from space - NASA

Kamchatkan eruption from space – NASA

A relatively large explosive eruption started January 21, 2014 and is currently in progress at Kamchatkan Shiveluch volcano, Russia. But this isn’t anything new.

This ash plume rose to estimated 4.5 – 5 km (14, 760-16, 400 ft) altitude and is drifting west. The ash is thickening the atmosphere, and is exacerbating the heavy winter cold air and blizzard conditions impacting the Northern Hemisphere.

The volcano continues to produce intense degassing and ash venting. Glow from the active lava dome is visible on night-time webcam images.

When this much ash remains in the atmosphere and is circulated in the wind currents, you will have a drop in temperature and cooling.

Activation code is now orange.

Here is a slide show of the eruptions at Kamchatkan in January 2014 and December 2013 from NASA Terra/MODIS images and images from the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology FEB RAS, KVERT

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Filed Under: Climate, Earth Changes, Social Awareness, Volcanoes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Oh My – Yellowstone Is Bigger Than We Thought

December 31, 2013 by
A drawing of Yellowstone's supervolcano.

It comes as no surprise that larger amounts of magma are under Yellowstone.

The hot molten rock beneath Yellowstone National Park is 2½ times larger than previously estimated, but this comes as NO surprise.

Because we are small, humans have always seen everything else on the Earth as small. Until technology, that is. Now we are getting our proportions straight.

This planet is far bigger and much more powerful than humans will ever hope to be. Never mess with Mother Nature …

Supervolcano

There is more to our planet than meets the eye … like a supervolcano under Yellowstone that has the potential to erupt with a force about 2,000 times the size of the largest eruption at Mount St. Helens.

Something pretty darn deep has been regulating Old Faithful all these centuries, don’t you think? Now, we know “what.”

By measuring seismic waves from past earthquakes, scientists at the University of Utah have mapped the magma chamber underneath the Yellowstone caldera. The chamber is 88.5 km long (54 miles), 29 km wide (18 miles), and is 5 km to 14.5 km ( 3 miles to 9 miles) deep below the Earth’s surface.

This means there is enough volcanic material below the surface to match the largest of the supervolcano’s three eruptions over the past 2.1 million years.

This is amazing, but oh my, this is also very dangerous.

Yellowstone’s Climate Change

The largest blast ever at Yellowstone was 2,000 times the size of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State. A similar eruption would spew large amounts of volcanic material into the atmosphere, where it would circle the Earth and result in some serious climate changes. There would be a lot of destruction and a lot of deadly impacts around the globe.

The last Yellowstone eruption happened around 640,000 years ago, according to the geologic record. For years, observers tracking earthquake swarms under Yellowstone have warned that the caldera is overdue to erupt, yet we are incapable of predicting when the next eruption will be.

Advanced Warnings

There are enough instruments monitoring the seismic activity under Yellowstone that scientists will likely know well ahead of time if there is unusual activity happening or magma is rising to the surface.

Many large volcanos, like Yellowstone, are located all over the Earth. Actually, magma chambers fill most of the subsurface under the crust.  We are just now awakening to this fact, but it’s better late than never to understand this, don’t you think?

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Filed Under: Social Awareness, Volcanoes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

5.4 Quake In Canary Islands Means The Volcano Is Waking Up

December 27, 2013 by
A map of the Canary Islands.

The Canary Islands is very active with both earthquake and new volcanic activity.

Just days after the Canary Islands and the volcano El Hierro experienced an increase in activity and an earthquake swarm; a 5.4 magnitude quake rocked the tiny island of la Palma outside Santa Cruz.

The earthquake’s epicenter was 13 miles (22 kilometers) deep. Before the earthquake struck early afternoon, December 27, 2013, the volcanic eruption risk for El Hierro had been raised to “yellow.”  This warning means that activity is increasing at the volcano, but no eruption can be predicted.

El Hierro

The swarm of earthquakes over the past few days are indicators that magma is moving into the area and pressurizing the volcanoes. This means that the chances of a new eruption at El Hierro have become more likely.

This also means that a chance of a US East Coast tsunami is more likely.

It is impossible to say whether, and when, a new eruption will occur, but it could happen any time, and quickly. It would probably begin with a series of stronger earthquakes to open up a magma conduit. Based on the inflation and earthquake patterns, the most likely opening would be near the 2011 vent near La Restinga. In any case, La Restinga would be the village most at risk on the island.

Keep a watch on the Canaries, and let’s hope for the best as we see a new island rise from the sea.

Filed Under: Earthquakes, Volcanoes Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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