Soufriere Hills Volcano on the Island of Montserrat began its most recent series of eruptions in 1995. Since then much of the southern part of the island has been buried by ash fall, lahars and pyroclastic flows. Explore this image to see what can happen to communities near such eruptions.
NASA’s Earth Observatory released an astronaut photograph of Soufrière Hills, a volcano on the island of Montserrat. In addition to the eruption plume the image shows ground features such as lahar deposits, pyroclastic flow deposits, ash deltas and more.
After 10 months of relative quiet, Soufriere Hills volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat blasted ash into the sky in early October 2009. This satellite image, acquired by NASA’s Terra spacecraft, shows a plume of ash extending westward from Soufriere Hills on October 12, 2009. According to the U.S. Air Force Weather Agency, ash extended 540 kilometers (330 miles) at an elevation of approximately 4,000 meters (13,000 feet).
“After 10 months of relative quiet, Soufriere Hills volcano on the Caribbean island of Montserrat blasted ash into the sky in early October 2009. This natural-color satellite image shows a plume of ash extending westward from Soufriere Hills on October 6, 2009, a day after eruptive activity resumed on October 5th.” Quoted from the NASA image caption.
“A rare opportunity has allowed a team of scientists to evaluate corals–and the essential, photosynthetic algae that live inside their cells–before, during, and after a period in 2005 when global warming caused sea-surface temperatures in the Caribbean to rise.” Quoted from the NSF Press Release.
Petroglyphs, sometimes known as “rock art,” are images cut into or scribed onto a stone surface by people. They are often produced as a form or art or communication. This photo gallery features petroglyphs from worldwide locations including: Arizona, British Columbia, California, Chile, Hawaii, India, Mexico, Namibia, Nevada, New Mexico, Norway, Ontario, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Utah, Virgin Islands, Washington.
Here is a gallery of ten spectacular images of lakes at various worldwide locations. In addition to the impressive photos, each lake has at least one unusual attribute. You have probably not heard of most of these.
The current projected path of Hurricane Bill is to the west of Bermuda. Bill is currently a Category 3 hurricane and Bermuda is under a tropical storm warning.
CNN has a report on Hurricane Bill in which they call the category storm “extremely dangerous”. The storm is moving northward in the Atlantic and is expected to cause swells and dangerous currents along the east cost of the United States.
The Padre Nuestro cave in the Dominican Republic is the site of some new prehistoric finds. Some fossils, along with basalt and limestone artifacts, were found in the underwater Caribbean cave.
A new weather satellite (NASA/NOAA geostationary weather satellite GOES-14) has captured a full disk image of earth showing Tropical Storms Claudette, Hurricane Bill and Tropical Storm Ana.
The 2009 hurricane season is off to a slow start but Tropical Storm Claudette is about to be the first storm that makes landfall in the United States – near the Florida-Alabama border. From the National Hurricane Center…
“A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM THE ALABAMA/FLORIDA BORDER EASTWARD TO THE SUWANNEE RIVER FLORIDA. A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE WARNING AREA WITHIN 24 HOURS.”
Names have been given to Atlantic hurricanes for a few hundred years. At first they were named after saints of the Catholic Church. Today the World Meteorological Organization maintains the lists of Atlantic hurricane names.
Earth Observatory has a map that details the plate boundaries and associated faults in the area of this week’s earthquake in the Gulf of Honduras. These features are superimposed on an image that shows the topography and bathymetry of the area.
USGS reports a 7.1 magnitude earthquake in the Gulf of Honduras. It occurred at 3:24 AM local time on Thursday, May 28, 2009 along a transform fault between the Caribbean Plate and the North American Plate. A tsunami is not expected. An early news report of at least one death and building damage can be seen at Yahoo! News.
The United States has held a trade embargo against Cuba since 1962. A Washington Post article speculates that billions of barrels of oil and trillions of feet of natural gas beneath Cuba’s territorial waters could end the embargo.
Surrounded by darker, deeper ocean waters, the shallow water of Belize’s Lighthouse Reef Atoll hosts one of the most interesting features on Earth: the Great Blue Hole, a circular depression roughly 300 meters (1,000 feet) across and 125 meters (400 feet) deep. It is a very popular location for divers.
Dave Petley has an interesting post with informative images titled: “Coastal landslides and tsunami hazards (and the wonder that is Google Earth).” He gives a summary of a recent EOS article by researches at the Geohazard Reserach Centre at Portsmouth University.
“In early 2009, ash and steam from the Soufriere Hills Volcano on the island of Montserrat stretched hundreds of kilometers across the Caribbean Sea. Shifting wind patters had apparently carried volcanic plumes toward both the west and the east-southeast by the time the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite took this picture on January 3, 2009. The volcanic plume can be distinguished from the nearby clouds due to its slightly darker color and less distinct margins.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory description.
“The Montserrat Volcano Observatory’s weekly bulletin for December 26 – January 2, 2009, described an increase in volcanic activity over the previous week, including pyroclastic flows—avalanches of scorching gas, rocks, and debris—regularly reaching the bottom of Tyers (or Tyres) Ghaut, a tributary of the Belham Valley, on the side of Soufriere Hills Volcano. Some pyroclastic flows even infiltrated the upper portion of the Belham River. The bulletin also reported ash falls over Isles Bay, Garibaldi Hill, Old Towne, Salem, and Olveston.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory article.
“Maritime archaeologists today announced they have recently identified the wreck of the historic slave ship Trouvadore off the coast of East Caicos in the Turks and Caicos Islands.”
Hurricane Paloma is currently a Category 1 storm moving past the Cayman Islands towards Cuba. The National Hurricane Center expects Paloma to strengthen to a Category 2 and possibly a Category 3 storm before it reaches Cuba on Saturday morning.
A series of earthquakes rocked the island of Nevis and some immediately pointed at the geothermal drilling project. Investigators from the University of the West Indies found no link between the drilling and the earthquakes.
Cubapetroleo, the state-owned oil company of Cuba, expects to start drilling the 20 billion barrels of oil in the North Cuba Basin, located off the northern shore of the island. This will move Cuba from a minor oil producer into the top twenty.
A Magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico area at about 6:40 local time this morning. There were no reports of damage or injury.
Associated Press Video of Hurricane Ike hitting the Caribbean. They report that 3/4 of the homes in Turks and Caicos were damaged and give a forecast of what the US might expect.
On Saturday evening, Hurricane Ike is a category four storm approaching the Turks and Caicos Islands. On Sunday it is expected to hit the northeast coast of Cuba and rake over the island on Monday. The predicted track for the rest of the week has it moving directly towards Louisiana.
The National Hurricane Center says that “Ike is an extremely dangerous category four hurricane” with maximum sustained winds of 135 miles per hour. Some weakening is forcast over the next 24 to 48 hours as it moves towards the Bahamas and south Florida.
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