“Ash routinely clouds the Caribbean skies as Soufrière Hills volcano continued its activity. For the past several weeks the Joint Air Force & Army Weather Information Network has issued multiple ash advisories every day for the West Indies. The Montserrat Volcano Observatory attributes ash emissions to the growth of Soufrière Hills’s lava dome accompanied by pyroclastic flows, some of which are reaching the ocean.” Quoted from a satellite image release at NASA’s Earth Observatory.
The Mainichi Daily News has a photograph showing ash and steam emerging from the ocean’s surface above the vent of Fukutokuoka no Ba Volcano which erupted yesterday near Iwo Jima.
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a colored lunar fog bow over a crater on Haleakala Volcano, Hawaii. A fog bow is similar to a rainbow, but is created by the moon’s light shining through fog; they are usually white. The photo was taken on a night with Mars near opposition, so the planet shines bright orange in the sky.
Michael Heads, Ph.D., of the Buffalo Museum of Science, has a theory on primate evolution that differs from most others. He believes that primates did not evolve from one singular location, but were dispersed across Pangaea and evolved in independent groups due to geologic events, such as plate tectonics and volcanic activity.
In Stockton-on-Tees, England, plans are being discussed for a new power plant. The Teesside station, which would convert discarded palm kernel shells into electricity for over 100,000 homes, has been designed to resemble a volcano.
“Turrialba volcano, located in central Costa Rica, emits a translucent plume of volcanic gases in this natural-color satellite image. According to the Red Sismológica Nacional (Costa Rican National Seismological Network) activity at the volcano increased markedly on January 4, 2010. Strong, long-lasting volcanic tremors were accompanied by gas plumes over the volcano, and emissions of ash began on January 5th. ” Quoted from the Earth Observatory press release.
“On January 13th, Pu‘u O‘o had begun a period of inflation. During inflation, the volcano’s surface rises slightly, likely the result of changes in the shallow magma pool beneath Kilauea. Periods of inflation are associated with increased volcanic activity.” Quoted from Earth Observatory.
After Mount Nyamulagira erupted on January 2, 2010, people in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been concerned that the neighboring Nyiragongo volcano might erupt as well. Satellites have been monitoring the volcanoes, and have provided valuable information about lava flows, ground deformation and activity levels.
If you teach geology at a college or university, you can spend a week at Kilauea this summer learning about volcanoes and how you can incorporate on-line monitoring data such as GPS, tilt, gravity, seismic amplitude time series, kinematic GPS campaign measurements, and webcam imagery into your teaching.
Scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NOAA have recorded the deepest erupting volcano yet discovered–West Mata Volcano–describing high-definition video of the undersea eruption as “spectacular.” Quoted from the NSF press release.
An article on the CNN website reports on a large hole that has been discovered on the Moon’s surface. It is a vertical lava tube about 200 feet across and 200 feet deep – large enough to house a colony of astronauts.
“Scientists funded by NOAA and the National Science Foundation recorded the deepest erupting volcano yet discovered, describing high-definition video of the undersea eruption as “spectacular.” Eruption of the West Mata volcano, discovered in May, occurred nearly 4,000 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, in an area bounded by Fiji, Tonga and Samoa.” Quoted from a NOAA press release.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology now says that a hazardous explosive eruption is possible within days at Mayon Volcano. The alert stats is currently at Level 4 and about 30,000 people have been evacuated.
Newly released video footage and images of the West Mata underwater volcano are now available at the NSF website. The video clip below is courtesy of National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:
CNN’s iReport has a few photos of Mayon Volcano in the Philippines which has been erupting and forced the evacuation of over 30,000 people. The Philippine Institute on Volcanology and Seismology says that a major eruption is imminent.
A group of scientists in Hawaii have spent the past two years working on the PLUME (Plume-Lithosphere Undersea Melt Experiment) project to research the islands’ creation. Seismic images have provided some interesting clues for solving the mystery of the Hawaiian hot spot.
Mayon Volcano, the most active volcano in the Philippines, is erupting lava and plumes of ash. Over 20,000 people have been evacuated from areas around the volcano.
A new study concludes that the Earth’s atmosphere was not formed from within the planet, such as through volcanic activity. Rather, the atmosphere and oceans may have formed from cosmic matter.
An article in the New York Times explores some of the high-resolution seismic imaging being done on the seafloor off Hawaii in an attempt to determine if the islands have been formed as a result of a mantle plume.
Ambrym Volcano emitted a thin plume, likely rich in sulfur dioxide, on December 3, 2009. Ambrym island is part of the Vanuatu archipelago, along the western boundary of the Pacific “ring of fire.”
Since a major eruption in 1994 forced the complete evacuation of nearby communities, Rabaul Volcano on the island of New Britain has remained intermittently active. Rabaul is a large caldera volcano whose eastern rim has been breached and flooded by the sea. Numerous vents and cones occur around the rim, including Tavurvur Cone, which was erupting when this image was captured.
“Activity at Montserrat’s Soufrière Hills Volcano continues to ebb and flow. Growth of the lava dome on the volcano’s summit has led to numerous pyroclastic flows, some of which nearly reached the ocean.” Quoted from the Earth Observatory image release.
Researchers have evidence that the eruption of Toba Supervolcano, on the island of Sumatra about 73,000 years ago had numerous impacts which include: deforestation of central India (about 3000 miles away), ejection of 800 cubic meters of ash into the atmosphere, an instant ice age, the near-extinction of humans, vegetation changes, climate changes and the creation of the world’s largest volcanic lake.
About 1000 people were evacuated as Galeras Volcano, the most active volcano in Colombia, erupted. The eruption caused a minor ashfall in the city of Pashto, located a few miles from Galeras.
For the past 10 years, satellite images have been used to study active magma systems in the East African Rift. Activity has been recorded at 4 Kenyan volcanoes: Paka, Longonot, Menengai, and Suswa.
A study published by Oxford University Press details a possible connection between papillary thyroid cancer and living near an active volcano. The study was conducted using data from the Mt. Etna region (Catania province) vs. the rest of Sicily.
NASA’s Earth Observatory has released a satellite image of lava flows in Kilauea Volcano’s East Rift Zone. The image shows many generations of flows and the trace of craters that mark the center of the rift zone.
The city center of Arequipa, Peru is only 11 miles away from the summit of El Misti. Arequipa has nearly 1 million residents and much of the building stone for Arequipa was quarried from pyroclastic flow deposits produced by El Misti.
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