Plosky Tolbachik Volcanic Eruption

An aerial view of Plosky Tolbachik, a volcanic complex on the Kamchatka Peninsula, far eastern Russia 

Picture: ITAR-TASS / Barcroft Media

ESA Venus Express: Clues Point to Active Volcanoes

New evidence hints that Venus may be volcanically active, which has long been a controversial topic among scientists.

Six years of observations by the European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft have shown significant changes in the sulphur dioxide content of the planet's atmosphere over time, which could be explained by a bout of volcanism.

Immediately after arriving at Venus in 2006, the spacecraft recorded a significant increase in the average density of sulfur dioxide in the upper atmosphere, followed by a sharp decrease, according to a release from the European Space Agency (ESA).

Venus' atmosphere contains much higher levels of sulphur dioxide than on Earth. On our planet, the smelly, toxic gas is produced by volcanoes.

Sulphur dioxide doesn't last long in Venus' upper atmosphere, because it is broken down by sunlight. Any sulphur dioxide in the upper regions must have recently arrived there from the thick protective clouds that swirl beneath.

Some scientists think that the spike in sulphur dioxide suggests that a large volcano, or several volcanoes, must have erupted.

Venus is covered in hundreds of volcanoes, but whether they remain active today is much debated, and settling this question is an important scientific goal for Venus Express.

Alaska's Redoubt Volcano Blows Off Steam

Redoubt is a 10,196-foot-high (3,108 meters) glacier-covered stratovolcano, about 105 miles (170 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage, in Lake Clark National Park.

The volcano formed beginning about 890,000 years ago and a collapse of its summit some 10,500-13,000 years ago produced a major debris avalanche that spread across the region, according to the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program.

An eruption in 1989 hurt the region's economy and halted air travel across the globe.

The volcano's last known eruption was in 2009, and a series of small earthquakes rumbled for a few days in April 2010.

Geoff Mackley Captures Incredible Lava Video - Youtube

A team of three adventurers headed by freelance photographer Geoff Mackley braved its way to Ambrym Island, Vanuatu, where they made their way to Marum Volcano’s lava lake back in September 2010.

To capture the footage, the crew had to descend nearly 1,700 feet into the volcano. What follows is an amazing feat of nature gushing forth from the molten rock.

According to Mackley, the team came within 100 feet of the lava — the closest ever approach in that volcano.

Without special equipment, “it was possible to stand the heat for only 6 seconds” Mackley noted on his website.

But check out the guy in the protective suit standing near the lava lake’s roiling, spewing edge; he was able to bear the lava’s full sweltering 2100° F heat for nearly 40 minutes.

Kilauea: Tiny Gravity Changes Show Magma's Underground Movements

Kilauea's current eruption is still going strong after 29 years.

CREDIT: USGS/HVO.

The secret movements of magma deep inside a volcano can be detected by tracking the subtle changes in gravity they cause.

Surprising readings from a Hawaiian volcano have researchers hoping to better understand volcanic activity through gravity monitoring.

Continuous gravity measurements of active volcanoes are relatively rare, with most results coming from Mount Etna in Italy.

"One problem is the expense," researcher Michael Poland, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, explained.

"Gravity measurements have always been a really expensive endeavor. The big users are oil and mining companies."

Now scientists have monitored the gravity at Kīlauea, a popular tourist destination on Hawaii's Big Island, and discovered a regular cycle of fluctuations that suggest magma is churning a kilometer (0.6 miles) below the surface.

The way magma churns in underground chambers below volcanic vents is key to understanding how persistent volcanoes are, and whether or not they might catastrophically erupt in the future.

However, what goes on deep under the Earth's surface is difficult to monitor.

One way to peer underground is by looking at Earth's gravity, the researchers said. Anything that has mass has a gravity field that pulls objects toward it.

The strength of this field depends on the amount of mass. Since the Earth's mass is not spread out evenly, this means the strength of the planet's gravitational pull is stronger in some places and weaker in others.

As such, the flow of magma from one place to another can be detected from above.

Most active volcano

"Kīlauea is the world's most active volcano," Poland said. "It's erupted almost continuously since 1983. It's a natural 'lab volcano' ―a great place to try and study something like gravity measurements."

The researchers installed two continuous gravity meters at the summit of the volcano in 2010. One was about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) northwest of the eruptive vent at the summit and recorded measurements every10 seconds, while the other was placed about 500 feet (150 meters) east and recorded data every second.

They detected gravity fluctuations that came in a cycle about 150 seconds long.

"There was no expectation for that kind of result," Poland reported. "That gravity oscillation came out of nowhere. It points to the idea that there's probably a lot of things going on in volcanoes, glaciers, wherever you look, but we haven't developed the tools to detect these sorts of things."

The Tungurahua volcano, Ecuador.

The Tungurahua volcano spews large clouds of gas and ash, near Banos in Ecuador

Picture: REUTERS/Carlos Campana

ISS Astronaut Image: Erupting Volcano

Image taken by Russian Cosmonaut Fyodor Nikolayevich Yurchikhin

Volcano Hekla erupts with the Aurora overhead: Iceland

Sometimes both heaven and Earth erupt. In Iceland in 1991, the volcano Hekla erupted at the same time that auroras were visible overhead. Hekla, one of the most famous volcanoes in the world, has erupted at least 20 times over the past millennium, sometimes causing great destruction.

The last eruption occurred only twelve years ago but caused only minor damage. The green auroral band occurred fortuitously about 100 kilometers above the erupting lava. Is Earth the Solar System's only planet with both auroras and volcanos?

Stunning volcanic view of Alaid Volcano, Alaska

Credit: NASA

Alaid Volcano, the northernmost and highest volcano in the Kuril Island chain, which stretches from Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula to Japan.

Part of Russian territory, Alaid has the textbook cone-shape summit of a composite volcano and tops out at 7,674 feet (2,339 meters). 

A composite volcano, or stratovolcano, is made of many layers of hardened lava and ash spewed out during periodic eruptions.

ESA ISS Astronaut Image: Alaid Volcano in the Kuril Islands

Alaid Volcano in the Kuril Islands of the Russian Federation is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 31 crew member on the International Space Station.

The Kurils chain extends from the Kamchatka Peninsula to the islands of Japan, and contains numerous active volcanoes along its length.

Alaid is the highest (2,339 meters above sea level) volcano in the Kuril chain, as well as being the northernmost.

The textbook conic morphology of this stratovolcano is marred only by the summit crater, which is breached to the south (center) and highlighted by snow cover.

The volcano rises 3,000 meters directly from the floor of the Sea of Okhotsk, with the uppermost part of the volcanic edifice exposed as an island.

Much of the sea surface surrounding the volcano has a silver-gray appearance. This mirror-like appearance is due to sunglint, where light reflects off the sea surface and is scattered directly towards the observer onboard the space station.

Sunglint is largely absent from a zone directly to the west of the volcano, most likely due to surface wind or water current patterns that change the roughness—and light scattering properties—of the water surface in this area.

Volcanoes in the Kurils, and similar island arcs in the Pacific “ring of fire”, are fed by magma generated along the boundary between two tectonic plates, where one plate is being driven beneath the other (a process known as subduction).

Alaid Volcano has been historically active with the most recent confirmed explosive activity occurring in 1996.

Yellowstone 'super-eruption' less super and more frequent

The Yellowstone "super-volcano" is a little less super but more active than previously studies have shown.

Researchers at Washington State University and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre say the biggest Yellowstone eruption, which created the 2 million year old Huckleberry Ridge deposit, was actually two different eruptions at least 6,000 years apart.

Their results paint a new picture of a more active volcano than previously thought and can help recalibrate the likelihood of another big eruption in the future. Before the researchers split the one eruption into two, it was the fourth largest known to science.

"The Yellowstone volcano's previous behaviour is the best guide of what it will do in the future," says Ben Ellis, co-author and post-doctoral researcher at Washington State University's School of the Environment.

"This research suggests explosive volcanism from Yellowstone is more frequent than previously thought."

The new ages for each Huckleberry Ridge eruption reduce the volume of the first event to 2,200 cubic kilometers, roughly 12 percent less than previously thought. A second eruption of 290 cubic kilometers took place more than 6,000 years later.

That first eruption still deserves to be called "super," as it is one of the largest known to have occurred on Earth and darkened the skies with ash from southern California to the Mississippi River.

By comparison, the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens produced 1 cubic kilometer of ash. The larger blast of Oregon's Mount Mazama 6,850 years ago produced 116 cubic kilometers of ash.

The study, funded by the National Science Foundation and published in the June issue of the Quaternary Geochronology, used high-precision argon isotope dating to make the new calculations.

The radioactive decay rate from potassium 40 to argon 40 serves as a "rock clock" for dating samples and has a precision of .2 percent. Darren Mark, co-author and a post-doctoral research fellow at the SUERC, recently helped fine tune the technique and improve it by 1.2 percent, a small-sounding difference that can become huge across geologic time.

"Improved precision for greater temporal resolution is not just about adding another decimal place to a number, says Mark. "It's far more exciting. It's like getting a sharper lens on a camera. It allows us to see the world more clearly."

The project asks the question: Might super-eruptions actually be products of multiple, closely spaced eruptions through time? With improved temporal resolution, in times to come, maybe super-eruptions will be not quite so super.

More information: doi:10.1016/j.quageo.2012.01.006

Provided by Washington State University

Santorini: The Greek volcano Thera, Behind the Legend of Atlantis, Re-Erupts

One of the largest volcanic eruptions in the past 10,000 years occurred in approximately 1620 BC on the volcanic island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea. 

Following the 1620 BC eruption, much of the previous island of Santorini was destroyed or submerged; this event may have been the inspiration for the legend of the lost continent of Atlantis.

CREDIT: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

Thera, the volcano that may have given rise to the legend of Atlantis has awakened, researchers say.

The cataclysmic eruptions of Thera on the Greek isle of Santorini about 3,600 years ago that spewed forth about 9.5 to 14.3 cubic miles (40 to 60 cubic kilometers) of lava devastated the ancient seafaring Minoan civilization, potentially inspiring the legend of the lost city of Atlantis.

From the air, the resulting caldera, or volcanic crater, appears as a small cluster within the larger collection of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea.

Over the next four millennia, the largely underwater caldera at Santorini has experienced a series of smaller eruptions, with five such outbursts in the past 600 years, ending most recently in 1950.

After a 60-year lull, Santorini awakened in January 2011 with a swarm of tremors, each magnitude 3.2 or less, new GPS research has revealed.

Magma on the move
Investigators had installed a GPS monitoring system in the area in 2006. These sensors keep track of their location in space, and can thus shed light on when the Earth is moving.

The scientists found that by June 2011, the 22 GPS stations had been pushed 0.2 to 1.3 inches (5 to 32 millimeters) farther from the caldera than they had been just six months earlier.

The researchers then improved the existing GPS stations and installed two more GPS stations, and data from September 2011 to January 2012 showed the land near the volcano was swelling at an accelerating rate, reaching 7 inches (180 mm) of growth per year.

Computer models of the deforming Earth suggested the swelling was due to an influx of nearly 500 million cubic feet (14.1 million cubic meters) of magma into a chamber 2.5 to 3.1 miles (4 to 5 kilometers) below the surface.

The scientists note this ongoing influx of magma does not necessarily signal an impending explosion — this swelling is only a fraction of that behind the Minoan eruption. [10 Wild Volcano Facts]

"We've witnessed similar deformation events at other large calderas — Yellowstone, Long Valley California, and Campi Flegrei — without eruption," said researcher Andrew Newman, a geophysicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

"Globally, we've observed that on average, 90 percent of magmatic intrusion events do not reach the surface."

"However, we cannot say for certain that this will not erupt either," Newman toldreporters. "Every volcano is somewhat different, and thus we cannot yet directly relate what we've learned at other volcanoes and apply them with complete confidence to this one." And, even a small eruption can spew dangerous ash, or trigger landslides and tsunamis, the scientists cautioned.

Popocatepetl Volcano: Eruption Covers 30 Communities In Mexico With Ash

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Mexico's famous Popocatepetl volcano experienced one of its largest explosions in years, causing its eruption to cover about 30 communities with ash, according to reports.

According to Wired's Eruptions blog, the ash ranges from a light dusting to up to seven centimeters thick.

Popocatepetl means "smoking mountain" in Aztec. At 17,802 feet (5,426 meters) it is the second highest volcano in North America.

It was reported that the eruption coupled with a plume of steam and ash and increased seismic activity, prompted authorities to raise the volcano's alert status. Mexican authorities have since advised people to stay at least seven miles away from the summit.

Eruptions Blog author Erik Klemetti, a professor of geosciences at Denison University in Ohio, said that a raised alert level means that local authorities are preparing for potential evacuations should the volcano have a major eruption.

It was also reported that the National Disaster Prevention Center stated, a lava dome is growing in the volcano's crater and that Popocatepetl could experience "significant explosions of growing intensity that hurl incandescent rocks significant distances."

Large ash showers and possible flows of mud and molten rocks down the volcano's flank could also occur.

Tungurahua Volcano Erupting, Ecuador

Volcano Tungurahua sometimes erupts spectacularly.

Pictured above, molten rock so hot it glows visibly pours down the sides of the 5,000-meter high Tungurahua, while a cloud of dark ash is seen being ejected toward the left.

Wispy white clouds flow around the lava-lit peak, while a star-lit sky shines in the distance.

The above image was captured in 2006 as ash fell around the adventurous photographer.

Located in Ecuador, Tungurahua has become active roughly every 90 years since for the last 1,300 years.

ESA ENVISAT Image: Bali, Lombok, and Sumbawa: Where Worlds Collide

This image from the Envisat satellite is dominated by the Indonesian islands of Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa.

All three are part of the volcanic Sunda Arc along the submarine Java trench, where two tectonic plates are moving towards one another, and one slides under the other.

This tectonic deformation along the Java trench caused the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

To the west is Bali, one of Indonesia's main tourist destinations. The island's central mountains include peaks that reach over 3000 m, including an active volcano visible on the right side of the island.

Strong reflections of the radar signal used to produce this image appear like specks of light. They are mainly detectable in the southern part of the island, and are particularly concentrated around the provincial capital city of Denpasar.

This is the typical appearance of built-up areas in radar images, owing to the multiple reflection of the radar beam by buildings and especially metal constructions.

In the centre of the image is Lombok. Similar to Bali, we can see multiple reflections concentrated around the city of Mataram.

Varying colours stretch across the island's lowlands, which are highly cultivated, depicting changes in the land.

Sumbawa island lies to the east, dominated by mountainous terrain. This is also home to Mount Tambora, an active volcano.

In 1815, its massive eruption caused heavy ash falls that ruined local agriculture and even affected much of the Northern Hemisphere.

The deaths of over 70 000 people are attributed to this event. This image is a compilation of three passes by Envisat's radar on 20 June, 19 August and 17 December 2011.

Each is assigned a colour (red, green and blue) and combined to produce this representation. The colours reveal changes in the surface between Envisat's passes.

NASA Astronaut Spots Steam Flowing from Island Volcano

A steam plume drifts away from a volcano on Pagan Island, part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.

CREDIT: NASA

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station spotted a steam plume flowing from the northernmost volcano on Pagan Island, part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas.

The commonwealth is an island chain of volcanoes that form the margin between the Pacific Ocean (to the east) and the Philippine Sea (to the west).

Pagan is made up of two strato-volcanoes separated by an isthmus, and it is one of the more volcanically active islands in the Marianas.

The island was completely evacuated in 1981 when a large eruption forced the small Micronesian community to flee (PDF Report), according to a NASA statement.

Jupiter’s Moon Io: Most Active Volcanoes of Solar System

(Photo: REUTERS)
This false-colour composite of Jupiter's moon Io is the highest resolution image taken by the space probe Galileo. 

Dark spots, many flagged by bright red pyroclastic deposits, mark the sites of current volcanic activity. 

Lava spewing from the erupting volcanoes is hotter than any magma on Earth and is greater in temperature than anyone had thought, scientists reported.

 
The first ever geologic map of Jupiter’s moon Io has revealed some of the most active volcanoes ever recorded in the solar system, scientists said on Monday.

The global geologic map, published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), shows that volcanic activities occurring on Io’s surface are 25 times more than that on Earth.

The map depicts “an otherworldly celestial body whose gravitational relationships with Jupiter and sister moons Europa and Ganymede cause massive, rapid flexing of its surface and interior.

This flexing generates tremendous heat in Io's interior, which is relieved through surface volcanism, resulting in 25 times more volcanic activity than occurs here on Earth,” USGS said in a statement.

Ever since its discovery by Galileo in 1610, Io has been a focus of observation by telescopes and orbiting spacecrafts.

Nearly 400 years later, the geologic map of the Jupiter’s innermost large moon was produced by a team of scientists led by Dr. David A. Williams of Arizona State University.

"The highly detailed, colorful map reveals a number of volcanic features, including: volcanic domes and depressions, lava flow fields, mountains, plume deposits, and sulfur- and sulfur dioxide-rich plains,” according to the scientists.

However, the scientists said that the geologic map of Io does not indicate any impact craters, common to the Moon, Mars and Earth, that provide evidence of Io’s active volcanism.

"Io has no impact craters. It is the only object in the Solar System where we have not seen any impact craters, testifying to Io's very active volcanic resurfacing," Williams said.

The map also testifies that "Io has undergone major surface changes during the past few decades due to its volcanic activity," USGS research geologist Dr. Ken Tanaka added.

ESA ISS Astronaut Image: An active Mt Etna, Italy

An active Mt Etna, Italy

Aleutian Volcano Erupts Again

A restless Aleutian volcano exploded again on Friday, according to reports in Anchorage.

Researchers from the Alaska Volcano Observatory have detected another short explosion in Cleveland on Friday.

The explosion occurred for the second time in two days.

On Wednesday night the Cleveland Volcano had spewed a small amount of ash, a potential hazard to trans-oceanic air travel, but the ash did not appear to reach above 20,000 feet, just after two days.

Satellites have not detected a high-level ash cloud that could pose a threat to trans-oceanic air travel, according to reports.

For the past few months, researchers have also detected a series of small earthquakes at the lliamma volcano in Alaska.

Semisopochnoi Island: Volcano Mt Cerberus

Far to SW of Alaska lies Semisopochnoi Island in the Rat island group West Aleutians; foreground volcano Mt Cerberus.

It is the “Island of the Seven Mountains, ” or more precisely in Russian: “having seven hills.”

This uninhabited volcanic island is also an important nesting area for maritime birds of the North Pacific.

Situated on the far end of the Aleutians, Semisopochnoi Island is simultaneously the most easterly and westerly point of the United States of America.

Roughly 1,275 miles (2,050 kilometers) west-southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, Semisopochnoi lies near the 180-degree line of longitude, in the Rat Islands group in the western Aleutian Islands.

The seven hills of the island are volcanic peaks, each with a summit crater, including Cerberus, Sugarloaf Peak, Lakeshore Cone, Anvil Peak, Pochnoi, Ragged Top, and Three-quarter Cone.

The high point of the island is Anvil Peak at 1,221 meters, a double-peaked cone. The three-peaked Mount Cerberus volcano (774 meters high) grew up within the caldera as the volcanic hot spot rose up from the sea floor.

Most documented eruptions have come from Cerberus, with the most recent major eruption recorded in 1873. The most recent eruption on the island, though minor, came from Sugarloaf in 1987.

Semisopochnoi has no native land mammals, so it is a natural nesting area for sea birds but bird populations were decimated after Arctic foxes were introduced to the island for fur farming in the 19th century.

In 1997, the last fox was removed from the island to allow the birds a safe refuge again. Part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (AMNWR), the island now supports more than a million seabirds, particularly auklets, according to the National Audubon Society.