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Posted: 21-06-2011 10:16 Post subject:

Ash cloud grounds more flights in Australia
AP
Tuesday, 21 June 2011

International and domestic flights through Australian airports were cancelled today as an ash cloud from a Chilean volcano moved into the country's airspace.

Ash from the Cordon Caulle volcano grounded hundreds of flights and stranded tens of thousands of passengers last week when it hovered over several Australian cities and New Zealand.
By Friday, all flights were running normally, but the ash has lapped the globe and is causing more problems.

Australian flagship carrier Qantas said today it had suspended all services to and from the southern city of Adelaide, all flights through the national capital Canberra starting at noon, and all flights through Sydney, Australia's largest city, from mid-afternoon.

Qantas flights to Europe via Bangkok were moved up to early afternoon, while six flights to New Zealand were cancelled.

Qantas budget subsidiary Jetstar made similar cancellations in Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra. Jetstar cancelled a handful of flights between Melbourne and Perth.

Budget airline Tiger said it grounded its entire fleet at least until early afternoon because the planes were in cloud-affected areas.

Virgin Australia cancelled all flights to Adelaide, and flights through Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne from early afternoon.

Chile said on Sunday that the Cordon Caulle volcano, which began erupting on June 4, was becoming less active.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/ash-cloud-grounds-more-flights-in-australia-2300413.html

Posted: 14-10-2011 12:37 Post subject:

Return of the Iceland ash cloud? Fears grow of volcanic eruption that 'would be worse' than last year's which closed Europe's skies
Earthquake activity registered near the volcano meaning an eruption could be imminent, experts say
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 7:06 AM on 14th October 2011

An Icelandic volcano that could have a more devastating impact than the one that paralysed air traffic last year may erupt at any moment, experts have warned.
Seismologists are nervously watching rumblings beneath Katla, a volcano on the southern edge of the north Atlantic island nation, which could mean an eruption is imminent.

Katla is a much bigger volcano than nearby Eyjafjallajokul, the 2010 eruption of which cost airlines £1.27billion after ash grounded flights across Europe.
Named after an evil troll, Katla has a larger magma chamber than Eyjafjallajokul's. Its last major eruption in 1918 continued more than a month, turning day into night, starving crops of sunlight and killing off some livestock.
The eruption melted some of the ice-sheet covering Katla, flooding surrounding farmlands with a torrent of water that some accounts have said measured as wide as the Amazon.

Now, clusters of small earthquakes are being detected around Katla, which means an eruption could be imminent, seismologists say.
Worryingly, earthquakes have been growing in strength: after a long period of magnitude three tremors, a magnitude four quake was detected last week.
'It is definitely showing signs of restlessness,' said Piall Einarsson, a professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, who added that the Eyjafjallajokul was 'small', despite its impact.

Teams of seismologists and geologists at the university are now working with disaster officials to prepare nearby communities like Vik, a small town of some 300 people that is flanked by black sand beaches.
Disaster officials have drafted an evacuation plan and set aside temporary housing, but many fear they may have less than an hour to evacuate once the volcano erupts.

Iceland sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge. Eruptions, common throughout Iceland's history, are often triggered by seismic activity when the Earth's plates move and magma from deep underground pushes its way to the surface.
The longer pressure builds up, the more catastrophic an eruption can be. Records show that Katla usually has a large eruption twice a century and is long overdue for another.

Icelanders are getting nervous as they mark the anniversary of Katla's last blast.
'We've been getting calls recently from people concerned that Katla is about to erupt because it erupted ... in 1918 on October 12,' said Einar Kjartansson, a geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
'As scientists we don't see that much of a correlation in the date but there is most definitely increased activity. The question is whether it calms down after this or whether there is an eruption.'

Of Iceland's more than 22 volcanoes, seven are active and four are particularly active - including Katla and Hekla.
Although it does not pose the same flood risk as Katla because it's not situated beneath an icecap, Hekla is one of Iceland's most active volcanoes and sits in the path of most international flight patterns.
Like Katla, Hekla is also overdue for a large eruption and could produce a disruptive and dangerous ash cloud that, in addition to disrupting air travel, could lower overall temperatures across continents by blocking out sunlight for days or weeks.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2048627/The-ash-cloud-returns-Rumbling-Icelandic-volcano-Katla-WORSE-years-eruption-closed-Europes-skies.html#ixzz1akrFK5FB

Posted: 22-10-2011 00:11 Post subject:

Supposedly an eruption on Mount Sakurajima in Japan.
Unfortunately hidden in the clouds at the moment. Be patient.
Meanwhile, enjoy the insect life close to the camera ... Very Happy

Webcam: http://122.20.254.201:443/Camera10

Posted: 22-10-2011 00:22 Post subject:

The Irish seem to like to keep up to date on volcanic activity around the Globe.

http://www.irishweatheronline.com/news/earth-science/geology/world-volcanic-activity-report-katla-el-hierro-tambora-shiveluch/42418.html

It's Katla on Iceland I'm wondering about. If that goes off, we could have air traffic chaos and a blood freezing winter over the Northern Hemisphere, t'boot!

Posted: 22-10-2011 08:25 Post subject:

Another Sakurajima volcanocam: http://122.20.254.201:443/Camera09.

Edit:
Eruption happening right now 23:17 CET.

Posted: 07-11-2011 21:16 Post subject:

Posted: 07-11-2011 21:40 Post subject:

Posted: 09-11-2011 19:57 Post subject:

The quote from Anonymous was from this thread.Perhaps the thread title could be changed to Vulcanism?

Posted: 20-11-2011 10:27 Post subject:

Superb photo here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/theweekinpictures/8900173/The-week-in-pictures-18-November-2011.html

Lightning bolts illuminate the ash cloud from the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain in Chile.

Photographer Ricardo A. Mohr Rioseco's images, taken on 5 June, have recently won plaudits from National Geographic. He explains: "They were taken on at 21:30, two days after the beginning of the Caulle volcano eruption. It was very loud and dark in the night but I decided to find a good place to take some picture of the eruption at night. The power of the eruption and the lightning was very frightening, but the pictures obtained were able to reflect all the energy that we have under our feet." Monica Corcoran, National Geographic senior photo editor, said of the images: "Sometimes taking a step back makes all the difference. Instead of zooming in on the eruption, the photographer wisely chose to show all of the layers, complexity, and power of nature."

And above the fire and passion of the volcano, the stars shine serenely on!

Posted: 04-12-2011 08:48 Post subject:

Canary Island volcano: A new island in the making?
By Rob Hugh-Jones

An undersea volcano erupting just south of Spain's Canary Islands may be the beginnings of a new island, or an extension to an existing one. For some, it's a colourful spectacle - for others a major blow to their livelihood.

"It's angry today. Look at it go!" says fisherman Elio Morales Rodriguez in the village of La Restinga, on the south coast of El Hierro island.
"That green patch on the water is a dead zone," he says, looking out to sea. "It kills everything. No fishing, no dive schools, no tourists, just dead fish on the surface."

For more than a month, the underwater volcano has been erupting three miles to the south of El Hierro, the smallest of the seven Canary Islands, about 50km (30 miles) south-west of its nearest neighbour, La Gomera, and 100km (60 miles) from the most populous of the islands - Tenerife.
From about 60m below the sea, the so-called "submarine" volcano is spewing gases and burning lava, some of which is breaking the surface of the water.

That has drawn lots of camera crews racing to the island to see what's going on, but far fewer tourists than usual. Local journalist Barbara Belt says the islanders don't know when all the fuss will die down and they will be able to get on with their lives again.
In the coastal village of La Restinga, many bars, restaurants, and hotels are shut, and many of the village's residents have already left.

Scientists say the eruption is part of the long-term volcanic evolution of the Canary Islands, which may result in a new island, or add new territory to the southern coast of El Hierro.
There is seismic activity to the north of the island too.

"There has been an enormous amount of seismic activity around the island," says Nemesio Perez, scientific coordinator at Involcan, the Canaries Institute of Volcanology.
"Off the south coast, the magma has broken through the crust. The question is whether that will also happen off the north coast too."
Mr Perez studied volcanology in Japan and the United States before returning to his native Canary Islands in 1997 to help improve the archipelago's volcano monitoring network.

In the past four months, the network has detected more than 11,000 tremors across El Hierro island, one of which measured four-point-six on the Richter scale, and was strong enough to be felt on La Gomera and Tenerife. One resident of El Hierro said it was like an "energy jolt", while another described the noise as "a deep roar".

Most of the tremors on El Hierro have gone unnoticed by the 10,000 residents, but a number have been powerful enough to make some a little nervous.
"Islanders have had suitcases ready by the door, with a change of clothes, battery radio, torch, blanket and emergency rations," says Barbara Belt.

On the north of the island, in an area called La Frontera, a teacher named Carmen says she's using games to encourage children at her infant school to follow emergency procedures. "When I blow a whistle, they scramble to get under the tables as fast as they can. We sing songs until the all-clear, then line up holding a rope to go outside," she adds.

"Islanders are told to stay inside during tremors," says Barbara Belt. "When calm returns, they move outside to prearranged meeting points."

The island got a visit from the Spanish defence minister in September.
In La Caleta, a civil defence task force has arrived from the Spanish mainland and is on stand-by to help in case of emergency.

The islanders' daily lives were disturbed by the temporary closing of a vital road tunnel. There have also been evacuations from homes in potentially hazardous areas.
For some, the worst of it has been the impact on the tourist trade.
"The TV and papers dramatise everything," says Maximo Rodriguez, chatting in a near-empty bar in La Restinga. "It scares people off. People should come. How often do you get the chance to witness this?" he asks.

On the north side of the island, in La Frontera, the owners of the Tasca La Cantina bar, Jose Antonio Padron Perez and his wife Maria Fonte Armas, say they are similarly fed up.
"We get walking groups from northern Europe throughout the winter season. Everyone cancelled. But real life isn't as dramatic as the press say. We are all aware of volcanic activity. These are volcanic islands!"

El Hierro has more than 500 open-sky cones, making it the most volcanic of all the Canary Islands, and this may be why so many Herrenos say they are unperturbed. Carmen says her children's paintings of volcanoes are colourful and fun, not dark and sinister.

Dr Joachim Gottsmann, a volcanologist at Bristol University in the UK, who leads a European Commission-funded volcano study, says there is no obvious or impending prospect of an Iceland-style "ash cloud" developing in the Canaries.
"Right now, the eruption south of El Hierro is really a submarine eruption only," he says. But he adds that this could change at any minute.

So a cloud of uncertainty does hang over the heads of the islanders. They would like the fuss to subside - or at least for more tourists to come to the island to witness volcanic evolution for themselves.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15917740

(More details on page.)

Posted: 05-07-2012 07:41 Post subject:

How volcanoes shaped Britain's landscape

Britain's volcanic fires may be no more, but remnants of an enduring eruptive past can be found throughout the country, writes Professor Iain Stewart.

"So there I lie on the plateau, under me the central core of fire from which was thrust this grumbling grinding mass of plutonic rock, over me blue air, and between me the fire of the rock and the fire of the sun, scree, soil and water, moss, grass, flower and tree, insect, bird and beast, wind, rain and snow - the total mountain."

Those words - from Nan Shepherd's recently resurrected gem The Living Mountain (Canongate) - perfectly evoke the intimate relationship between the flora and fauna of upland Britain and its ancient volcanic past.

etc...

Professor Iain Stewart and Kate Humble present Volcano Live - starting on BBC Two on Monday 9 July at 20:00 BST

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18674655

I'm surprised that this article doesn't mention the granite spine that runs up through Cornwall and Devon; this was similarly caused by ancient upwelling of magma, and now its weathered remains form the high hills and moors of the west country.

As an example, here's a pic I posted elswhere of Carn Brea near Redruth:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/rynner/CarnBrea.jpg

Posted: 10-08-2012 20:19 Post subject:

I don't think I've heard of pumice from an underwater volcano before:

Vast volcanic 'raft' found in Pacific, near New Zealand

A vast "raft" of volcanic rocks covering 10,000 sq miles (26,000 sq km) of ocean has been spotted by a New Zealand military aircraft.
A naval ship was forced to change course in order to avoid the cluster of buoyant rocks, located 1,000 miles off the New Zealand coast.

The unusual phenomenon was probably the result of pumice being released from an underwater volcano, experts said.
One navy officer described it as the "weirdest thing" he had seen at sea.
Lieutenant Tim Oscar told the AFP news agency: "As far ahead as I could observe was a raft of pumice moving up and down with the swell.
"The [top of the] rock looked to be sitting two feet above the surface of the waves and lit up a brilliant white colour. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf," the officer said.

Researchers aboard the ship, HMNZS Canterbury, suggest that the source of the pumice was an underwater volcano (seamount) known as Monowai, located to the north of New Zealand.
The pumice is likely to have been formed when lava from the seamount came into contact with seawater, and as it is less dense than water it quickly rises to the surface of the ocean.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19207810

Posted: 13-08-2012 10:54 Post subject:

Some video and other pics of the pumice -

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC1208/S00031/7500sq-miles-of-pumice-from-underwater-volcano-located.htm

Posted: 13-08-2012 12:32 Post subject:

It's very abrasive, so you wouldn't want to sail through it.
I guess it will all end up on a beach somewhere.

Posted: 13-08-2012 13:35 Post subject:

Normally, lava extruded underwater forms pillow lavas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillow_lava

This is why I was surprised that this NZ example comes from an underwater volcano. As Wiki says,
"Pumice is typically created when super-heated, highly pressurized rock is violently ejected from a volcano.
...
Pumice is a common product of explosive eruptions "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumice

But the same article also says:
"In 1979, 1984 and 2006, underwater volcanic eruptions near Tonga created large pumice rafts, some as large as 30 km that floated hundreds of kilometres to Fiji."