Volcanic eruptions

I was about to make an announcement that I would not be covering volcanic eruption unless something major happened!

Mt Sinaburg has been on the verge of a major eruption for months - the Extinction Protocol has been reporting regularly on this.

Volcano eruption 'kills at least 14 people in Indonesia' as ash is sent spewing several miles into the air

• Dead include four students and a journalist who went to see blasts up close
• Only yesterday 14,000 villagers were allowed to return to their 'safe' homes
• Mount Sinaburg in Sumatra, Indonesia, has been rumbling for four months

The Daily Mail,

1 February, 2014

At least 14 people have been killed today by a violent volcanic eruption on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, which sent ash spewing several miles into the air.

The dead include a TV journalist, four high school students and their teacher who went to see Mount Sinaburg up close after being told it was becoming safer

Only yesterday thousands of villagers were allowed to return to their homes on the slopes of the volcano, despite the fact it has been erupting sporadically for four months.

Fleeing: Residents of Bekerah village, Sumatra, have had to escape a deadly eruption of Mount Sinaburg

All unclear: Thousands of locals had only returned home yesterday after being evacuated in September

Tragedy: Relatives carry a coffin containing one victim at a nearby hospital. Officials fear the death toll will rise as the darkness and heat from the eruption hamper efforts to reach the mountain slopes

Distraught: A man weeps after identifying a family member killed by the eruption in Kabanjahe, Sumatra

Trauma: Thousands of villagers have been displaced by the eruptions, with families torn apart

At least three other people have been injured and officials fear the death toll will rise further.

Rescue workers have been hampered by darkness and cannot get closer to the affected areas because of the heat.

Authorities had evacuated more than 30,000 people, housing them in cramped tents, schools and public buildings, after the earlier eruptions which sent lava, searing gas and rocks from the 8,530ft peak.

They culminated today in a series of huge blasts which sent lava and pyroclastic flows up to three miles away, said officials.

Villagers were seen tending to the charred corpses of victims, themselves covered in thick grey as, as far as two miles from the peak.

Many in the rural island communities had been desperate to return to check on their homes and farms, presenting a dilemma for the government. 

Armageddon: a series of huge blasts and eruptions thundered from the 8,530-foot-high volcano, spewing lava and pyroclastic flows up to 3 miles away

Caught: Officials have said 14 people have died but they fear the death toll could rise

Harrowing: Rescue workers set about looking for bodies and survivors but their job was made more difficult by the intense heat, the dark and the threat of another eruption

But hundreds of villagers also demanded to be moved safer areas because they were scared to go back.

Evacuee Naek Sembiring, one of 156 camping in a church, told The Jakarta Post two months ago that his entire village had agreed they would not return despite the situation being declared safe.

'We fear we might die,' he said. 'Our village is nearest to Mount Sinabung. In the event of an eruption where would we run to?' 

Yesterday authorities allowed nearly 14,000 people living outside a three-mile danger zone to return home after volcanic activity decreased.

Others living close to the peak have been returning to their homes over the past four months despite the risk.

After today's eruptions all those who had returned have been ordered to move back to evacuation centres.

Engulfed: Officials said the search for survivors was hampered by darkness and the intense heat

Dilemma: Evacuated locals had only been permitted to return home yesterday but today had to leave behind homes and farms as the ash reached further and further down the volcano's slopes

Deadly: Lava and pyroclastic flows have spread from the volcano, killing people up to two miles away

'The death toll is likely to rise as many people are reported still missing and the darkness hampered our rescue efforts,' said Lt. Col. Asep Sukarna, who led the rescue operation.

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Mount Sinabung had been dormant for 400 years until it erupted in 2010, killing at least two people and displacing 30,000 others.

It is now among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia and has sporadically erupted since September.  

But despite volcanos being notoriously hard to predict, it is difficult to keep farmers away because the slopes of the mountains are highly fertile.

In 2010, 324 people were killed over two months when Indonesia's most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, roared into life.

Meanwhile, elsewhere (all reports are from 31 January, 2014

Kavachi undersea volcano (Solomon Islands) erupts

February 1, 2014 – SOLOMON ISLANDS – A submarine eruption is likely occurring at the submerged volcano. A NASA satellite image from 29 Jan shows a plume of discolored sea water swirling and drifting from the location of the volcano. The discoloration is likely from suspended volcanic sediments (the fragmented lava) and gasses. Kavachi is an undersea volcano on the southern edge of the Solomon Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It erupted dozens of times in the 20th century, often breaking the water surface, only to be eroded back below the water line within a few months. Whether the new eruption will break the surface and create another new island remains to be seen. Directly above the undersea peak, a bright patch is visible that suggests vigorously churning water—but there is no sign that the eruption has broken the surface. (NASA) –Volcano Discovery

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2014/02/01/28-kavachi-undersea-volcano-solomon-islands-erupts/

New eruptive phase reported at Ecuador’s Tungurahua Volcano

January 31, 2014 – ECUADOR – A new eruptive phase has begun at the volcano. Since the early morning today, the seismic network detected an increase in earthquakes including signals of small explosions and long-period events and tremor typical for internal fluid movements (gasses and magma). The Tungurahua volcano Observatory while unable to make direct visual observations received reports from observers that fine black ash fell in Pungal and Penipe, and minor amounts in Palictahua. The black color of the ash suggests that it originates from fresh (so called juvenile) magma. The last eruptive phase of Tungurahua was between 6 Oct and 13 Nov past year and consisted in strombolian-vulcanian explosions generating ash columns rising up to 4 km, accompanied by strong shock waves and producing occasional pyroclastic flows. Bursts of moderate to strong intensity tremor characterized seismic activity during that period. Since 13 Nov, activity had decreased markedly and the volcano only showed weak degassing and no signs that could have been interpreted as precursors to the current new activity, IGPEN mentions in its latest bulletin. This implies that the magma that started the current new phase of activity has risen very quickly from a deeper reservoir into the shallow plumbing system of the volcano. In other words, eruptions at Tungurahua can start with little or even no warning. –Volcano Discovery

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/27-new-eruptive-phase-reported-at-ecuadors-tungurahua-volcano/

Shishaldin Volcano’s alert status upgraded after unusual activity

January 31, 2014 – ALASKA – The Alaska Volcano Observatory upgraded the alert level at Shishaldin Volcano in the Aleutian Islands Thursday after seeing some unrest at the summit. AVO scientist Kristi Wallace says the unusual activity at Shishaldin began Wednesday. “Little bit ago, AVO changed the color code at Shishaldin from green to yellow based on increased temperatures at the summit crater of Shishaldin Volcano as well as increased steaming yesterday,” she says. Both of those observations were observed via satellite imagery. Wallace says the observations don’t mean Shishaldin is in imminent danger of eruption. The yellow status just indicates behavior that isn’t normal. Shishaldin is the highest peak in the Aleutians, rising about 9,400 feet above sea level. It’s located on Unimak Island about 100 miles northeast of Unalaska. Shishaldin was last elevated to yellow in 2009, when the same kind of activity occurred. Wallace says that anomaly didn’t result in anything more serious. Historically, though, Shishaldin has been very active: “It’s erupted approximately 28 times since 1775, so in historic times it’s erupted quite frequently, although the eruptions are typically low-level plumes and ash and steam plumes,” Wallace says. “So [it's] not a particularly dangerous volcano, although the eruption that occurred in 1999 did send ash plumes as high as 45,000 feet above sea level.”

Wallace says the AVO is going to keep monitoring Shishaldin for signs of explosions. But the seismic stations closest to the summit aren’t working right now. That means using more distant monitoring points as their main sources of data. “There’s a whole network of stations, so we’re just relying on other stations that are not quite as close to the summit area where we’re seeing the activity,” Wallace says. “Hopefully those will be enough for us to pick up a seismic signal, although this volcano’s not just monitored with a seismic network. We’re still using satellite imagery, and then the infrasound stations which are good at detecting explosion signals.” There are two other volcanoes in the Aleutians currently on a yellow alert. Those are Cleveland, 175 miles southwest of Unalaska, and Veniaminof, northeast of King Cove. –KUCB

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2014/01/31/shishaldin-volcanos-alert-status-upgraded-after-unusual-activity/

Updated onSunday, 02 February 2014 at 12:51:14 AM

February is off to a roaring start another brief post to direct you to the significant explosive eruption going on right now at Ecuador's Tungurahua.

You can see the eruption right now on the IG-EPN webcams and it looks like both an ash column and pyroclastic flows heading towards the Chambo River being generated. Explosions earlier today reached at least 2.5 km / 8,200 feet, but the activity right now looks worse.

Tungurahua had been experiencing heightened earthquake activity for the past few days.

Some reports are now putting the ash plume height at 10 km / ~32,000 feet while the Washington VAAC advisory mentions ash as high as 14 km / 47,000 feet.

According to the official IG-EPN report, pyroclastic flows apparently moved down the slopes of the volcano in all directions as well.

One of our Geoscience majors is in Quito for the semester to study abroad and he mentioned to me he would be in Banos, near Tungurahua, this weekend, so I'm especially concerned about this new massive explosion. It appears that some towns near the volcano were evacuated prior to this new activity.

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/m/?pageid=event_update&edis_id=VE-20140130-42508-ECU&uid=14653