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Sunday, May 17, 2015

VOLCANIC ACTIVITY SPIKES GLOBALLY, DORMANT VOLCANOES AWAKENING

AS OF MAY 15, 2015, 40 VOLCANOES WERE ERUPTING WORLDWIDE, AND SEVERAL 'DORMANT' VOLCANOES HAVE AWAKENED. 

THE HAKONE VOLCANO, DORMANT FOR 800 YEARS IN JAPAN HAS AWAKENED, WITH STEAM PLUMES AND MINOR EARTHQUAKES INCREASING.  

THIS VOLCANO LIES LESS THAN 50 MILES SOUTH OF TOKYO.

AS ALWAYS, THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT SAYS NOT TO FRET OVER THIS...HOWEVER, WITH SEA BED QUAKE ACTIVITY RISING AND OTHER VOLCANOS IN JAPAN ERUPTING, WE HOPE THAT THIS ANCIENT VOLCANO CONTINUES TO EMIT ONLY STEAM AND THAT THINGS SETTLE DOWN FOR JAPAN.

JAPAN TIMES REPORTED MAY 5, 2015,


"The number of volcanic earthquakes recorded in Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture, surged Tuesday, with 98 recorded before 3 p.m. compared with 34 for all of Monday, the Meteorological Agency said. 
The focus of both [largest quakes] was about 10 km (6 miles) underground.
The agency said it still believes the possibility that the Hakone volcano will erupt is low, and it is maintaining the alert level at 1 on the scale of 5. Level 1 means “normal.”
However, hot steam could suddenly be expelled from the ground in or near the popular Owakudani Valley, the agency warned, urging people not to enter areas designated as off-limits.
“Shallow hot-water activity in parts of the Owakudani Valley has become unstable,” the agency said in an advisory.
“There is a possibility that a minor ejection (of hot steam) may suddenly occur,” it said. “Please do not enter danger zones.”
INDEED IT HAS! 


                             (With thanks to Dutchsinse for the dedicated updates.)

ALSO IN JAPAN, MOUNT FUJI IS STILL IN A "CRITICAL STATE" WITH A "HIGH POTENTIAL FOR ERUPTION", ACCORDING TO SCIENTISTS THERE, AS IS SAKAURAJIMA WHICH RECENTLY HAD VIOLENT ERUPTIONS AND PRODUCED OVER 130 ERUPTIONS IN 2014.

GO <HERE> TO SEE THAT THERE IS "UNREST" AND "MINOR ACTIVITY" IN ALL LISTED 'ACTIVE' VOLCANOES THAT ARE NOT CURRENTLY ERUPTING.
THAT SITE HAS AN INTERACTIVE MAP AS WELL AS AN EXTENSIVE LIST OF VOLCANOES AND THEIR CURRENT STATUS.

IN INDONESIA, MOUNT SINABUNG'S TWO MAJOR ERUPTIONS LAST YEAR, INCLUDING ONE IN OCTOBER, DEVASTATED THE AREA. 
IT IS CURRENTLY LISTED AS ERUPTING.

THE GUARDIAN UK, IN MARCH THIS YEAR, LISTED 10 VOLCANOES TO WATCH BECAUSE OF RECENT SIGNS OF UNREST. 


1~ Laguna del Maule (Chile)
Currently inflating at the astonishing rate of 25cm a year, above a growing body of magma just 5km beneath the surface.
2~ Uturuncu (Bolivia)
A 70km-wide bulge that has been growing since the early 1990s could culminate in a gigantic eruption.
3~ Alban Hills (Italy)
Just 20km south-east of Rome, this huge volcano has started to become restless following more than 30,000 quiet years.
4~ Campi Flegrei (Italy)
The archetypal “restless volcano” on the edge of Naples has not erupted since 1538, but has shown worrying signs, on and off, since the 1970s.
5~ Yellowstone (Wyoming, US)
No eruption for around 70,000 years, but congenitally restless.
6~ Mount Fuji (Japan)
Quiet since 1707, but scientists recently warned that the volcano was in a “critical state” with a “high potential for eruption”.
7 ~ Mammoth Mountain (California, USA)
In September 2014, up to 300 small earthquakes a day shook this part of the Long Valley supervolcano.
8~ Askja (Iceland)
Swarms of small earthquakes and a crater-lake that was ice-free last winter hint at magma on the move for the first time since a major blast in 1875.
9~ Mount Paektu (North Korea-China)
In 940 it hosted one of the greatest eruptions of the past 10,000 years; signs of unrest are again evident.
10 ~Cumbre Vieja (La Palma, Canaries)
A collapse of the unstable west flank could spawn a North Atlantic mega-tsunami.
CLOSER TO HOME, DORMANT AMERICAN VOLCANOES AWAKEN.
                (In-depth report by Dutchsinse, first of a two-part presentation.)


OFF THE COAST OF OREGON, AN UNDERSEA VOLCANO HAS BECOME VERY ACTIVE, AND THE BLACK BUTTE VOLCANO IS ALSO SHOWING ACTIVITY.

"After a series of steam plumes erupted from multiple volcanic locations in California, Nevada, and Oregon, late yesterday (April 30, 2015) it has now been confirmed a new undersea volcanic eruption is occurring off the West Coast of the United States, approximately 300 miles West of Central Oregon."




THE CALBUCO VOLCANO IN CHILE HAD NOT ERUPTED SINCE 1972, BUT IT JUST HAD ITS SECOND MAJOR EXPLOSION OF THIS YEAR. 


AS SHOWN ABOVE, TWO DORMANT VOLCANOES IN CALIFORNIA SHOW ACTIVITY BUILDING. 

"After a very strange volcanic plume event in Nevada, a few hours later,  an earthquake struck Central Eastern California along the Nevada border near Red Mountain, Mammoth Mountain, and Inyo Craters."

BUT THEN, TWO DAYS AGO ....


5/15/2015 — FOURTH DORMANT VOLCANO SHOWS EARTHQUAKE ON THE WEST COAST — MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN CALIFORNIA.

"This makes FOUR different dormant volcanoes showing earthquake activity near the 3.0M level along the ENTIRE West coast in just a few hours time.
Mount Hood Volcano (Oregon), Glacier Peak Volcano (Washington State), Markagunt Volcanic plateau (Utah), and now Mammoth Mountain Volcano (California)." 

More early eruption monitors proposed for Mt. Hood
"Volcanic gases are often the earliest indicator of unrest, volcanic unrest," Kelly said. "And so it would allow us to track that."

MOUNT ST. HELENS IS ALSO SHOWING SIGNS OF AWAKENING. 


 "5 miles below the volcano, there are signs that the magma chamber that fueled both eruptions is recharging. Dzurisin said the USGS is focusing on the rate of recharging and whether the magma can compress in the chamber, rather than flowing toward an outlet to the earth's surface."

ICELAND'S BARDABUNGA VOLCANO BEGAN SHOWING SIGNS OF AWAKENING LATE LAST YEAR.
BARDABUNGA (Bárðarbunga) HAD NOT ERUPTED SINCE 1910.


"The Icelandic Meteorological Office said their announcement [last year] that the volcano had experienced a subglacial eruption was wrong.
But the office cautioned in a statement that seismic activity at the volcano, which has been hit by thousands of earthquakes over the past week, was not slowing, and an eruption remained a possibility in coming days.
Two earthquakes measuring over 5 in magnitude — the biggest yet — shook the volcano beneath Iceland's vast Vatnajokull glacier early Sunday. The Met Office recorded earthquakes of 5.3 and 5.1 in the early hours." 
THEY WERE WRONG AGAIN...IT EXPLODED...FOR OVER FIVE MONTHS!  

AND THE CALDERA, IN MARCH, WAS RISING YET AGAIN...



                                                         Bárðarbunga

GREATEST OF THEM ALL LIVES...YELLOWSTONE!

IN APRIL THIS YEAR, THE WASHINGTON POST REPORTED ON THE FINDINGS OF A NEW SURVEY OF YELLOWSTONE. 

IT'S A VERY INTERESTING ARTICLE, HOPE YOU READ IT.
"THIS GIANT VOLCANO IS VERY MUCH ALIVE!"


A new University of Utah study reports discovery of a huge magma reservoir beneath Yellowstone’s previously known magma chamber.The newly discovered reservoir is 4.5 times larger than the chamber above it. There's enough magma there to fill the Grand Canyon. 
"Yellowstone National Park is the home of one of the world's largest volcanoes, one that is quiescent for the moment but is capable of erupting with catastrophic violence at a scale never before witnessed by human beings. In a big eruption, Yellowstone would eject 1,000 times as much material as the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption. This would be a disaster felt on a global scale, which is why scientists are looking at this thing closely."

AS OF TODAY, MAY 17, 2015,  Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion): A new eruption, so far small, began this Sunday at 13:45 from a fissure vent at the the southeast slopes of the Dolomieux crater inside the Enclos next to the Château Fort cone.
An intense seismic crisis with 5-7 earthquakes per minutes started 55 minutes before the onset of the eruption, as magma pushed its way to the surface. A few minutes after the beginning of the quakes, significant deformation of the Dolomieu crater rim could be measured as well.

Villarrica (Central Chile): Mild activity continues - a small lava lake remains active inside the vent of the inner summit crater producing steaming, small strombolian explosions, and related ash emissions. 
A lenticular cloud over the summit this morning was beautifully illuminated by the lava glow.


Although the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii has slightly subsided its recent activity, the alert stands.

TO ALL OF THE ABOVE  WE SHOULD ALSO ADD...

~MOUNT ETNA, ITALY
Etna (Sicily, Italy): Strombolian activity began again today at the New SE crater. Accompanied by rising tremor, this activity is increasing at the moment. 
The current pattern is very similar to many past episodes which often culminated in violent explosive (lava fountaining) and effusive (lava flow) paroxysms and could very well build up to a new one, maybe similar to the previous one during 1-2 Feb this year.


~Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia): Activity at the volcano has increased during the past week. Accompanied by elevated seismic activity, ash emissions have been occurring since 14 April. The strongest phase of activity was on 19 April, when ash plumes rose to estimated 900 meters above the summit.
The Ingeominas volcano observatory in Manizales reported a change in seismicity detected since 12 April, when an increase in volcanic-tectonic (rock-fracturing) signals was detected, signs of pressurization and possible magma intrusion at depth.
~Gorely (Southern Kamchatka): The volcano continues to show intense degassing and elevated seismic activity.
Gorely, one of currently 5 volcanoes at unrest or in eruption in Kamchatka remains at Aviation Color Code yellow, along with Bezymianni and Tolbachik, while currently erupting Shiveluch and Karymsky volcanoes are at orange.  
~Karymsky (Kamchatka): The volcano continues to have sporadic small to medium-sized strombolian-vulcanian explosions from its summit crater. Small ash plumes are regularly being detected on satellite imagery.
~Shiveluch (Kamchatka): Another explosion was reported in 2014. An ash plume rose to estimated 27,000 ft(8 km) altitude.
~Tolbachik (Kamchatka): The volcano continues to be at Aviation Color Code yellow. Moderate seismic activity of the volcano continues. Satellite data showed a weak thermal anomaly over the northern area of Tolbachinsky Dol. 
~Bezymianny (Central Kamchatka): KVERT reported moderate gas-steam activity  observed.  
~Popocatépetl (Central Mexico): The volcano remains at low activity levels with little change, 2 low-intensity emissions of steam and gas in January 2014, and 2 small explosions that produced minor amounts of ash. Crater glow at night is visible.
~Santa María / Santiaguito (Guatemala): Volcanic activity from the active dome remains more or less unchanged both explosive and effusive. The volcano observatory reports small explosions (on average 1-2 per hour), significant degassing, and weak to moderate block avalanches at the active viscous flows on the sides of the Caliente lava dome.
~Pacaya (Guatemala): While explosive activity seems to have ceased, lava effusion from the southern fissure vent at the base of the Mackenney cone continued in 2014 and feeds an active flow field that expands up to 3.6 km from the vent.
Slowly advancing lava flow fronts continue to burn vegetation and have cut, as in 2010, the dirt road between the villages of El Rodeo and Pocitos.
The vent on the NW flank that fed the second large flow during the recent paroxysm is no longer active. Continuous tremor and bluish degassing from the summit accompany this process. According to the latest information of CONRED, the crater floor of the Mackenney cone has collapsed into a deep pit and the active cone at the vent that had been built over the past year has vanished.
~Fuego (Guatemala): A strong continuous seismic signal (probably tremor) suggests an increase in lava effusion could be occurring. Activity had been dominated by frequent small to medium strombolian explosions that eject abundant lava up to about 150 m above the vent, ash plumes up to 1 km high, shock waves felt in up to 10-12 km distance and continuing weak lava effusion on the upper southern flank. Its length yesterday was estimated about 200 m.
~Nevado del Huila (Colombia): A small increase in volcanic-tectonic earthquakes was noted by INGEOMINAS’ volcano observatory in Popayán. A total of 138 seismic events were recorded throughout 2014, out of which 112 were volcanic-tectonic quakes and the remaining 26 events related to fluid movements inside the conduits (long-period quakes and one tremor pulse).
~Machin (Colombia): The volcano continues to be at yellow alert (one of 6 in Colombia) as seismic activity remains elevated, but at low energy levels.
~Galeras (Colombia): Pasto volcano observatory reports in its weekly update persistent low levels in number and energy of seismic events, no new explosions. Two small volcano-tectonic earthquakes occurred on 15 and 20 January with magnitudes of 2.3 and 2.4 on the Richter scale.



OTHER SOURCES: 

~VOLCANO DISCOVERY.COM
http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcanoes/today.html

~USGS VOLCANO HAZARDS SITE
https://volcanoes.usgs.gov/


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