Birgit Schlosser specializes in spare, clean architecture photography, and that aesthetic is also in play in Volcanic Dreamscapes, a new series of works depicting the beauty of sparse volcanic ecosystems. Read the rest
From Kīlauea, where the eruption continues, now with "lava flowing unabated with standing waves."
You can see them to the left of the photo here, taken by a USGS drone over the flow, and in this video:
#KilaueaEruption #LERZ #Fissure8 #lavafountaining, cone building, and lava flowing unabated with standing waves, a full #lava channel & mile-long #oceanentry. #KilaueaErupts pic.twitter.com/rPIDkHLzwp
— USGS Volcanoes? (@USGSVolcanoes) June 14, 2018
Scientific American created this helpful explainer of how the chain of Hawai'ian Islands formed. The tectonic plate is moving northwest over a magma hot spot in the earth's mantle. In fact, there's a new Hawai'ian island named Loihi forming underwater right now. Read the rest
Geologist Jerry Magloughlin made a lava video that's a real labor of love. It describes the marvelous complexity of Hawaiian lava flows, combined with lots of cool footage and interesting facts. Plan on learning many new things. Read the rest
William Russell was fortunate and fast enough to capture footage of Sakajurajima's eruption, but his hand wasn't steady and his lens wasn't wide. Thanks to modern video-editing software, though, and his own extreme patience, Russell could stabilize his shot and superimpose it on a panoramic view of the volcano. The result is quite epic, very machine, and just a little surreal.
Read the restOn March 27th 2018 I was standing near Sakurajima when it erupted spectacularly! The camera I grabbed to film it couldn't zoom out to capture the whole thing so I spent 12 hours learning how to use After Effects to track and stabilise the mess I filmed. Then I put the footage on a picture I'd taken with my phone a minute before it erupted.
It's like something from an expedition to an alien world: "scuba diver attempts to swim in Argentina's Nahuel Huapi Lake, which has been recently covered in ash after the eruption of the Puyehue Volcano in nearby Chile."
The eruption was in 2011. Here's higher-quality video (with loudly clipping wind noise) of the undulating blanket of ash atop the waves:
Here's a clip of ash and pumice washing ashore:
Here's what Nahuel Huapi normally looks like:
Here's a lake covered in dogs:
Good morning 7 pic.twitter.com/OznDTPE4Eq
— Rabih Alameddine (@rabihalameddine) February 18, 2018
Mick Kalber of Paradise Helicopters takes tourists and photographers up over Pu'u 'O'o's lava lake and other remarkable lava flows each week. For those of us who can go up each week with him, he shares a weekly diary of his favorite moments. Read the rest
In this episode, we take on a doomsday future: all the active volcanoes in the world erupt. At the same time. Kaboom. This is not good for us. What happens to humans and our planet? Who survives? How?
Flash Forward: RSS | iTunes | Twitter | Facebook | Web | Patreon | Reddit
We talk about the basics of a volcanic eruption, what makes something an active volcano, and all the terrible things that would happen if all 1,500 active volcanoes erupted at once.
In 1991 the dome of the Unzen Volcano in Japan collapsed. This video captures the pyroclastic flow. The running guy's scream is more chilling than the Wilhelm scream.
From Wikipedia:
Read the restA pyroclastic flow is a fast-moving current of hot gas and rock (collectively known as tephra), which reaches speeds moving away from a volcano of up to 700 km/h (450 mph).[2] The gas can reach temperatures of about 1,000 °C (1,830 °F). Pyroclastic flows normally hug the ground and travel downhill, or spread laterally under gravity. Their speed depends upon the density of the current, the volcanic output rate, and the gradient of the slope. They are a common and devastating result of certain explosive volcanic eruptions.
NOAA just released this awesome NASA image of a volcanic eruption in action. Read the rest
When the volcanic island of Krakatoa erupted in 1883, it "let out a noise louder than any it has made since." Measuring over 172 decibels, it produced "a blast of high pressure air so powerful that it ruptured the eardrums of sailors 40 miles away."
The Sound So Loud That It Circled the Earth Four Times Read the rest
After a peaceful nap three decades long, Mauna Loa seems to be stirring. "While there are no signs of impending eruption, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory has recorded an increased level of seismic activity on the flanks and summit of Mauna Loa over the past 13 months," reports Big Island Now. "Four distinct earthquake swarms — clusters of earthquakes occurring closely in time and location — have occurred since March 2013."
Mauna Loa is "one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi in the Pacific Ocean, [and] the largest subaerial volcano in both mass and volume, historically considered the largest volcano on Earth."
From a Wired Science blog post by Erik Klemetti, assistant professor of Geosciences at Denison University.
As of right now, there is little evidence of deformation or increasing carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide emissions from Mauna Loa — all key signs that an eruption might be about to start at a shield volcano like Mauna Loa. HVO also notes that the earthquake activity is much less intense now that it was in the years just prior to the 1984 activity. Remember, lava flows from Mauna Loa are definitely a hazard for people living between the volcano and Hilo and Hawaii has been preparing for the volcano’s awakening. Nothing is going on right now, but you can get quite a view from the webcams set up at the Mokuʻāweoweo summit area.
Check out the USGS report, and don't miss out on those webcams. Read the rest
Pyroclastic flows are the infamous deadly avalanches of superheated gas and debris that killed thousands at Pompeii and in the 1902 Mount Pelée eruption on Martinique. Now, thanks to a very brave scientist, you can watch a pyroclastic flow up close.
This is one of several videos taken during the recent eruption of Guatemala's Santiaguito (or Santa Maria) volcano. At the Eruptions blog, Erik Klemetti explains the background of how this footage was made, what it shows, and why it's so important.
Read the restSo, when faced with a pyroclastic flow, why would you try to get up close to one? Julio Cornejo, an INSIVUMEH observer from the Santiaguito volcano observatory (OVSAN), did just that to capture some video (see top and below) that has surprised everyone that has seen it. Cornejo was able to film the very far end of a pyroclastic flow generated by the dome collapse at Santiaguito (see above), when it had lost most of its energy but was still moving. At this point a flow is likely still capable of engulfing and suffocating someone in hot ash and gasses, as happened to many people in the 1902 eruption of Mont Pelee. So, Cornejo is very lucky to have made it out alive with this footage, but what he got was remarkable.
Rudiger Escobar Wolf, a volcanology post-doctoral researcher at Michigan Tech who studies volcanoes in Guatemala, posted a sequence of videos from Cornejo and INSIVUMEH and annotated some of the video to understand what we’re seeing. I’ve also watched the video closely and have two here that show some likely never-before-filmed examples of how pyroclastic flows can be destructive even after they slowed to a snail’s pace relative to their usual speed.
[Video Link] There's a video going around that shows a long line of bison trotting down a road in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park. Some people are pointing to this as a sign that the animals are hightailing it out of the park because the Yellowstone volcano is about to blow its top. But in the video above, Yellowstone Park Public Affairs Chief Al Nash explains that the bison and other animals are simply migrating to a lower elevation where they can find food, which they do every year in the dead of winter.
My takeaway from this video was a reminder that I have a box of mouth-watering Bison Bacon Cranberry Bars in my kitchen cabinet. Read the rest
Image: Tom Pfeiffer/Volcano Discovery
Sicily's Mount Etna volcano is currently erupting. The series of explosions began on October 26, but on November 11, the mountain did something rare and nifty. Over the course of several hours it blew out dozens of perfect smoke rings, each hundreds of feet in diameter, including the one pictured here.
It's not the first time Etna has done this. Nobody knows exactly how the rings form, but people have been photographing smoke rings coming from Etna since at least 1970. Volcanologist and tour guide Tom Pfeiffer took this picture, as well as several others that you can see at his Volcano Discovery website. He suspects that the smoke rings are formed when eruptions alter the shape of volcanic vents. Read the rest
Geology blogger Dana Hunter is putting together some resources that will allow you to take yourself on a fantastic tour of America's most famous volcano. Includes maps, suggested background reading, and routes that will ensure you get to see the most interesting spots on the mountain — and learn stuff while doing it! Read the rest
Syracuse University makes its own lava by melting down hunks of basalt. Then, they give school kids the opportunity to toast marshmallows over the top of the fiery goo. Read the rest
