Global Volcano Watch

October 17, 2011 – BUENOS AIRES - Argentina and Uruguay both suspended flights at major airports Sunday due to dangerous ash from neighboring Chile’s Puyehue volcano, which has disrupted global travel since it erupted earlier this year. Jorge Newbery airport in Buenos Aires suspended all flights on Sunday because of the presence of ash from neighboring Chile’s Puyehue volcano, which disrupted global travel when it erupted earlier this year. “We need the ash cloud to pass” before the airlines operating out of the airport, which serves domestic and regional flights, resume their operations, Transport Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi told local television. The city’s other major airport, Ezeiza, in the southern suburbs, was however still open for international flights, the official said. Argentina’s LAN airline said in a statement that domestic flights were most affected, including routs to Mendoza on the steps of the Andes Mountains toward the Chilean border, and Ushuaia in the far south. Air traffic in the southern hemisphere has been hit hard in recent months, paralyzing airports in Buenos Aires and Montevideo and later those in Australia and New Zealand, when the volcano high in the Andes roared back to life in June after sleeping dormant for half a century. Sine June most airports in Argentina have been forced into shutdowns at some point due to dangerous ash clouds threatening the safety of commercial airliners. The ash cloud also dampened hopes of a good tourist season at the Argentine skiing resort of Bariloche, some 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) southwest of Buenos Aires and just 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of Puyehue, as flights were cancelled and pristine snow was darkened by the spewing volcano. -Telegraph

This is just peachy. These quakes are situated right behind our home. However, everyone here is voting that Mauna Kea is just settling.

October 20, 2011 – HAWAII – Since early yesterday (Hawaii time), the volcano has experienced at least 38 earthquakes, some as large at M 4.5, all centered NW of the main summit of Mauna Kea, all at depths between 14-19 km, all below the crust under the Big Island. This is what a suspicious swarm looks like, where we have a strong focus of seismicity at depth under an active volcano – the question now is how persistent will this swarm be. More likely than not, these earthquakes will lead to nothing – and HVO says these earthquakes are “most likely caused by structural adjustments within the Earth’s crust due to the heavy load of Mauna Kea”. Remember, Mauna Kea is a huge point weight on the crust and upper mantle below Hawai’i, towering over 4,200 m / 13,800 feet above the surrounding seafloor, so a lot of stress can accumulate from the mass of the volcano. This means earthquakes are likely common as that stress builds. Remember, Kilauea and Mauna Loa are not the only active volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Haulalai last erupted as recently as 1801, while Mauna Kea, the 2nd oldest shield volcano on the island last erupted only 4,470 years ago.

Mauna Kea volcano: Standing 4,205 m (13,796 ft) above sea level, its peak is the highest point in the state of Hawaii. However, much of the mountain is under water; when measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is over 10,000 m (33,000 ft) tall—significantly taller than Mount Everest. Mauna Kea is one of five hotspot volcanoes that form the island of Hawaii, the largest and youngest island of the Hawaiian-Emperor seamount chain. Of these five volcanoes, Mauna Kea is the fourth oldest and fourth most active. Like all Hawaiian volcanoes, Mauna Kea has been created by the Hawaiian hotspot, as the Pacific tectonic plate has moved over a hotspot in the Earth’s underlying mantle. -Wikipedia


Magma plume thermal kineticism is a sign the Earth is now moving towards the spectrum of catastrophic geological upheavel- a epochal shift that will have profound implications for all life forms on the planet.

October 20, 2011 – BOLIVIA - Should anyone ever decide to make a show called “CSI: Geology,” a group of scientists studying a mysterious and rapidly inflating South American volcano have got the perfect storyline. Uturuncu is a nearly 20,000-foot-high (6,000 meters) volcano in southwest Bolivia. Scientists recently discovered the volcano is inflating with astonishing speed. “I call this ‘volcano forensics,’ because we’re using so many different techniques to understand this phenomenon,” said Oregon State University professor Shan de Silva, a volcanologist on the research team. Researchers realized about five years ago that the area below and around Uturuncu is steadily rising — blowing up like a giant balloon under a wide disc of land some 43 miles (70 kilometers) across. Satellite data revealed the region was inflating by 1 to 2 centimeters (less than an inch) per year and had been doing so for at least 20 years, when satellite observations began. “It’s one of the fastest uplifting volcanic areas on Earth,” de Silva told OurAmazingPlanet. “What we’re trying to do is understand why there is this rapid inflation, and from there we’ll try to understand what it’s going to lead to.” The peak is perched like a party hat at the center of the inflating area. ”It’s very circular. It’s like a big bull’s-eye,” said Jonathan Perkins, a graduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who recently presented work on the mountain at this year’s Geological Society of America meeting in Minneapolis. Scientists figured out from the inflation rate that the pocket of magma beneath the volcano was growing by about 27 cubic feet (1 cubic meter) per second. “That’s about 10 times faster than the standard rate of magma chamber growth you see for large volcanic systems,” Perkins told OurAmazingPlanet. “It’s not a volcano that we think is going to erupt at any moment, but it certainly is interesting, because the area was thought to be essentially dead,” de Silva said. Uturuncu is surrounded by one of the most dense concentrations of super-volcanoes on the planet, all of which fell silent some 1 million years ago.

Super-volcanoes get their name because they erupt with such power that they typically spew out 1,000 times more material, in sheer volume, than a volcano like Mount St. Helens. Modern human civilization has never witnessed such an event. The planet’s most recent super-volcanic eruption happened about 74,000 years ago in Indonesia. These eruptions are thought to have not only a local and regional impact, but potentially a global impact,” de Silva said. Uturuncu itself is in the same class as Mount St. Helens in Washington State, but its aggressive rise could indicate that a new super-volcano is on the way, or not? De Silva said it appears that local volcanoes hoard magma for about 300,000 years before they blow — and Uturuncu last erupted about 300,000 years ago. “So that’s why it’s important to know how long this has been going on,” he said. If this is a super-volcano, it could be one of the largest on the planet. –Our Amazing Planet

October 19, 2011 – RENO, NV. – A swarm of more than 700 earthquakes have struck near the small Sierra County, Calif., community of Sierraville since August, although there’s a good chance few if any of the quakes have been felt. There have been more than 30 quakes of a magnitude 1 or more in the last week, the largest being about 1.8, said Ken Smith, seismic network manager for the Nevada Seismological Lab. But the quakes are so deep — most are 18 miles below the surface or more — and so minor Smith thinks they have little chance of being felt at the surface. They are centered about 2 miles west of Sierraville and 31 miles west of Reno. Seismologists can’t say with certainty yet what is happening, but appears the quakes are being caused by moving magma. The earth is basically divided into layers of the crust, the mantle and the core with the temperature getting hotter the deeper the depth. Smith said the ground in this area is constantly in motion, moving about 14 millimeters a year. Because of that motion, it appears magma found a way to flow from the mantle, the middle area, to the crust, the upper area. “The upper mantle in this region has a lot of magma in it,” Smith said. “Sometimes it finds a way to work its way into the lower crust or the crustal-mantle plate. … As everything is moving around, they have an opportunity to inject magma into places where it can.” These quakes appear similar to the swarm of quakes that struck under Lake Tahoe in 2003, which were later determined likely to be deep magma injection, Smith said. This magma — called lava as soon as it reaches the earth’s surface — is not associated with the Lassen Volcano to the north, he said. While it’s not going to end up as a volcanic eruption, it could deform the earth’s crust and set the stage for an earthquake — but not any time soon. A similar swarm occurred in the Sierra region in 2009, but this one is stronger. –RGJ

http://www.rgj.com/article/20111014/NEWS/111014035/Swarm-700-plus-quakes-Sierra-30-miles-west-Reno-no-one-s-feeling-them

October 20, 2011 – SAMOA – An underwater volcano bursting with glowing lava bubbles — the deepest active submarine eruption seen to date — is shedding light on how volcanism can impact deep-sea life and reshape the face of the planet. Submarine eruptions account for about three-quarters of all of Earth’s volcanism, but the overlying ocean and the sheer vastness of the seafloor makes detecting and observing them difficult. The only active submarine eruptions that scientists had seen and analyzed until now were at the volcano NW Rota-1, near the island of Guam in the western Pacific. Now researchers have witnessed the deepest active submarine eruption yet. The volcano in question, West Mata, lies near the islands of Fiji in the southwestern Pacific in the Lau Basin. Here, the rate of subduction — the process in which one massive tectonic plate dives under another, typically forming chains of volcanoes — is the highest on Earth, and the region hosts ample signs of recent submarine volcanism. “It was absolutely stunning and exciting, something we’d never seen on the seafloor before,” researcher Joseph Resing, an oceanographer at the University of Washington in Seattle, told OurAmazingPlanet. This submarine eruption is the deepest seen yet, about 2,200 feet (700 m) deeper than NW Rota-1. This was deeper than scientists had expected to see explosive eruptions. Water pressure goes up the further down you go, “so as pressure goes up, the ability of gas as it comes out of magma to cause explosions is diminished, and the thought was that you wouldn’t get explosive eruptions below about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet),” Resing said. Eruptions at centers of ocean floor spreading — where the majority of eruptions on Earth happen — generally seem to occur in relatively short episodes lasting hours to months, but West Mata appears to have erupted near continuously since it was first observed in 2008. This might be because magma is focused there, instead of being spread across many volcanoes at once. “However, this is a question that we don’t currently know the answer to,” Resing said. –OAP

Mount Etna, Europe's highest and most active volcano, erupted for several hours late on Sunday, lighting up the sky over Sicily with a display of flames and lava. Sparks lit the night sky and a small stream of lava was flowing down the volcano into an uninhabited valley, but there was no danger to villages lower down on the slopes, officials said. The wind blew volcanic ash onto several villages. Etna erupts regularly but usually causes little damage to inhabited areas.

El Hierro Volcano (Canary Islands) : Red alert – revealing new RapidEye satellite images
Last update: October 25, 2011 at 10:59 am by By Armand Vervaeck and James Daniell

http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

Update 24/10 – 22:35 UTC: Earthquake-Report.com is disappointed that the Ramon Margalef is not openly communicating on what is observed. El Pais wrote a couple of hours ago “Por su parte, los 10 científicos pertenecientes a la tripulación del buque oceanográfico Ramón Margalef continúa en la zona de las Calmas en donde tienen previsto estudiar la erupción submarina con la ayuda de un vehículo submarino de observación remota.” Translated, it means that the 10 scientists are continuing their observation of the Las Calmas sea with the help of the remotely operated robot. Why all this secrecy? People are constantly criticizing politicians but they are at least open communicators at El Hierro. We hope that the Margalef scientists will have a meeting with the Pevolca committee tomorrow, will explain the results of their findings and will also show the first video footage from the ROV, even at a distance from the supposed fissure (where water quality and temperature allows the ROV to dive).

Update 24/10 – 16:38 UTC: The red bullets on the picture at right are the epicenters of the volcanic earthquakes of the last 2 days. People living at Frontera would probably getting nervous now, but there is no reason for it at the moment, as the earthquakes hypo-centers are deep enough to be secure. PEVOLCA is watching the evolution carefully and if the earthquakes would become shallower, they will certainly act swiftly.

Update 24/10 – 16:33 UTC: After waiting so long for the ROV to start investigating the seafloor of the Mar de las Calmas, we (and our readers) are disappointed for not seeing the results of it.

A couple of months ago, we have been looking at the live HD video pictures of the Ropos ROV diving to the axial seamount in front of the Oregon coast. The ROV was installing instruments and checking cables to be ready for the next eruption of the underwater volcano. This is a 2’26″ highlights example video of the axial seamount dive (many more here).

Unless we missed it (possible, as we were very busy with the Turkish earthquake yesterday), we haven’t seen any results of the Ramon Margalef’s Liporos 2000 dives so far.

Update 24/10 – 16:10 UTC: Scientists have denied the rumors that the Las Calmas Jacuzzi was reactivated. They also said that there is no specific reason to predict a new activity phase.

Update 24/10 – 15:27 UTC: Alpidio Armas, the president of El Hierro has explained that the current situation may go on a lot longer than hoped for. He said to the population of El Hierro that they should stay calm because “we will have to live a bit longer with the present situation“.

Update 24/10 – 15:20 UTC: IGN, the Spanish seismological service has said that the risk on an explosive eruption in the Las Calmas sea is no longer seen as realistic. Reason : see our 15:18 update

El Hierro - El Golfo Bay and Frontera

Update 24/10 – 15:18 UTC: The scientists are investigating more and more the El Golfo / Frontera area as the epicenter of most of the earthquakes has shifted to the North West. We are repeating this already a couple of days, so for ER it does not come as a surprise. This part of the island looks like a half moon crater from the air. We have however not found any evidence that is was the old crater.
Data update 24/10 – 12:48 UTC: Nothing special to report on the data scene. Constant harmonic tremor, 8 more earthquakes listed at IGN (all epicenters below El Golfo) and almost all M 2.0 or above.

Data update 24/10 – 07:31 UTC: IGN reported 62 volcanic earthquakes in total yesterday, up from 50 the day before. So far today we noticed 12 quakes who are gradually getting stronger. 7 tremors were M2 or greater! The depth is however at a safe 16.4 to 25 km. Almost all of the epicenters were located in the El Golfo / Frontera bay, in other words this is the area where the magma is most active at the moment.

Catch of the day - instead of fish, erupted volcano stones (the discussion goes on whether it is fresh lava of older ejected seabed stones) - image Joke Volta

Update 23/10 – 23:06: Overview of the most important points from today:
- the colored stain in the Las Calmas sea was not as outspoken as last week, also NO jacuzzi
- The number of volcanic earthquakes is still increasing : The first 20 hours of the day we have counted 58 earthquakes, the most since October 10. They are not only increasing in number but also in strength.
- The epicenter of the vast majority of the earthquakes has continued to be in the El Golfo / Frontera area.
- We noticed 1 earthquake at 7 km depth today.
- The strongest earthquake today was a 3.0 earthquake!
- If the earthquakes continue to become stronger, it cannot be excluded that the Los Roquillos tunnel will be closed again
- Harmonic tremor have increased slightly but has been more or less stable all day long.

Update 23/10 – 23:03: The video below is from a flight over of the supposed eruption area. The water is indeed colored but not as distinguished as last week.

Update 23/10 – 09:44 UTC: The safety committee has decided to overfly the supposed eruption spot this morning to find out what is really happening.
Important Update 23/10 – 09:42 UTC: Canarias7 is reporting that the Las Calmas Jacuzzi is active again. The colored stain seems to renew also. But contrary to what could be expected, the jacuzzi does not follow the shifting of the earthquakes but came to life again in the La Restinga area (bad news for the La Restinga fisherman) (News to be confirmed by a second source).

Update 23/10 – 09:30 UTC: From midnight today until 07:02 UTC we have counted 42 earthquakes already! Not only the number is climbing again, also the strength is gradually increasing. The strongest one occurred at 04:52 UTC and measured M 3.0 (long time ago that we have seen a 3). Almost all of the tremors are situated in the El Golfo – Frontera area.

Update 23/10 – 08:08 UTC: - The number of volcanic earthquakes has climbed yesterday to 40, compared to 31 the day before
- The Ramon Margalef (the ship carrying the underwater robot) is finally on his way to his final destination: El Hierro.
- @ Earthquake-Report.com, we expect to see some great video (hopefully Live like the Nautilus dives) from the eruption of a limited number of minor vents. Although the Ramon Margalef said before that he is not able to come near the a major eruption fissure, we believe that he will still see some action at the bottom of the sea.

Update 23/10 : GeoLurking, a volcano follower specialized in plotting the volcanic earthquakes and deformation based on data he can get in the open source environment, published a new 4-D plot late last night with updated information from the spacial location of all earthquakes since October 4. The progressive shifting of the epicenters towards the El Golfo – Frontera area can well be seen on this plot. Also the depth is a major factor in his plot. It clearly shows that the earthquake activity is still far away from the seafloor and island surface.

October 25, 2011 – COSTA RICA – An earthquake registering 4.0 on the Richter scale shook the area of Sarapiqui, Vara Blanca and Venecia on Sunday. The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (OVSICORI) – national volcano and seismology observatory – reported the epicentre 10 kilometers north of the Barva volcano, with a depth of 7.5 kilometers, caused by a local fault. In January 2009, a 6.2 earthquake in Vara Blanca, in between the Barva and Poás volcanoes claimed the lives of 13 people. –Inside Costa Rica

Barva Volcano, sometimes called “Las Tres Marias “is an andesitic shield complex in central Costa Rica 22 km north of San José, in the province of Heredia. It sits on the small agricultural community of Sacramento. Barva has a dozen different eruptive spots in the summit and some parasitic cones in the flanks of the mountain. Its three principal summits visible from the Central Valley give it the common local name of Las Tres Marías (The Three Marys). Four pyroclastic cones are constructed within the 2 x 3 km caldera at the central and NW part of the summit. The SW peak contains four cones, one of which has a crater lake. The volcano has not presented any eruptive activity since colonial times. Eruptions were reported around 1760 but later visits to the summit did not provide evidence of eruptions during historical time. –Wikipedia

October 24, 2011 – TURKEY – Turkish seismologists fear that the earthquakes that hit the province of Van on October 23 can cause eruption of Nemrut volcano located northwards of Lake Van. Mt. Nemrut is near Tatvan, a small town in the eastern Anatolian province of Bitlis. The mountain rises from the southwestern shore of Lake Van, and enters the district of Ahlat to the north. At least 217 were killed and more than 1,000 people injured when a powerful earthquake struck Turkey, collapsing dozens of buildings and pulling down phone and power lines in the southeast of the country, officials and witnesses said. More than 1,000 people are feared killed in the earthquake. Another magnitude 6.1 earthquake, which was the second to rock the country in the past 24 hours, was registered about 20 km (12 miles) from the city of Van at the depth of some 10 km (6.2 miles). -PanArmenian

Nemrut (Turkish: Nemrut Dağı, Armenian: Սարակն Kurdish: Çiyayê Nemrud) is a dormant volcano in Eastern Turkey, close to Lake Van. The volcano is named after King Nimrod who is said to have ruled this area in about 2100 BC. It is 3,050 m (10,007 ft) high and its elliptic caldera has a diameter of about 7 by 8 km (4 by 5 mi). The western part of the caldera contains a large coldwater crater lake about 155 m (509 ft) deep. There is also a small warm lake whose temperature reaches 60 °C (140 °F), providing evidence of continuing volcanic activity. Nemrut last erupted in 1692. – Wikipedia source

October 26, 2011 – JAKARTA, Indonesia — A volcano in central Indonesia has erupted, spewing hot smoke and ash thousands of feet into the air. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Mount Lokon, located on northern Sulawesi island, had been dormant for years before rumbling back to life several months ago. Surono, a government volcanologist who uses only one name, says it unleashed two strong eruptions at 5:19 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. They were preceded by several smaller blasts hours earlier. Mount Lokon is one of about 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 240 million people. Its last major eruption in 1991 killed a Swiss hiker and forced thousands of people to flee their homes. –Huffington Post

October 27, 2011 – CHILE – The National Service of Geology and Mining (SERNAGEOMIN) – Volcano Observatory of the Southern Andes (OVDAS), announced that from the early hours of last night there has been increased seismic activity related to the Hudson volcano. At 19:08 local time, an earthquake Volcano-tectonic (VT), magnitude (ML) equal to 4.6 located 7 km to the NW edge of the caldera, at a depth of 19 km, which was followed by the occurrence of a seismic swarm starting at 21:49 hrs, includes more than 100 seismic events recorded until the time of this report, whose depths range from 15 to 25 km. It notes that 15 events recorded magnitudes (ML) greater than 3.0 and three (3) of these magnitudes (ML) greater than 4.0, all characterized by having more to do with broken rock (VT) at 00: local 20 hours today, Wednesday, October 26, an earthquake associated with fluid movement and characterized by very low frequency (long period – VLP), located in the same area at a depth of 15 km, with a magnitude (ML) equal to 4.3. The seismic swarm continues at the time of issuance of this report with less intensity. The preceding activity indicates that the volcanic system has experienced changes in their dynamics, possibly associated magmatic activity at depth, which in the future the system can lead to imbalance. –Sernageomin translated

Pre-eruption: The Chilean authorities decided to raise the alert level to red and preventive evacuations in an area of ​​40 kilometers around Mount Hudson. The column emission from the eruption reached 1 km in height. The information was confirmed this afternoon from Vice President Rodrigo Hinzpeter Onemi, from where he said he “cannot rule out an eruption,” so it was decided to evacuate people living in that radius.” An over-flight of the area showed a column of smoke and gases out of the cone of the Hudson. In addition, there were some signs of an avalanche in the vicinity. –Diarioandino

Hudson’s explosive history: “Large eruptions around 4750 BCE and 1890 BCE are believed to have been of Volcanic Explosivity Index VEI 6; these are probably responsible for the large caldera. The 4750 BCE eruption may have wiped out many if not all groups of early man living in central Patagonia at that time, based on evidence from the Los Toldos archaeological site. Before 1970, little was known about the mountain. Minor eruptive activity began in 1970 and melted parts of the glacier, raising river water levels and leading to the identification of the caldera. In August-September 1971, a moderate eruption (VEI 3) located in the northwest area of the caldera sent ash into the air and caused lahars from the melting of a large portion of the glacier. The lahars killed five people; many more were evacuated. It’s last eruption in August to October 1991 was a large plinian eruption with a VEI of 5, that ejected 4.3 km3 bulk volume (2.7 cubic km of dense rock equivalent material). Parts of the glacier melted and ran down the mountain as mud flows. Due to the remoteness of the area, no humans were killed but hundreds of people were evacuated from the vicinity. Ash fell on Chile and Argentina as well as in the South Atlantic Ocean and on the Falkland Islands. In addition to the ash, a large amount of sulfur dioxide gas and aerosols were ejected in the eruption. These contributed to those already in the atmosphere from the even larger Mount Pinatubo eruption earlier in the year and helped cause a worldwide cooling effect over the following years. Ozone was also depleted, with the Antarctic ozone hole growing to its largest levels ever recorded in 1992 and 1993.” -Wikipedia

October 27, 2011 – CANARY ISLANDS – It hasn’t yet reached the surface, but residents of the Canary Islands have taken to the internet to suggest names for a potential new islet. There are already more than 500 suggestions. Favorites include “The Discovery,” “Atlantis” and “The Best.” To the south of El Hierro, the earthquakes suggest persistent outbursts of lava, according to the ITER research institute on Tenerife. They show a pattern that is typical for flowing liquid, a so-called harmonic volcanic tremor. Presumably, there are constant small eruptions on the ocean floor. But the lava usually clogs the fissure quickly after such eruptions, forcing further magma to seek new channels — exactly what seems to be happening now. In recent days, however, some unsettling measurements have been recorded: The shaking has moved to the north. Because most of the earthquakes in that area have, up until now, occurred at depths of more than ten kilometers, an eruption is not expected in the area, the local authorities have said. The magma seems to be contained in the depths thus far. If the lava was being spewed in shallower water, there would be a danger of large steam explosions, says to Ramon Ortiz, the science advisor to the local government. But there are no fears of large eruptions on land according to Spain’s National Geographic Institute (IGN). The only risk is in the immediate vicinity of the eruption site, where there may be lava flows and rocks flung into the air. Recent volcanism in the Canary Islands is not well known,” says a report in the “Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences” journal by researchers at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Barcelona, led by Rosa Sobradelo. Nonetheless, advice on the potential dangers is being dispensed by the authorities on El Hierro as well as in the rest of the Canary Islands. The risk of large, explosive eruptions in the Canary Islands, however, “should not be neglected,” Sobradelo and her colleagues insist in their study. The frequency of their occurrence cannot currently be estimated. But even the most momentous outbursts of the past few centuries remained localized. –Der Speigel

Hudson volcano eruption (Chile) – Red Alert : Overview report October 27/28 + video
Last update: October 28, 2011 at 2:28 pm by By Armand Vervaeck


Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3L5QN28fh4&feature=player_embedded

Initial comment : Cerro Hudson volcano, a Southern Andean volcano located in the border area in between Chile and Argentina (click here to see the map) has started a minor eruption.

SERNAGEOMIN, the Chilean authority who is guarding the activity of the volcanoes has increased the alert level from 3 to 5 (Red Alert). Onemi, the Chile government organization who is coordinating all actions to protect people and infrastructure from being damages /injured has called the RED alert for the following localities : Aysén, Río Ibáñez and Chile Chico in the Aysén area.

Both organizations will of course follow up the situation of Cerro Hudson 24 hours on 24 and 7 days on 7. Due to the remote location of this volcano, the reporting from the eruptions will be far less than it was the case with the Puyehue – Cordón Caulle

Update October 28 – 14:24
In a report published at Buenos Aires at 13:30 yesterday (16:30 UTC), the regional VAAC (Volcanic Ash Advisory Committee) has confirmed a gas/steam column with low ash content above the Hudson volcano. The eruption cloud was observed between 1000 to 4000 m height. There was no sign outpouring of lava.

Update October 28 – 12:59 UTC :
- Images taken during flights from emergency agencies, SERNAGEOMIN staff and local authorities revealed the presence of three (3) craters located on the southern edge – southeast of the caldera with approximate diameters of 300, 200 and 500 meters. 2 of the craters were emitting mostly white steam/gas columns, the third (largest) crater was emitting a combination of ash and steam/gases to a max. height of 5.5 km. Satellite images have measured the plume to be 12 km in length.

- The OMI website discovered a sulfur dioxide concentration around the volcano at 16:00 local time.
Update October 28 – 12:56 UTC :
- In consideration of the current characteristics of the eruption, an exclusion zone of 45 km radius around the crater has been set.

- SERNAGEOMIN has calculated with their theorectical models that an eruption column of 10 to 16 km will lead to considerable ashfall to the North East (Friday and Saturday).

http://earthquake-report.com/2011/10/27/chilean-authorities-are-raising-hudson-volcano-cerro-hudson-to-red-alert-after-minor-eruption/

And for the good news, my volcano remains dormant...

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



Note: While Wikipedia states there is no public access to the peaks, this just changed this fall. The County purchased the peaks and at least one of them is open for hiking (on trails that do not go through someone's marijuana patch -- the stuff is right in front of ya and ya can't see it!).

Mount Konocti
A Most Treasured Peak

According to Pomo Indian legend, a beautiful maiden who lived on Mount Konocti created Soda Bay at its foot with tears she shed over the deaths of her feuding father and lover. Today, Soda Bay still bubbles with volcanic gases at the foot of Mt. Konocti, which rises to 4,300 feet in elevation. The Clear Lake Volcanic Field consists of some seven once-active volcanic vents.

The name “Konocti” has mysterious origins. Though European settlers attempted to change Mt. Konocti’s name to “Uncle Sam Mountain” in 1854, the original name has endured. Several Indian tribes inhabited the area more than 11,000 years ago, and though they were all of the Pomo Nation, they spoke several languages native to their own tribes. Konocti means “big rock” in one Pomo language; another tribe credits Chief Konocti with creating the mountain. The most favored translation is “Mountain Woman,” from the Pomo word, “Knoktai,” of which “Kno” means “mountain” and “Hatai” means “woman” in one tribe’s language. An essential part of Pomo spirituality, Mt. Konocti is still sacred to Native Americans.

Mt. Konocti’s surface varies with elevation and exposure. The south slope of the mountain is covered with 12 square miles of black obsidian. At the bottom of the north face, a Douglas fir forest is dense and cool. The first homesteader’s cabin on the mountain, built by Mary Downen in 1903, still stands. Orchards and vineyards thrive in the volcanic soil in a multitude of microclimates, and a grove of ancient maul oaks near the summit date back more than 500 years.

At night, a beacon atop the dark mountain announces its presence, and in daylight, it is possible to view Mt. Konocti’s very own weather system create wispy clouds, high winds, or winter snow flurries. Changes in barometric pressure cause gusts of air to move into and out of the mountain’s vents. Though some locals believe huge catacombs exist within, only small caves have been found. The Pomos have handed down stories of throwing carved sticks into Mt. Konocti’s crater and later finding them floating in the lake.

Mt. Konocti is the stunning backdrop for nearly every scene around Clear Lake. Lake County recently purchased 1520 acres on the top of Mount Konocti, placing much of the mountain into public hands for perpetuity. Lands for many purposes - for reflection, for hiking, for enjoying nature. Mount Konocti County Park is scheduled to open in 2011. Visit Preserve Konocti or www.konoctitrails.com for more information.

http://www.lakecounty.com/AboutLC/Explore/Konocti.htm

Mt. Konocti Open to the Public Beginning Sept. 24, 2011

http://www.konoctitrails.com/project-updates/mtkonoctiopentothepublicbeginningsept24-1

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El Hierro Volcano (Canary Islands) : Red alert – Strongest earthquake since October 8
Last update: October 30, 2011 at 9:47 am by By Armand Vervaeck and James Daniell

Based on all what follows Earthquake-Report.com predicts that PEVOLCA will meet very soon. Main reason : The increasing strength of the earthquakes.

- The strongest earthquake since October 8 (a M 4.4 quake at the time), now a Magnitude 3.9 quake, occurred at 07:46 this morning in the El Golfo bay. Its epicenter was close to the Frontera coast line. The 4.4 earthquake on October 8 was the start of a number of events like the beginning of harmonic tremor and the start of the green stain (eruption) soon after. The depth is still a secure 22 km. Some scientists are linking however the magma area below the El Golfo to the still continuing eruption to the south of La Restinga. These are however speculations who cannot be proofed.

- At earthquake-report.com we do not consider quakes up to Magnitude 5 as dangerous for houses, although indirect damage can be triggered by rockfall and landslides in mountainous areas like El Hierro. Authorities will certainly follow up the El Hierro landscape scars when the quakes get again to Magnitudes 4 to 5. This will be a major concern for the El Hierro authorities from now on.

http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

November 4, 2011 – CANARY ISLANDS – A 3.8 magnitude earthquake occurred at 13.41 hours, in latitude 27.7886, longitude -18.0469 with an estimated depth of 21 kilometers, in line with those that occurred during late Thursday night and Friday morning. In this way, and during the day Friday, El Hierro has produced a total of 24 earthquakes- the 3.8 that has been the strongest. Fear of new and powerful earthquakes continues to spread in El Hierro. This morning, the island has recorded twelve new earthquakes, which have ranged from 2 to 3 degrees of intensity, as reported Canarias 7 citing National Geographic Institute. Meanwhile, on Thursday, the direction of Civil Protection Plan for Volcanic Risk said Border seismic events correspond to the stage of La Restinga underwater eruption, which began on 10 October. Specifically, there have been twelve new earthquakes that have had an intensity of 2 to 3 degrees as reported by sources of IGN Canarias 7 newspaper. On Thursday, officials of the Civil Protection Plan for Volcanic Risk assured the public that the latest seismic events, which have intensified in recent days, corresponds to the scene of the submarine eruption of La Restinga, which began on 10 October. Also, the direction of PEVOLCA recalled that no risk to the population, but that all resources are on Civil Protection. -Telecinos

November 10, 2011 – CANARY ISLAND – Spain’s Civil Protection for Volcanic Risk has closed two beaches on the island of El Hierro in the Canary Islands because of potentially toxic gasses emanating from an underwater volcano off the island’s shore. The decision came after a technician from the country’s National Geographic Institute had to seek medical treatment after he was taken ill while measuring carbon dioxide levels there the previous day, Spanish TV reported. Authorities on the island insist there is no major risk for the population. In the nearby village of La Restinga, one resident said he noticed unusual behavior from a member of the local feline population, which was scavenging along the shoreline. “We were looking at a cat that was eating in these pools, and the fish in them were dead. We thought the cat was some rare breed, and was it normal that he was eating dead fish,” the man said. The island has experienced hundreds of low intensity earthquakes due to volcanic activity. Witnesses say that explosions from the underwater volcano sometimes blasted 25 meters above sea level. -Telegraph




November 11, 2011 – INDONESIA - The arrival of the rainy season has triggered the time-bomb experts have long feared: volcanic mudflows comprised of millions of tons of ash and debris blanketing Merapi’s slopes after last year’s eruptions. The impact is spreading this week. Mudflows are affecting not just residents of Sleman’s north and east, but those in the west as well as the Progo River threatens Kisik 1 village, which sits about 1.2 kilometers from its edge. The river has experienced extreme shallowing due to the sedimentation of ash. Volcanic mud has repeatedly spilled over its banks and flooded residents’ homes, gardens and rice fields. Past experience has made Kisik 1 resident Samirin wary. “If there’s mudflow in the Putih and Krasak rivers, it is bound to end up in the Progo River,” he said. “Almost all the levees are damaged or have been washed away. Even the east bank of the river, which was four meters high, has been washed out.” Residents said Kisik 1 has been hit by five mudflows already this year, damaging homes and smothering rice fields and gardens in sand. Village official Isdiyanto said a significant area had been affected. “Around six hectares of rice fields failed to bear harvest as a result of the flooding,” he said. Widi Sutikno, who heads the water resources agency in Sleman, said addressing the mudflows was difficult because of limited funding. “The best solution may be to construct retaining walls, but we don’t have the money,” Widi said. –The Jakarta Globe

November 14, 2011 – HAWAII – Eight small earthquakes rocked Kilauea Volcano after the lava lake at the summit caldera dropped in elevation Sunday, U.S. geologists reported. But that seismic shaking was actually below normal levels, they said. The strongest quake was a magnitude 3.3 at 2:16 a.m. Sunday. At Puu Oo, meanwhile, a “skylight” in the pahoehoe (smooth, ropy lava) field showed a tube transporting lava on the southeast flank to active flows about three miles to the south. The active lava flows are within the Kahauale‘a Natural Area Reserve, which remains closed to the public because of various hazards — including potentially lethal concentrations of sulfur dioxide — so they are visible only from the air. But the glow from the vents and flows can be seen from the Hawaii County viewing area at Kalapana if weather conditions are right, said scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey. There were no active ocean entries on Sunday. At the Kilauea summit caldera, the surface of the lava lake, about 500 feet in diameter, has been fluctuating between about 230 feet to 490 feet below the floor of Halemaumau Crater, scientists said on the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory website. It’s now about 330 feet down, according to Jim Kauahikaua, scientist in charge. The vent has been mostly active since opening with a small explosion on March 19, 2008. –Star Advertiser

November 14, 2011 – EL HIERRO – An underwater volcano near El Hierro in the Canary Islands has begun erupting near the shore, reports Reuters. The eruptions may be spectacular, but officials have also noticed that the volcano is spewing toxic gases into the air around the island. After a worker studying the volcano became ill, several of the island’s beaches were closed. In the video, a local explains that the volcano is also making the island’s cats act strangely and eat dead fish. The volcano, which is just over 200 feet from the surface, began erupting a week ago. The Daily Mail reports the eruption began with a 4.3-magnitude earthquake. According to the International Business Times, the volcano is shooting magma 65 feet into the air. The eruption is the first in the Canaries since 1971 and locals are already speculating that it may create a new island. Despite the beach closures and dead fish near the island, the island’s human population is safe. The Telegraph reports that Spanish authorities “insist there is no major risk for the population.” –Huffington Post

In addition, a 4.7 magnitude earthquake was reported at the Azores hotspot west of the Canary Islands. The depth of the Azores earthquake was 10 km. The Azores hotspot is a volcanic hotspot located at the Azores in the northern Atlantic Ocean. It has interactions with the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which lies just west of the hotspot.

November 20, 2011 – MEXICO CITY - Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano spewed a burst of ash 3 miles (5 kilometers) into the air after magma broke through a dome of lava. Mexico’s National Disaster Prevention Center says Sunday’s explosion continues a series of moderate eruptions from the 17,886-foot (5,450-meter) volcano 40 miles (65 kilometers) southeast of the Mexican capital. The Disaster center says the volcano has been emitting small but steady streams of steam and gas since Friday. Mexico City Civil Protection Director Elias Moreno told Foro Television that there were no reports of danger or of ash falling on nearby communities. Popocatepetl has been erupting intermittently since December 1994.