Iceland’s Katla Volcano is, once again, displaying signs of an imminent eruption. Are volcanologists crying wolf? It’s impossible to say, but given the current situation — and with so much at risk — how could they not?
A couple of articles caught my eye over the past few days. The first was posted last Thursday, “New Icelandic Volcano Eruption Could Have Global Impact.” The second followed almost immediately on Friday, “Katla Volcano Eruption Fears Played Down by Icelandic Scientists and Tourism Officials.”
You can see where I’m going, right? A potentially imminent, global impact-type of volcanic eruption is being downplayed by Icelandic scientists and tourism officials. Who do you believe? Who wants your money? Who stands the most to gain (or lose)? Who is right? What do you do?
Presently, “Should I Blow?” might be answered with a resounding “Yes!” in the near future. Although volcanologists and seismologists can trace the current period of Katla unrest to 1999 and even a couple of times over the past year tremors and earthquakes have spurred concern of an imminent eruption, the current level of unrest is quite high. In fact, after a long period of magnitude-three tremors, a magnitude-four quake was detected last week.
Katla erupts! Just as I was about to upload this post on Iceland’s Hekla Volcano, news of the latest eruption of the Katla Volcano landed in my Inbox. Timing is everything, as they say. Read more of the most recent Katla eruption, as well as the imminent eruption of Hekla.
Considered not only the most active volcano in the United States, but one of the most active volcanoes on the planet, the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii began erupting Saturday with lava ejected as high as 65 feet from the summit.
Geologists on Iceland are warning of the increased risk of a fresh volcanic eruption after measuring an increased swarm of earthquakes around the island’s second largest volcano. Experts are warning that the sustained earthquakes are the strongest recorded in recent times.
Many are asking this very question as the Mount Merapi volcano continues to spew ash along with the pyroclastic flows and mudslides (lahars). I heard on NPR this morning that the ash is so heavy, not only is it literally thickening the air being breathed, but it is clinging to the leaves and branches of [...]
It couldn’t get much worse in Indonesia today as the volcano at Mount Merapi continues to erupt in explosive and massive form. The stories covered by the media this morning are horrific in their detail. Despite massive evacuations over the past several days, too many people remain within the fiery reach of the eruption. Yahoo [...]
Though it seems like it’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the volcanoes in Iceland, don’t judge a book by its “quiet” cover. Iceland remains a geological hot spot and vulcanologists are still expecting an eruption of likely global climate-changing proportions in the not-too-distant future. While we wait, lesser volcanoes will continue to keep residents and scientists on alert.
Mt. Sinabung has had several eruptions since we blogged about the volcano last week. To further emphasize the area’s instability, seismologists in the area recorded 52 earthquakes in a 12-hour period between Friday, 9/03 and Saturday, 9/04. I spoke with Fred Schmude, one of our senior meteorologists and our resident geology expert, a few moments [...]