The monsters wakes up ! Katla Hekla Iceland Dead Zone and rift as uniform system ! A lot of others worldwide !

[link to geology.about.com]

Expanding the VEI Scale of Volcanic Eruptions
By Andrew Alden, About.com Guide

Revising and Extending the VEI

...In 2013, Bruce Houghton and five coauthors brought up some problems with the VEI scale...
Under the Broughton proposal, explosive eruptions of any size could be assigned a consistent VEI number with no artificial breaks in the scale, just like the Richter scale. The earthquake scale is useful to a wide range of scientists. Some are studying the giant M 9 events like the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, while others need to measure the tiny M –2 crackles that accompany underground mining and drilling activities. The continuous magnitude scale has made it possible for seismologists to make and test ideas that span the whole range of earthquake sizes. A similar scale for eruptions may make similar advances possible in volcanology.

Sources:
Broughton et al., 2013, "Pushing the Volcanic Explosivity Index to its limit and beyond: Constraints from exceptionally weak explosive events at Kilauea in 2008," Geology v. 41, p. 627-630.
Newhall and Self, 1982, "The Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI): An estimate of explosive magnitude for historical volcanism," Journal of Geophysical Research v. 87, p. 1231-1238.
Pyle, 1995, "Mass and energy budgets of explosive volcanic eruptions," Geophysical Research Letters v. 22, p. 563-566.

[link to www.usatoday.com]

Mexican volcano forces U.S. airlines to cancel flights

Volcano Alert 29 min
Mexico Volcano Ash Grounds US Flights - Discovery News :

[link to news.discovery.com]
Mexico Volcano Ash Grounds US Flights
JUL 6, 2013 09:10 AM ET // BY AFP
...On Thursday, six US airlines had canceled some 60 flights, stranding 600 passengers, with many of them still looking for a way out of the Mexican capital Friday afternoon...

[link to www.avo.alaska.edu]
ALASKA VOLCANO OBSERVATORY DAILY UPDATE
Sunday, July 7, 2013 11:58 AM AKDT (Sunday, July 7, 2013 19:58 UTC)


VENIAMINOF VOLCANO (CAVW #1102-07-)
56°11'52" N 159°23'35" W, Summit Elevation 8225 ft (2507 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: WATCH
Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Nearly continuous, low-level volcanic tremor has been detected in seismic data throughout the past 24 hours. Satellite observations did not detect elevated surface temperatures at the intracaldera cone of Veniaminof volcano in cloudy images overnight. The seismic data indicate an ongoing low-level eruption characterized by effusion of lava and emission of minor amounts of ash and steam. Web camera images of the volcano from Perryville throughout the past 24 hours have been mostly obscured by clouds...

[link to www.cenapred.unam.mx]

July 08 11:00 h (July 08 16:00 GMT)

In the last 24 hours the monitoring system of Popocatepetl volcano has recorded 11 hours of low frequency tremor and low amplitude which has been accompanied by a constant emission of steam, gas and light amounts of ash that has been directed mainly to the northwest. Additionally there have been several episodes of variable amplitude harmonic tremor which total 5 hours (see seismogram).

Also, there were two volcanotectonic earthquakes. The first yesterday at 15:19 h of magnitude 1.9, and the second today at 02:38 h of magnitude 2.4.

During some periods of the night incandescence was observed in the crater (see image 1). Also the emission of incandescent fragments near the crater rim (see image 2).

At the time of this report shows the volcano with an emission of steam, gas and ash that reached a height of 3 km above the crater rim and heads westward (see image 3).
images:
[link to www.cenapred.unam.mx]

[link to gees-talk.blogspot.co.uk]
Wednesday, 3 July 2013The trouble with lahars
by Dr Rebecca Williams

... Lahars, on the other hand, are flows made of water, volcanic material, and whatever else they can erode including soil and trees. The word lahar is Indonesian and roughly translates to volcanic mudflow. They range from dirty water to flows so laden with material that they have the consistency of concrete and can carry boulders the size of a house!
pic:
A boulder carried by a lahar from Volcan Cotopaxi in 1877. A much younger me for scale:
[link to 1.bp.blogspot.com]
...

Rene Goad
RenVolcanoman 9 hours
Looks like an eruption occurring on Heard Island judging by this MODIS image (date 7/7/2013)
[link to pbs.twimg.com (secure)]

[link to volcano.si.edu]
Heard
Indian Ocean (southern)
Stratovolcano
Last Known Eruption 2008
Latest activity:
1 May-7 May 2013
According to NASA Earth Observatory (EO) an image acquired on 7 April from the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA's EO-1 satellite showed that Mawson's Peak crater on Heard Island had filled and a lava flow had traveled down the SW flank. The lava flow was visible in an image acquired on 20 April and had slightly widened just below the summit.

Sources: NASA Earth Observatory

[link to www.nature.com]

Melting during late-stage rifting in Afar is hot and deep

D. J. Ferguson,...
Nature Volume 499,
Date published 04 July 2013
...Here we show that the extensive magmatism during rifting along the southern Red Sea rift in Afar, a unique region of sub-aerial transition from continental to oceanic rifting, is driven by deep melting of hotter-than-normal asthenosphere. Petrogenetic modelling shows that melts are predominantly generated at depths greater than 80 kilometres, implying the existence of a thick upper thermo-mechanical boundary layer in a rift system approaching the point of plate rupture. Numerical modelling of rift development shows that when breakup occurs at the slow extension rates observed in Afar, the survival of a thick plate is an inevitable consequence of conductive cooling of the lithosphere, even when the underlying asthenosphere is hot. Sustained magmatic activity during rifting in Afar thus requires persistently high mantle temperatures, which would allow melting at high pressure beneath the thick plate. If extensive plate thinning does occur during breakup it must do so abruptly at a late stage, immediately before the formation of the new ocean basin...

nice article
[link to blogs.ei.columbia.edu]
In Ethiopian Desert, a Window into Rifting of Africa
by Kevin Krajick | 7.8.2013 at 9:26am

...The study suggests that conventional ideas may be wrong. Past calculations done by scientists predict that the solid rock under the Afar should be stretching and thinning substantially as the continent tears apart; thus molten rock should not have far to travel to the surface. Led by David Ferguson, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, researchers analyzed the chemical makeup of lava chunks they collected from the Afar. They showed that magmas actually came from quite deep–greater than 80 kilometers, or 45 miles, within the earth’s mantle–and formed under extraordinarily high temperatures, above 1,450 degrees C, or 2,600 F.

This implies that magmas are generated by a long-lasting plume of mantle heat. It also indicates that magma must make its way up through a surprisingly thick lid of solid rock, called the lithosphere. This idea has been supported by some seismic images of the Afar subsurface.

Rifting here is fairly slow—one or two centimeters a year, or 0.4 to 0.8 inches, and this may partly explain why so much solid rock persists. As the lithosphere is pulled apart, it does stretch, crack and thin. However, because the process in this region takes so long, the base of the lithosphere has time to cool down by losing heat to the colder rock above. This keeps the relatively cold, brittle lithosphere thicker than would be expected, and counteracts stretching. Sometimes, though, magma suddenly spurts long distances to the surface, and the earth visibly cracks and pulls apart during spectacular rifting events. That includes a series of events that started in 2005, and was closely observed by scientists.

Parts of the rift have already sunk below sea level. In the distant future–maybe 10 million years from now–the process will advance so far that the Red Sea will break through and flood the region. A new sea will open up, whether or not there is anyone around to name it.
...
pic: In East Africa, earth’s crust is stretching and cracking, in a process called rifting. Here in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia, hundreds of faults and fissures have formed over time. (David Ferguson):
[link to blogs.ei.columbia.edu]
pic: This crevice opened in a matter of hours, during a sequence of very large earthquakes in September 2005. It formed in response to magma being injected into the shallow crust, and is still emitting volcanic gases. This injection of magma was the largest event of its kind to be observed by scientists. (Lorraine Field):
[link to blogs.ei.columbia.edu]

Euronews
Iceland mans its volcano front line
[link to www.euronews.com]
...Iceland’s active volcanoes could erupt at any time, so European scientists are closely monitoring them. They want to better understand what happens before, during, and after an eruption.

Freysteinn Sigmundsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland, and coordinator of the FutureVolc supersite project, explained their work...

[link to volcanicdegassing.wordpress.com]
Sea-floor spreading, on land
...his new work shows that the compositions of geologically young lavas requires them to have formed relatively deep (greater than 80 km or so), and at relatively higher temperatures than expected for ‘normal’ mantle. This can only be reconciled with other geological and geophysical constraints if the plate beneath the active Afar rift is still relatively thick. This, in turn, is consistent with the idea that the slow rate of spreading at the rift means that plate remains thick because of conductive cooling, while volcanism persists because the mantle at depth is suffiiciently hot to partially melt at depths just a little deeper than the bottom of the plate. In turn, this fits in with ideas about the long-lasting and slowly waning influence of a ‘hot spot’ or plume beneath the region, which is the favoured contender for the burst of magmatism in the region about 30 million years ago.

[link to firstlook.pnas.org]
Studying volcanic eruptions with aerial drones
Posted on July 8, 2013 by David Harris
In March of this year, David Pieri helped direct a half-dozen Dragon Eye unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)—the same drones that the military uses for some reconnaissance missions—into the volcanic plume of the Turrialba volcano in Costa Rica. By flying multiple UAVs at once, Pieri and his colleagues could track the chemical characteristics of many spots in the gas and ash clouds simultaneously. More importantly, the risk to human life was lessened...

Etna preparing for a new paroxysm
[link to www.ct.ingv.it]

[link to www.volcano.si.edu]
Lengai, Ol Doinyo
Tanzania
Africa (eastern)
Stratovolcano
Last known eruption 2010

[link to oldoinyolengai.pbworks.com]
...
September 2012: Many thanks to Frank Moeckel and Wendy Blank for sending me the following report: "In September 2012 we visited the volcano Oldoinyo Lengai and the Lake Natron area. We (Frank Moeckel and my girl friend Wendy Blank) climbed the Oldoinyo Lengai on September 14 (23:00) to September 15 (06:30). We stay over night (September 15 to September 16) in a small camping tend at the south crater. Many nice and interesting rock samples we have collected. We have taken some photos and videos. We climbed down on the morning (September 16). On the bottom of the activ north crater we have seen fresh black natrocarbonatite lava and active vents. We heard boiling noise from the bottom of the north crater. Everywhere strong H2S smell...

[link to www.wired.com]
Michael Dalton • 2 days ago −
I was recently in Tanzania, and gathered what I could on Lengai. Apparently there were some earthquakes around Lengai last month that got people talking there. Local Masai said it feels like the ground had been move frequently similar to 2007. USGS had a few earthquakes listed but nothing more. I thought I felt few very slight ones in my house on the slopes Mt Meru. Anyone know if sub 4.0 can be detected there? I never seem to see anything less then 4.7's or 4.8's. Other people agree that they too have felt a lot of minor shaking.
A friend climbed the volcano and said there was strong sounds coming from in the crater. The typical carbonate sloshing. There was one active hornito that can be seen, but the crater was still largely out of view. No reports of any large flows recently.
...

Overflight around Popo

[link to www.avo.alaska.edu]
ALASKA VOLCANO OBSERVATORY DAILY UPDATE
Monday, July 8, 2013 12:42 PM AKDT (Monday, July 8, 2013 20:42 UTC)


VENIAMINOF VOLCANO (CAVW #1102-07-)
56°11'52" N 159°23'35" W, Summit Elevation 8225 ft (2507 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: WATCH
Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Nearly continuous, low-level volcanic tremor has been ongoing at Veniaminof over the past 24 hours. Cloudy satellite images have detected thermal anomalies. Web camera images of the volcano from Perryville showed incandescence from the Veniaminof intracaldera cone early this morning. These data indicate an ongoing low-level eruption characterized by effusion of lava and emission of minor amounts of ash and steam.

[link to www.radiotouring.eu]

[link to www.cenapred.unam.mx]
July 08 18:00 h (July 08 23:00 GMT)

In the last 7 hours the monitoring system of Popocatepetl volcano has recorded tremor of high frequency and low amplitude, has been accompanied by a persistent emission of steam, gas and light amounts of ash that initially took west-southwest (see image), and after northwest direction (see image).

In addition, there was an explosion at 14:45 h later which was accompanied by harmonic tremor segments in total accumulated 10 minutes (see image).

The prevailing cloudy conditions during the afternoon had prevented the visibility the volcano at the time of this report.

[link to news.nationalgeographic.com]
Pictures: Mexico Volcano Spews Ash 2 Miles High:
[link to images.nationalgeographic.com]

One of the world's most active volcanoes, Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano, has come to life, spewing ash, gas, and steam (as seen from the village of Santiago Xalitzintla on July 4).

Just 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Mexico City, the volcano has spit out a cloud of ash and vapor 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) high...

very impressive now
[link to www.webcamsdemexico.com]

[link to www.cenapred.unam.mx]
July 09 11:00 h (July 09 16:00 GMT)

During the last 24 hours the monitoring system of Popocatepetl volcano has recorded tremor of high frequency and low to moderate amplitude (see seismogram), has been accompanied by a persistent emission of steam, gas and light amounts of ash (see image 1).

In addition, there was two explosions, the first yesterday at 14:45 h, whose eruption column headed northwest with a height of a km above the crater rim (see image 2), which was later accompanied by harmonic tremor segments accumulated 10 minutes in total. The second was recorded today at 02:26 h, the eruption column reached 1.5 km of altitude in southwest direction (see image 3).

During the night there was incandescence and the emission of incandescent fragments issuing a short distance from the crater rim on the east side, many of them fell back into the same (see image 4).

From today in the morning until the time of this report there has been persistent emission of steam, gas and light amounts of ash moving west-southwest at an average height of 1.2 km above the crater rim (see image 5), (see image 6).

[link to www.lepoint.fr]
Google translation

The mysteries of history - Volcano Revolution

The Point.fr - Published on 09/07/2013 at 13:33
The eruption of Laki in 1783 south of Iceland, has caused climate disruption as it laid the beginnings of the revolt of the French people.
Laki crater in South Iceland. © Wolfgang Fuchs / Bilderberg By Nathalie Lamoureux
In May 2010, a month after the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, a mysterious massacre swallows hit France. By the effect of bell formed by the deadly fumes and particles, temperatures were significantly cooled. Therefore, it became quite impossible for people to swallow, back in our latitudes exhausted and hungry from a long journey, to recuperate. This strongly marked minds. This was however not the first time that the eruption of an Icelandic volcano sowed chaos in Europe.

In 1709 already, the Kingdom of France plunges into a nightmare. On January 6, an extraordinary cold swept the country and neighboring areas. We can walk the coast of Denmark than in Sweden, all channels and lagoons of Venice are covered by ice, the European crop up dying, birds falling congested in full flight, the wolves come out of the wood, ink freezes in inkwells, wine and bread on the tables. The cold wave is followed by a terrible famine, the price of wheat has increased fivefold. Epidemics of all kinds ravage Europe for years to come and many peasant revolts broke out. At Versailles, the old King Louis XIV can only see the damage, never imagined that the cause of the Apocalypse weather has been caused by the spectacular eruptions of Mount Fuji in Japan, Santorini and Vesuvius for Europe whose dust obscured the sun.

Crack 40 km
And this is yet another volcanic caprice threw the beginnings of the French Revolution. On June 8, 1783, the Laki, asleep for centuries, into a terrible rash. For fifty days, the crack of more than 40 km spewing lava flows at an average rate estimated at 2,200 cubic meters per second, equivalent to the flow of the Rhine at its mouth. In February 1784, lava flows cover a total area of 565 square kilometers, for a total volume, huge, estimated at 12.3 cubic kilometers. Projections of ash and high sulfur gases form a cloud of such intensity, such as opacity whole island climate is upset with a permanent winter in the spring and then in summer. Acid rain falling on the southern coast of Iceland. 80% of Iceland's livestock died of hunger, cold and fluorosis, soon followed by 20% of the population, reduced to starvation...

[link to en.vedur.is]
Maps of the Glaciers of IcelandNews release on publication
3.7.2013

...There are many types of glaciers in Iceland, and they have an enormous impact on the landscape and people of Iceland, especially from the perspective of hydrology. Under a warmer climate which is now taking place, many changes in the glaciers are occurring. The record of changes has both practical and scientific value. This is the reason that the Icelandic Meteorological Office published the map, to show all of the glaciers of Iceland and the changes to them which took place during the last century...

[link to www.ruv.is]

something odd at katla..

[link to makeagif.com]

a cloud going from left to right, seemingly hugging the ground all the way, emanating from a point at the base of the glacier. looks like gravity is the driving force of that cloud, not wind, as the very weak wind there today is blowing in the opposite direction, east - west

[link to en.vedur.is]

carbon dioxide cloud?

agreed, today it looks very interesting, especially together with
[link to en.vedur.is]

Popocatepetl July 9th 5am - 8:45am

July 9th. Popo well looks from Cuautla, Morelos:

[link to pbs.twimg.com (secure)]

Popo, Photos: comparison with 20 seconds difference in the same angle to appreciate material ejection:
[link to mobile.twitter.com (secure)]

great shot
[link to pbs.twimg.com (secure)]

The Yellowstone Hotspot: Plume or Not?
Matthew J. Fouch
© 2012 Geological Society of America
[link to geology.gsapubs.org]
...In conclusion, the massive and widespread tectonomagmatic system expressed at the surface by the Columbia River flood basalts, the High Lava Plains, and the Yellowstone /Snake River Plain system requires a holistic framework of mantle dynamics not well explained by a simple deep mantle plume. Efforts on several fronts can help us develop an improved conceptual framework for the region...