Volcanoes in the News: From Bardarbunga to Ontakesan

Ontakesan Volcano

There are so many active volcanoes around the world right now it is hard to keep track of them.

Yesterday, Mt. Ontakesan in Japan blew up without warning, and it has been a tragedy for hikers and climbers who were on the mountain. Searchers have rushed to the area to try and rescue people in the area, now covered in volcanic ash. But the volcano remains dangerous and is still erupting. I hope they find some survivors, but it's a grim situation.

Ontakesan Live Webcam

Webcam footage of pyroclastic flows from Mt #Ontake eruption. (In Japanese). http://t.co/I2BwwpiW2V pic.twitter.com/csCVrrqUhY
— Epic Cosmos (@EpicCosmos) September 27, 2014

Grim news from Reuters about Mt #Ontake. "Over 30 feared dead after Japan volcano spews ash and rock". http://t.co/g5y2bE1lQM
— Dave McGarvie (@subglacial) September 28, 2014

Rescue efforts resume on Japan's Mount #Ontake http://t.co/Q93fujq7jh pic.twitter.com/AqMkXMCGh5
— BBC News Asia (@BBCNewsAsia) September 28, 2014

Nagano Pref: 10 with serious injuries, 17 with lighter injuries, and 32 missing after the eruption of Mt. #Ontake. http://t.co/BApRfXJFm6
— Yuri Hiranuma (@YuriHiranuma) September 27, 2014

#Eruption Mt #Ontakesan #volcano (Japan) claims at least 31 lives! - http://t.co/fNgMXvww2Z pic.twitter.com/azVYAYzTcF
— Earthquake Report (@Quake_Tracker) September 28, 2014

The past few months, I've become addicted to the Iceland livecam for Bardarbunga, a significant volcano that is close enough to Europe to really cause trouble if it were to blow up suddenly. Bardarbunga is still significant for it's immense cloud of deadly sulfur dioxide that is already causing health concerns there in Iceland. And the Holuhraun lava field is growing by leaps and bounds. At night you can see the hot lava glowing as it streams away towards the sea. The main caldera of Bardarbunga seems to be sinking with every earthquake, and at night glows like the Eye of Sauron from Tolkien's tales - inspired by the old Icelandic sagas.

Bardarbunga Cam 1
Bardarbunga Cam 2





This video shows a volcano called Mt. Tavurvur that recently exploded in Papua New Guinea. Brace yourself for the boom! You can almost see the sound wave, and certainly can see the large boulders hitting the water. The people who caught this on camera were lucky not to be closer.



A report came out this weekend that Mt. Saint Helens in Washington State is possibly coming back to life. In fact, scientists don't really know why it ever stopped erupting.

From King5 News

Geologists were surprised that the mountain stopped erupting in 1986. "Many of us were expecting it to continue a while," said USGS seismologist Seth Moran.

The second lava dome, which started appearing in 2004, appeared at a different spot in the crater. Lava that appeared from 2004-08 was much more solid than during the earlier phase.

Even though the lava dome hasn't erupted since 2008, its shape still is changing.

"As it cools, it fractures and settles and falls apart," said Dan Dzurisin, a USGS geologist. Rockfall has also been changing the shape of the crater rim.

And 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.

Mt. Saint Helens in Washington

Then there was an earthquake swarm this weekend under Mammoth Lakes, an ancient dormant volcano near the California/Nevada border. The USGS put out a warning that the movement had volcanic traits, while other experts believe it is merely shaking due to pressure from hot springs. (Of course hot springs go along with volcanoes, so....)

From UPI

The quakes struck the region between 9 a.m. Thursday and 1:49 a.m. Friday.
The USGS said it's because Mammoth Mountain, a lava-dome complex, lies along the rim of the Long Valley Caldera.
"Recent volcanic unrest, including seismicity, gas emission, and tree kill, is thought to be related to a dike intrusion beneath Mammoth Mountain in 1989," the USGS website said. "Both Long Valley Caldera and Mammoth Mountain have experienced episodes of heightened unrest over the last few decades (earthquakes, ground uplift, and/or volcanic gas emissions). As a result, the USGS manages a dense array of field sensors providing the real-time data needed to track unrest and assess hazards."

LA Times

The earthquakes may have been triggered by water pressure from area hot springs shifting through the ground surface, stressing tectonic plates. Scientists, Shelly said, are closely watching the earthquake swarm, but don’t believe it's connected to any magmatic activity.
Shelly said seismic analysts plan to review the swarm and update locations and magnitudes of the quakes, but the activity is not nearly on the size and scale of what was measured in the 1980s and 1990s.
. . . The Long Valley caldera is one of the most seismically active regions in the state, and is part of a quiet network of 17 volcanoes throughout California. Many of the older volcanoes haven't been active for thousands of years.
The last time the Long Valley caldera erupted was 50,000 years ago.

The People's Climate March Makes History

The People's Climate March on September 21, 2014, was one of the best days for the environmental movement in history. Thousands turned out to march all over the world, including over 400,000 marchers in New York City.

Listen to the roar of the crowd after the moment of silence! We are the future, hear us roar! :)

Jane Goodall, Al Gore and Bill de Blasio marched together during the “People’s Climate March.” Getty Images pic.twitter.com/zgwHDMNEF5

— Rebecca Leahy (@rlbrasket) September 22, 2014

#PeopleClimateMarch http://t.co/rFOD9nIV9Z display their beautiful hand-painted banner at #ClimateMarch pic.twitter.com/IARKJS0ryk

— john zangas (@johnzangas) September 21, 2014

#Indigenous resistance #FloodWallStreet pic.twitter.com/tVhnTSsY35 via @democracynow #firstnations #climatemarch #ClimateJustice #Climate2014

— #Munduruku (@PersonalEscrito) September 22, 2014

Raging Bush Fires in Australia

Horrible wildfires are raging in Australia right now, endangering thousands and destroying homes and property. We can only imagine what is happening to the creatures who live in the Australian Bush as well. I hope their weather breaks soon and they get some cooling rain.

Time Magazine Slideshow

From Discover News:

The record-breaking temperatures have fueled brushfires across Australia. The L.A. Times has reported that swaths of the country face “some of the most dangerous conditions for fires on record.” As of today, 140 brushfires were reported in the state of New South Wales alone. And a NASA map of active fires detected by satellite sensors showed many more across the entire country.
 On Monday, the average high temperature across all of Australia was 104.6 degrees—a record, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. This continues a persistent trend. For the September through December period, the average Australian maximum temperature was the highest on record.

"Tornadoes of Fire" ~ A Grandfather Saves his Family

More Pics Here at Daily Kos

Climate Crisis

Lots of news about extreme weather conditions that are eventually going to affect all of us.

Governor Quinn of Illinois: We are All Tom Joad

Who can forget the profound desperation in Tom Joad’s heart as he and his family leave Oklahoma’s drought-stricken farms in John Steinbeck’s classic "The Grapes of Wrath?"


That dusty image — of flattened fields and beaten-down farmers — can be seen today in most counties in my state and others due to the persistent, unprecedented drought now suffocating America’s breadbasket.
The facts are stark.
In Illinois, we’ve experienced the sixth-driest growing season on record. Of 102 counties, 100 are disaster areas. The latest corn conditions show 74 percent of this year’s crop is “poor” or “very poor”, so the cost of corn products ranging from ethanol to tortillas will soar. Barren grazing pastures are forcing livestock farmers to purchase hay at inflated prices. The drought also affects fisheries, wildlife, water levels in navigable waterways and the entire food chain.

Reuters: UN Warns Extreme Weather Affects Food Supply

"It has not been properly recognised yet that we are dealing with a food system here. There is a whole chain that is also going to be affected by climate change," Professor Dr John Porter of the University of Copenhagen said.

"It is more than just the fact that there are droughts in the United States that will reduce yields," he said. Like the other experts, he said was giving personal opinions, not those of the U.N. panel.

After harvest, floods could wash away roads or bridges, for instance, between fields and factories processing the crop. Or warehouses storing food could be damaged by more powerful storms. Such factors were likely to hit poor nations hardest.

"There are reasons to expect more frequent (price) spikes, given that it will be more common to see conditions that are considered extreme," said David Lobell, an assistant professor at Stanford University in California.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Western Wildfires Threaten Homes

Not only are more wildfires flaring up in the West this year than last, but the nation's fires have gotten bigger, said Jennifer Smith, of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. As of Thursday, more than 43,000 wildfires had been reported in the U.S. this season, burning a total of nearly 6.4 million acres, or 10,000 square miles, the center said. The 10-year average for the period is 52,535 fires, but covering only 5 million acres, Smith said.

    Guardian UK: Arctic Sea Ice Disappearing

Using instruments on earlier satellites, scientists could see that the area covered by summer sea ice in the Arctic has been dwindling rapidly. But the new measurements indicate that this ice has been thinning dramatically at the same time. For example, in regions north of Canada and Greenland, where ice thickness regularly stayed at around five to six metres in summer a decade ago, levels have dropped to one to three metres. "Preliminary analysis of our data indicates that the rate of loss of sea ice volume in summer in the Arctic may be far larger than we had previously suspected," said Dr Seymour Laxon, of the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at University College London (UCL), where CryoSat-2 data is being analysed.

"Very soon we may experience the iconic moment when, one day in the summer, we look at satellite images and see no sea ice coverage in the Arctic, just open water." The consequences of losing the Arctic's ice coverage, even for only part of the year, could be profound. Without the cap's white brilliance to reflect sunlight back into space, the region will heat up even more than at present. As a result, ocean temperatures will rise and methane deposits on the ocean floor could melt, evaporate and bubble into the atmosphere. Scientists have recently reported evidence that methane plumes are now appearing in many areas. Methane is a particularly powerful greenhouse gas and rising levels of it in the atmosphere are only likely to accelerate global warming.

New High Impact Tornado Warnings

From KSN.com in Kansas City, Missouri

Weather service officials say studies after deadly tornadoes in Joplin, Mo., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., last year found that most people didn't heed the initial warnings about the oncoming storms. They also say people in tornado-prone areas have become desensitized by frequent false alarms and don't always pay attention to the first warnings. And so, offices in Missouri and Kansas will start sending out "impact-based" warnings during severe weather that describe how much damage a storm could cause.

Among the messages in the new warnings:

"COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOODS IS LIKELY"
and
"MASS DEVASTATION IS HIGHLY LIKELY MAKING THE
AREA UNRECOGNIZABLE TO SURVIVORS."

Maybe they should think of adding those warnings to other states, such as Texas, which was hard hit the other day by massive tornadoes that caused devastation. And considering the year we've had so far, how about Tennessee and Kentucky, too?