Volcanoes Erupting All Over

[XPan]

Etna • Sicily, Italy
14 Dec 2021 | sunset and into the night
(3357 meter / 11,014 ft varies)

Apparently the paroxysm flared up a little bit after sunset, and photographer Marco Restivo made beautiful images of that event (in photo 4 +5) during longtime exposures, from which the fourth photo is just mesmerizing.

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Semeru volcano has erupted, spewing ash 2 kilometers into the sky.

Published on Dec 19, 2021 (1:36)

More here.

 

[XPan]

Hunga-Tonga Ha’apai, Tonga - Pacific Ocean
19-20 Dec 2021 • (133/149 m high - 436/488 feet height)

This volcano, I feel, is a curious, intriguing one. I only bumped into it by accident 2 hours after the initial violent explosion; when I was wandering around the Windy satellite animation yesterday night, spotting a curious looking big mushroom head. First i thought it was an isolated, circular thunderstorm - but quickly realized that it was an eruption (At that time, it was neither noted or mentioned on the internet). First report came from VAAC New Zealand reporting of an ash cloud.




Day after

the eruption was mentioned at german Vulkane.net by Marc Szeglat, who wrote:

Hunga-Tonga Ha'apai: Eruption in Tonga.
State: Tonga | Coordinates: -20.545; -175.393 | Eruption: Explosive

In Tonga, the Hunga-Tonga Ha'apai island volcano erupted, producing an eruption cloud that rose several kilometers high. At first, the eruption had been visible on satellite images. In the meantime, photos also appeared on social networks, either taken from neighboring islands, or from aircraft. The VAAC Wellington detected the eruption cloud, but does not give an altitude. The photo shows that the eruption cloud is umbrella-shaped. The umbrella is usually formed when the eruption cloud rises to the limit of the stratosphere, that is, at least 12 km high.

Hunga-Tonga Ha'apai is a young volcanic land that in its current form was formed only in December 2014. Previously, the active vent was submerged and flanked by 2 small islands that merged during the eruption of 7 years ago.

Ear witnesses report that the current eruption was so strong that it could be heard 240 km away.

Here are photos from earlier years

and I must say, it is a fascinating island. Not only that all of the sudden the two original fragment-islands where connected with a totally new volcano - but the features on that "only" 133 meter high volcano appear to be fascinating (and difficult to comprehend the size of those cliffs).

The volcano had earlier eruptions in year 1988, 2009 and 2014. If the blast was heard up to 240 km away, one wonders what happened there two days ago...


Appear to be google map images above

 

[XPan]

Etna - Sicily, Italy
15-19 Dec 2021

No eruption at Etna, other than small fountains and degassing events. But boy, those images the photographers made... are just divine at look at.


15 Dec 2021

 

[XPan]

Fagradalsfjall, Iceland
19 Dec 2021

Volcanic eruption in the Geldingadalir (Fagradalsfjall) officially declared over

December 19, 2021

The Volcano Department of the Icelandic Meteorological Service has officially declared the volcanic eruption at Fagradalsfjall to be over, RÚV reports. The last time outflowing lava had been seen was exactly three months ago. However, measurements show that magma continues to accumulate in the earth's crust beneath the volcano.

The volcanic eruption had begun on March 19, 2021, and had been active with breaks for about six months. It had also aroused great international interest, especially since an eruption in the region, so close to the capital for visitors and easily accessible, is extremely rare. Since the lava flow threatened the road connecting Grindavík and Þórlákshöfn as well as fiber optic cables buried in the ground, attempts had been made to stop it with earth walls. It overwhelmed several such structures, but dried up before it could reach the road, and no damage was done.

Experts had previously announced that, judging by the amount of lava that had flowed out, an end to the volcanic eruption could not be declared until three months after the last fresh lava had appeared. This has now officially happened, but still it remains difficult to say anything about the future of the volcanic terrain.

Sara Bersotti, the technical director at the volcano watch of the meteorological authority, told RUV that they will continue to monitor the area closely, even if the eruption is now officially over. The one thing that is known is that nature is going its own way. That's because the earth's surface continues to expand into the area, which is why they are working on models and evaluating measurements. "That's always complicated, of course, to say exactly when a particular volcanic eruption is going to end, because volcanic activity can happen in segments," Sara explains. Sara explains. "We have pointed out from the beginning, when seismic activity started in the Geldingadalir, that the Reykjanes Peninsula is a very active region in terms of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and history tells us that activity happens in sections."

It continues to be dangerous to walk on the lava blanket in Geldingadalir and to the craters themselves. It takes a long time for the lava to cool completely, added. that the surface and crater rims are unstable and can collapse. In addition, there is the danger of escaping poisonous gas, which can accumulate in lowlands and become life-threatening to the visitor.

DeepL used to translate the german article
Icelandic article from RÚV is found here

 

[XPan]

Mud volcano near Gisborne, New Zealand
20 Dec 2021

Throwing large rocks 50 meters after it erupted 10 days ago

from STUFF

A mud volcano that burst to the surface on a farm near Gisborne threw large rocks 50 metres and is continuing to “bubble away”, 10 days after it erupted.

Gisborne District Council scientist Murry Cave said the mud volcano appeared on Monowai Station in the head of the Waimata Valley, about 25km north of Gisborne, about 7.45pm on December 10.

“It was accompanied by a sound that the landowners initially thought was thunder,” Cave said.

He said mud volcanoes were a natural but rare phenomenon in New Zealand, and Gisborne/Tairawhiti had quite a few. This latest one is about 2km from the last mud volcano eruption in the area, which occurred in December 2018.

“This latest one is a bit smaller than that one. It happened over about an hour, but is still bubbling away. There's quite a bit of bubbling going on, but it’s not ejecting any more mud at this stage,” he said. This mud volcano is on farmland a long way from any houses or structures, unlike the 2018 one, which was only 150 metres from the nearest house.

“Despite their name, they are not related to volcanoes or to geothermal mud pools such as at Rotorua. Instead, they relate to faults and often have a delayed reaction to major earthquakes. This event is probably a delayed response to the March 5th Te Araroa earthquake,” Cave said.
Mud volcano eruptions eject gas, water and rocks into the air “and in this instance quite large rocks were thrown around 50m clear of the mud volcano itself”, he said.

“The rocks ejected can come from many kilometres underground and is generally a mix of many types of rocks not typically seen at the surface.

“The gas associated with the mud volcano is dominated by methane, but can include other gases such as ethane, propane and butane. Sometimes, there is oil associated with such eruptions but not in this case.”

 

[XPan]

Hunga-Tonga Ha’apai Volcano, Tonga - Pacific Ocean
21 Dec 2021 morning • (133m / 436feet )

I have noticed that after the initial eruption two days ago, the volcano eased down and no ash clouds where seen.

This however has changed completely, and now the volcano is continuously erupting new ash clouds. The VAAC in New Zealand confirms it. You can also see it on recent Windy satellite animations.

Below showing the advisory from the VAAC, forecasting ash clouds for Hunga-Tonga Ha'apai volcano.

 

[Chad]

Fagradalsfjall, Iceland
19 Dec 2021


Volcanic eruption in the Geldingadalir (Fagradalsfjall) officially declared over

It seems activity has restarted! "while the eruption was about to be considered complete, a large-scale seisimic swarm was detected on the Reykjanes peninsula"

Apparently 1400 of seismic events have been recorded in 12 hours, with the largest quake striking this morning at M4.9.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1473603984833327105

After more than 3 months of inactivity and while the eruption was about to be considered complete, a large-scale seisimic swarm was detected on the Reykjanes peninsula during the 12 last hours!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1473609447390027776

https://twitter.com/x/status/1473605156474339333

https://twitter.com/x/status/1473603252067475457

https://twitter.com/x/status/1473598219204665346

 

[XPan]

Hunga-Tonga Ha’apai Volcano, Tonga - Pacific Ocean
22 Dec 2021 • (133m / 436feet )

Nice with a video clip, showing what's going on with the remote volcano in Tonga. I am not sure why they call it "undersea volcano", now that it has been above water for several years... Unless the new eruption site is a stretch away from the main crater (i don't know).

https://twitter.com/x/status/1473530975342579712

 

[XPan]

Piton de la Fournaise, La Réunion, Indian Ocean
22 Dec 2021

Marc Szeglat at Vulkane.net writes about the latest activity which started at the Piton de la Fournaise volcano on the island of La Réunion:

"Tonight, a seismic crisis began at Piton Fournaise, caused by rising magma. Only an hour later, the tremors reached the surface and tremors began. An eruption had begun.

At least 3 eruptive fissures had opened on the southern flank of the volcano. Several small lava fountains were formed feeding lava flows. Due to bad weather, no further details are known yet. The eruption started relatively unexpectedly, although there had already been 2 seismic crises in the last months without an eruption following. Apparently some magma had already collected underground and now it made the breakthrough. More info to follow.

Update 9:30 am: The OVPF reports that 4 fissures have formed, all of which were still active at the time of the update. They are located within the caldera, at the southern base of the Dolomieu summit crater cone. The lowest emission point is at 2000 m altitude."

 

[Chad]

It seems activity has restarted! "while the eruption was about to be considered complete, a large-scale seisimic swarm was detected on the Reykjanes peninsula"

Apparently 1400 of seismic events have been recorded in 12 hours, with the largest quake striking this morning at M4.9.

After more than 3 months of inactivity and while the eruption was about to be considered complete, a large-scale seisimic swarm was detected on the Reykjanes peninsula during the 12 last hours!

Activty continues with another couple of similar sized seismic events yesterday and today:

Yesterday:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1474407752965529616

Today:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1474659167088656384

Map:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1474433504968642577

 

[Aeneas]

The eruption on La Palma has now officially been declared over, with the end being the 13th of December.

La Palma volcano stops erupting after 85 days of destruction

www.rt.com

The eruption of the La Palma volcano that plunged Spain’s Canary Islands into chaos has stopped “after 85 days and 8 hours,” the local government announced.

“The eruption is over,” the regional security minister, Julio Perez, said at a press conference on Saturday.

Clarifying that the volcano stopped showing vital signs on December 13, he said he was relieved to be able to confirm the news.

This is not surprising given the challenges the Canary Islands government has faced. In the last three months, the eruption, which began on September 19, has prompted the evacuation of over 7,000 people, with 1,600 buildings destroyed and more than 70km of roads buried.

However, while the eruption might be over, seismologists warn that it is still too early to relax. According to a volcanologist from the National Geographic Institute, Stavros Meletlidis, as quoted by El Pais, the currently adopted 10-day period is too short to establish if the volcano has indeed gone back to sleep.

“I proposed that there would be more time. In any case, this is an insignificant time period: the eruption may have ended, but the volcanic process will continue for a long time,” he said.

While the La Palma eruption is now the longest and most destructive in the island’s history, it is far from being a world record.

The Guinness World Records lists Italy’s Mount Stromboli as the longest continuously erupting volcano, which “has been undergoing continuous volcanic eruptions since at least the 7th century BC,” when activity was reported by Greek colonists. Its constant mild explosions – several each hour – gave it the nickname ‘the Lighthouse of the Mediterranean’.

The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia is still considered the worst in modern history, with at least 71,000 fatalities.

 

[Puma]

Popocatepetl volcano

At 8:39 p.m., saturday 25th a low-ash explosion was detected. The column had a height of 600 m, heading west. Fragments were observed at close range.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1474947887947730947

 

[gottathink]

This is only what could happen in Auckland New Zealand:

Scientists studying different kind of eruptions around the world have concluded that Auckland most likely has stored reservoirs of magma sitting under it right now. These could be triggered to explosively erupt by tectonic plate activity. If a volcanic eruption happened in Auckland it would be extremely dangerous with possibly little warning. Evacuation of parts of the central city is challenging due to it’s location on and around an isthmus which is only 2km wide at its narrowest point.

New insights: what drives Auckland eruptions?

Evidence gleaned from ancient eruptions suggests Auckland blows are triggered in two ways.

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

[sToRmR1dR]

Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano has erupted, spewing ash 12 kilometers into the sky.

Published on Dec 30, 2021 (1:05)

More here and here.