Getting Ready to Blow?

Have you noticed all the volcanic activity and headlines lately?  Is something big getting ready to pop?  Below are headlines from just the past few days.

Russia’s Shiveluch volcano spews ash up to 9,500 meters (31,000 ft) – its most powerful eruption this year
Russia’s northernmost active volcano is churning out ash to a height of 9,500 meters (over 31,000 feet) in the country’s Far East, local scientists reported on Tuesday. The 3,283-meter (10,771-foot) Shiveluch volcano increased activity in May 2009 and has been periodically spewing ash from three to ten kilometers. “A powerful eruption of ashes took place 05.59 a.m. local time [17:59 GMT on Monday], a source at the Far Eastern Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

49th volcano erupts in 2012: Ecuador’s Sangay volcano unleashes 2 km ash cloud
During an over-flight on 13 April, an explosion from Sangay volcano was observed at 08:25 local time. It generated an ash and steam column of 2 km above the summit crater. A new vent was detected; both on visible and thermal images, located next to the active dome on the SE flank (Ñuñurqu).

Mexico’s sleeping Popocatépetl volcano awakens again
Popocatépetl, the nearly 18,000 foot volcano that hovers like a sentinel on the southeastern fringe of Mexico’s capital, awakened again Sunday, punctuating an especially shaky seismic season. Popo, as the mountain is widely called, spewed at least seven exhalations overnight Saturday and through the day Sunday, sending vapor, smoke and gas billowing into the clear sky. The most serious occurred just after 9 a.m. Sunday, sending a vapor cloud a mile into the air.  

Two volcanoes in Costa Rica now reporting increased activity
Thursday last the Turrialba sent experts scurrying to analyze the recent activity at the colossus southeast of San José. On Saturday, however, the Volcán Rincón de la Vieja, decided on a rumble of its own. It was around 2pm when residents heard the rumbles from the volcano located north of San José in the province of Guanacaste. Maria Martinez, volcanologist from the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI), explained that the phreatic eruption occurred at the lake and spewed water and sediment over the outer edge on the north side of the volcano.

Italy’s Mt. Etna volcano rocked by 6th eruption in 2012
Mount Etna is erupting for the sixth time this year with lava and plumes of smoke and ash from a new crater on the volcano’s southeast side. The new activity was preceded by new phase that began last night and that, according to experts from the INGV in Catania, has the same characteristics as the one before this one.  

Icelandic Volcanoes Said to Be Growing Restless
Two years ago, the eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajökull caused havoc across Europe, with airborne ash grounding flights for six days. Eyjafjallajökull may be quiet now, but, according to The Telegraph, activity has been increasing in the volcano belt that stretches diagonally across the middle of Iceland from the Westman Islands in the south to the Lake Mývatn area in the north, along the line of the American and Eurasian geological tectonic plates.   

 Iceland volcano: and you thought the last eruption was bad...
alarmingly, there are signs of high activity beneath the much larger, neighbouring Katla caldera in Iceland – a possible sign of an impending eruption. This should prompt extensive high-level contingency planning across Europe, as Katla has the potential to be much more damaging than Eyjafjallajökull. Since Iceland was settled in the ninth century, Katla has erupted on average every 60 years, but has not had a significant eruption since 1918.  

Also remember that a huge magma dome has raised the earth all over Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and Montana.  If that ever erupts it could decimate the entire Western United States. 

If Al Gore thinks he has problems with climate change now....just wait until 100 trillion tons of ash get shot into the atmosphere and block the sunlight for a few years.  That would get us all dreaming of the good ol' days of Global Warming.