Volcanoes
Hawaii Officials Warn of Possible Lava Evacuation
Hawaii authorities on Saturday told several dozen residents near an active lava flow to prepare for a possible evacuation in the next three to five days as molten rock oozed across a country road and edged closer to homes. The flow was about 35 yards wide and moving northeast at about 10 yards per hour. Lava of some 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit crossed a road on the edge of Pahoa, the largest town in the mostly rural region of Puna on the Big Island of Hawaii, at 3:
Thousands of undersea volcanoes revealed in new map of ocean floor
Scientists have created the highest resolution map yet of the ocean floor, revealing thousands of underwater mountains and extinct volcanoes that were previously unknown. In a study published Thursday in Science, researchers say the new map is at least twice as accurate as the previous version assembled nearly 20 years ago even though it can only resolve features that are a mile high and bigger. “You might think, that’s not so much better, but instead of seeing 5,000 old volcanoes down there, now we can see 10,000,” said David Sandwell, a geophysics professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego who led the study.
Could Mt. Fuji be the next volcano to erupt in Japan?
The sudden eruption of Mount Ontake over the weekend, which is believed to have killed dozens of people, was a reminder of Japan’s vulnerability to its many active volcanoes. Gas continued to pour from the ruptured crater Monday as emergency workers tried to reach the bodies of hikers trapped on the peak when it roared into life. Ontake is one of 110 live volcanoes dotted throughout the seismically-active country, including Mount Fuji, the country’s tallest mountain and a UNESCO World Heritage Site that welcomes some 300,000 climbers each year.
The Number Of Volcano Eruptions Is Rising And That Could Lead To A Bitterly Cold Winter
The number of volcanoes that are erupting continues to rise, and scientists cannot seem to explain why this is happening. In 2013, we witnessed the most volcanic eruptions worldwide that we have ever seen in a single year, and this increased activity has carried over into 2014. In recent months, we have seen major volcanoes roar to life in Russia, Peru, Hawaii, Reunion Island, Indonesia, and all over Alaska.
Far-Eastern Russian Volcano Spews Ash Over 40 Kilometers
The Karymsky volcano on the far-eastern Kamchatka Peninsula has emitted an ash plume reaching 3,000 meters high, and the cloud has drifted over 40 kilometers from the volcano, Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said Tuesday. The volcano has been assigned a “yellow” aviation code for “signs of elevated unrest,” the ministry said in a statement. (Read the rest of the story here…)