The Daily Volcano Quote: Tenerife all over fire, 1704-5 17 September 2010
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The 31st, they discovered a great light on the side of Monja, towards the white Mountain, and the first of January last, the Alcalde of Guancha writ to that of Teneriff, that having sent to the Peak of Tyda, they had seen the Earth open towards Monja, which had formed a Volcano, or Mouth of Fire. That another had soon appeared, and that both had vomited up such vast quantities of Stones, that they had formed pretty high Hills; and that the combustible matter which came out of those Gaps had made about 50 Fires in the Neighbourhood. These Volcano’s continu’d till the 5th to vomit up glowing Stones, which burst to pieces either in the Air, or falling on the Ground with a most terrible noise. The Air was then darken’d with Ashes and Smoak, which encreas’d the consternation of the People, especially at Night, when they saw the Country above a league about all over Fire. This proceeded from another Volcano, which had about 30 different Mouths in the circumference of about a quarter of a league, on the side of Orotava, and from the Eruption thereof was form’d a sort of Torrent of Brimstone and other Bituminous Matter, which ran towards Guimar. The like was form’d by the other Volcano. The Shocks continuing, with the same violence, the Houses and Publick Buildings of Guimar were overturn’d. The Bishop of the Canaries, having taken a World of Trouble among that general consternation, fell sick and dyed. 
From The Post-Man and the Historical Account, 28 April 1705. The Tenerife eruption being described is that of 31 December 1704 to 27 March 1705.
The Daily Volcano Quote: from Monday to Friday, a new eruption of volcanic verbiage each day.
London’s overdue killer quake: a case study in media sensationalism 17 September 2010
Posted by admin in volcanoes.Tags: British Geological Survey, earthquakes, science reporting, seismology
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Earthquakes are even less amenable than volcanic eruptions to effective forecasting. Unlike volcanoes with their precursory signals, earthquakes rarely give any warning of what is about to happen. As with volcanoes, though, what has happened in the past at a particular location can offer valuable indications of what may happen in the future, so the evidence left by the earthquakes of the past is an important source of information for the earthquake scientists, civil defence authorities and town planners of today.
Which is where historians come into the picture. Significant earthquakes in populated places rarely pass unnoticed: people write about them, study them, and publish accounts of them in all kinds of ways, creating written evidence that can be used alongside other sorts of data to inform our knowledge of earthquakes in a particular area throughout history. Gathering this information together and making it available is a big job, and for the last few years Italy’s Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) has been leading an international project involving earth scientists and historians who have been assembling an online database of historical earthquake data. The initial result is the AHEAD database (Archive of Historical EArthquake Data – not too contrived an acronym, as these things go), which brings together data on the most significant damaging earthquakes in Europe from 1000 to 1963.
Among the INGV’s partners in this project is the British Geological Survey (BGS). To accompany the launch of the AHEAD site the BGS has an article on its website by seismologist Dr Roger Musson entitled ‘Are yesterday’s earthquakes tomorrow’s disasters?’ which explains the rationale behind the project, examines the way in which increasing urbanization makes human society more vulnerable to earthquakes, and has some interesting things to say about Britain’s earthquake history. An earthquake in the Straits of Dover in 1580 of estimated magnitude 5.5, for example, caused damage in London and south-eastern England, and two people were killed. There was a similar earthquake in the same location in 1382. Dr Musson’s article ends thus:
What has happened twice can happen a third time; what will be the effects on the London of today? In 1580, two people in London were killed. Modern London has about 40 times as many people living in it and while a comparable earthquake would certainly not cause a disaster on an international scale, the level of shaking would come as an unpleasant shock in a country that tends to think of itself as immune from earthquakes.
Planchón-Peteroa webcam 16 September 2010
Posted by admin in Chile, Planchón-Peteroa, volcano monitoring.Tags: volcano webcams
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SERNAGEOMIN now has a webcam monitoring the recently-active Planchón-Peteroa volcano on the Chile/Argentina border. The camera can be accessed via the OVDAS main page (the link is on the left, at the bottom), or by means of this direct link. Thanks to commenter Rubén for this tip.
Information
Global Volcanism Program: Planchón-Peteroa – summary information for Planchón-Peteroa (1507-04=)
Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería – SERNAGEOMIN, the Chilean state geological service
The Daily Volcano Quote: a spectroscopic analysis from 1867 16 September 2010
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M. Janssen has also been analysing, by means of the spectroscope, the volcanic flames issuing from Santorin and Stromboli. He recognised hydrogen as their principal constituent; sodium was shown in abundance, and copper, chlorine, and sodium were detected. From observations of the former volcano, the same observer concludes that oscillatory motions of volcanic upheavings are always perpendicular to the faults, and that they may be compared to the movements of a wound, the lips or edges of which open and shut by turns.
‘Scientific notes of the month’, The Gentleman’s Magazine, August 1867, pp. 226-7. I’m not sure why sodium is mentioned twice. ’M. Janssen’ is Pierre Janssen (1824-1907), French astronomer and discoverer of helium. The spectroscope or spectrometer remains a vital tool in volcanology.
The Daily Volcano Quote: from Monday to Friday, a new eruption of volcanic verbiage each day.
SI/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report 8-14 September 2010 16 September 2010
Posted by admin in activity reports, Alaska, Arenal, Batu Tara, Caribbean, Chile, Cleveland, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dukono, Ecuador, Ekarma, eruptions, Guatemala, Hawaii, Indonesia, Japan, Kamchatka, Karymsky, Kilauea, Kliuchevskoi, Nevado del Huila, Planchón-Peteroa, Reventador, Russia, Sakura-jima, Sangay, Santa María, Shiveluch, Sinabung, Soufrière Hills, Suwanose-jima, United States, Weekly Volcanic Activity Reports.Tags: Global Volcanism Program
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The Global Volcanism Program has put together a bumper Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 8-14 September 2010. Sally Kuhn Kennert of the GVP compiled the report. Some highlights:
- Nevado del Huila: alert level raised following increase in seismicity and gas/ash emissions
- Soufrière Hills: several small-to-moderate pyroclastic flows descended the dome and took parts of it down with them
- Arenal: rumbled its way through August with gas emissions, strombolian eruptions and avalanches
- Sinabung: threw ash plumes up to 4.3-4.6 km altitude
Click on the map for a larger version (1280 x 898 pixels).
The Smithsonian Institution/United States Geological Survey Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 8-14 September 2010 is now available on the Global Volcanism Program website. The following is a summary and not a substitute for the full report.
- The current report: Weekly Volcanic Activity Report.
- Previous reports: Weekly Reports Archive.
- The SI/USGS map of volcanoes discussed this week.
New activity/unrest: Cleveland (Alaska, USA), Ekarma (Russia), Kliuchevskoi (Russia), Nevado del Huila (Colombia), Planchón-Peteroa (Chile), Santa María (Guatemala), Sinabung (Indonesia).
Ongoing activity: Arenal (Costa Rica), Batu Tara (Indonesia), Dukono (Indonesia), Karymsky (Russia), Kilauea (Hawaii USA), Reventador (Ecuador), Sakura-jima (Japan), Sangay (Ecuador), Shiveluch (Russia), Soufrière Hills (Montserrat), Suwanose-jima (Japan).
Note: a.s.l. = ‘above sea level’.
Costa Rica: simultaneous eruptions at Turrialba and Poás 15 September 2010
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In volcanically active Costa Rica two volcanoes chose to erupt simultaneously yesterday, says the English-language news site Inside Costa Rica: both Turrialba and Poás erupted what journalists insist on calling ‘smoke’ early on the morning of Tuesday 14 September. As the two volcanoes are 55 kilometres apart the effect of simultaneity will have been lost on anyone actually present at either of them. The eruptions do not seem to have been particularly significant: experts from OVSICORI regard the activity as normal, with clear skies and lack of wind making the volcanoes’ habitual emissions more visible than usual. OVSICORI volcanologists will be visiting the volcanoes to evaluate the effects of the activity.
News
Turrialba and Poás volcanoes in simultaneous eruptions – Inside Costa Rica, 15 September 2010
Information
Global Volcanism Program: Poás – summary information for Poás (1405-04=)
Global Volcanism Program: Turrialba – summary information for Turrialba (1405-07=)
Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica – OVSICORI website
The Daily Volcano Quote: hot waters and eternal snows 15 September 2010
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Volcanoes have a natural Relation to hot Baths: Thus Vesuvius had the Biae of the Ancients in its Neighbourhood, and Iceland is full of Springs naturally very hot, bubbling up like a boiling Pot, so that Meat has been dressed therein. This mixture of hot Waters, and eternal Snows, is very extraordinary.
John Anderson, ‘A description of Iceland and Greenland’, Penny London Post or The Morning Advertiser, 1 June 1747, p. 1.
The Daily Volcano Quote: from Monday to Friday, a new eruption of volcanic verbiage each day.
Colombian volcano update: Galeras, Huila, Machín 15 September 2010
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Galeras erupted on 25 August: the Colombian geological authority INGEOMINAS described the eruption as ‘of low explosivity’. Ashfall was reported up to 30 km NW of the volcano, and an evacuation order was issued affecting about 7000 people (although as usual few people heeded the evacuation) there were no casualties and no reports of damage. The alert level was raised to the highest level of Red on 25 August and lowered to Orange on the following day. Tremors continued for 12 hours following the eruption before gradually declining. Evidence gathered during an overflight by INGEOMINAS on 26 August suggested that a new crater had been opened by the eruption on Galeras’s north flank. On 7 September INGEOMINAS lowered the alert level to Yellow, at which level Galeras remains. The latest bulletin (14 September) reports a low level of seismic activity and minor gas-and-ash emissions. There have been some signs of deformation since 9 September at the summit of the volcano.
Nevado del Huila has a tendency to produce sulphur dioxide emissions, and SO2 plumes from the volcano have been detected frequently since the middle of June. The level of seismicity and its intensity increased, with a greater number of shallow hybrid earthquakes beneath the main summit (Pico Central). Because of this change in Huila’s seismic behaviour, INGEOMINAS raised the alert level for the volcano from Yellow to the second-highest level of Orange on 15 June. Low-level activity continued during June, July and August, with SO2 emissions, fluctuating seismicity and small ash emissions being reported. The alert level was returned to Yellow on 6 July and remained at that level until 9 September, when a marked increase in volcanic tremor and emissions/incandescence at the summit (‘very recurrent and energetic pulses of tremor, associated with pulsing surface emissions of gas, ashes and incandescent material’) prompted INGEOMINAS to raise the alert level to Orange. The Colombian authorities have advised local residents to leave the area, and municipalities around the volcano have been making emergency preparations. The most recent bulletin of 14 September reports continuing high levels of seismicity with pulses of tremor associated with emissions of gas, ash and incandescent material, whitish-blue and grey emissions columns reaching up to 2 kilometres above the summit, and high concentrations of SO2. Nevado del Huila remains on Orange alert, ‘eruption probable within days or weeks’.
Machín experienced a volcanic-tectonic earthquake of magnitude 2.6 at 3.87 km depth yesterday, which was felt by residents in nearby towns. Seismic unrest was noted at Machín earlier this summer: on 24 July INGEOMINAS reported a ‘seismic crisis’ characterized by an increase in relatively shallow volcanic-tectonic earthquakes. Machín has been on Yellow alert for a long time, and remains at that level.
Information
Global Volcanism Program: Galeras – summary information for Galeras (1501-08=)
Global Volcanism Program: Nevado del Huila – summary information for Nevado del Huila (1501-05=)
Global Volcanism Program: Machín – summary information for Machín (1501-04=)
Instituto Colombiano de Geología y Minería – main page for INGEOMINAS
INGV head ponders keeping seismic data secret 15 September 2010
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Dr Enzo Boschi, director of the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, when not thinking aloud about Marsili seamount erupting and unleashing a tsunami on Southern Italy (‘it could happen tomorrow’), is concerned that the easy availability of scientific data in the non-specialist public arena is causing unnecessary fear and alarm. Perhaps, for example, the seismic data collected by the INGV should not be published? The media, says Boschi, distort the data and act as scaremongers, spreading panic and feeding the ‘prophets of doom’.
Apparently Boschi may just have been joking about halting the publication of data. But he will certainly have had his reasons for floating the idea.
IMPORTANT NOTE: please take the time to read an invaluable comment on this issue (also cross-posted to this thread at Eruptions) from Boris Behncke of the INGV.
UPDATE. Interesting sidelights on the Chinese approach to earthquake science in this article in New Humanist magazine: ‘An official from China’s national earthquake administration spoke positively on the programme about parrots that can predict tremblors and the paranormal abilities of a man who claimed he heard ringing in his ears before the April earthquake in Yushu, northwest China’. Following the Tangshan earthquake of 1976, which killed around 240,000 people, ‘Officials were singled out for having ignored purported natural indicators of disaster: these apparently included the migration of yellow weasels and unusually large catches of fish’. Italian seismologists have their problems, but things could be worse.
News
Italians consider hiding seismic data to reduce public ‘melodrama’ – ScienceInsider, 14 September 2010
The Daily Volcano Quote: use a hot water bottle, dream of Etna 14 September 2010
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Thus, with reference to dreams occasioned by corporeal sensation, Dugald Steward mentions the case of a friend, who, having found it necessary to apply a bottle of hot water to his feet, when he went to bed, dreamed that he was making a journey to the top of Mount Etna, and that he found the heat of the ground insupportable. This dream was evidently the result of the mind, or imagination, which, between waking and sleeping, had associated the sensation excited by the bottle of hot water with that which might be excited by the hot cinders that surround a volcano.
‘Dreams, and visions of the night’, La Belle Assemblée; or, Bell’s Court and Fashionable Magazine, 1 October 1823, p. 154.
La Belle Assemblée, a British magazine ‘Addressed Particularly to the Ladies’, was founded by John Bell in 1806 and ran until 1868. Dugald Stewart (1753-1828) was a Scottish philosopher, ‘the pride and ornament of Scotland’.
The Daily Volcano Quote: from Monday to Friday, a new eruption of volcanic verbiage each day.
