Montserrat

The Year 9 geographers have been having a look at Montserrat in their geography lessons this week... The Montserrat Volcanic Observatory have just posted this lovely photo on their Facebook page... Click on the photo to link to the MVO website.

Ash...

I'm pleased to see from some emails that you are keeping an eye on what's going on with Eyjafjallajokull at the moment. If you have missed the news (I'm not sure how you'd have managed to do that really...) a quick Google News search for "iceland volcano" will bring you up to speed!

In the midst of all the news about UK airports being closed though, there's not been much coverage of what's actually going on in Iceland - flash flooding caused by the melting of the glacier above the volcano has caused hundreds of residents to be evacuated... Find out more and practise your Icelandic with some of these news reports: http://dagskra.ruv.is/sjonvarpid/4497963/2010/04/15/6/ (there are links to several different news clips below the video) and check out Iceland Review, where there are frequent updates (and links to some impressive videos and photos) in English.

There's also an excellent set of links here to more images, blogs, webcams, etc. and the links I've collected so far (going back to the start of the eruption in March) are here.

Montserrat "explosion"

Just noticed that the Montserrat Volcanic Observatory have added some new photos to their Flickr page, so had a look at their website to find that the alert level has been upped to 4 (5 being the highest) and that there was an explosion which caused a large pyroclastic flow on Friday.

Some excellent images and a range of videos (including some thermal ones) of pyroclastic flows on the MVO website...

Philippine volcano fears....

I still remember Mr Munday, one of my A Level Geography teachers, telling us that whenever he taught natural hazards/plate tectonics, he could pretty much guarantee that there would be an earthquake or a volcanic eruption somewhere in the world, and I have certainly found that to be the case every time that I have taught hazards/tectonics.

The most recent news is that more than 20,000 people have had to evacuate their homes in the area around Mayon in the Philippines, following a series of ash explosions and lava flows.

More from the BBC here...

Mt Redoubt

Although the alert level has been reduced, there's ongoing Mt Redoubt activity... And a fantastic panoramic image (view full size):

Mt Chaiten

This was the view of Mt Chaiten in Chile in May this year...

Photo: Flickr user CaromicForever (CC)

Residents are on the alert again now as Mt Chaiten is showing further signs of activity.

Volcanic eruption in Chile

More from the BBC here... And "In Pictures"...

Indonesian Volcanoes...

Not much in the news yesterday about the eruption of Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau) in Indonesia...Indonesians are more concerned with the prospect of an eruption of Mt Kelud... More here from the Times, and a picture gallery here.

Etna Eruption...

Hot on the heels of the weekend's earthquake in Kent (which you will no doubt know all about by now!) Mt Etna is erupting as I type... Click on the picture to read the story from the Telegraph website... There is also some video footage on the BBC website.

Yesterday's volcanic eruption...

Interestingly, it was my Year 8s today who could tell me all about the eruption of Stromboli - both Yr9 groups (who are studying Natural Hazards at the moment) claimed not to have heard of Stromboli!

Check out the BBC coverage here, or have a look at the webcams on this site (actually, I don't know how good they are - it's dark in Italy at the moment!!)

Volcanic eruption... But where is it?

The image above shows lava plunging into the sea earlier today, and residents of the small volcanic island have been warned of the tsunami risk... But where is it? Leave a comment if you think you know... (Clue, this picture came from the BBC website.)

More Montserrat activity...

I posted back in January about the Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat... Although activity died down for a while, there have been lots of earthquakes, rockfalls and pyroclastic flows in the past couple of weeks, and according to the "Recent Activity" section of the MVO website, there was "bright glowing on the East and North of the dome" on 14th February, and the Alert Level remains at 4 (the second highest).

(Still not found a webcam though...)

How do you make mud tired?

Indonesian scientists think they know the answer to that one...

They are planning to drop 1000 metal chains, each with 4 concrete balls attached into a "mud volcano" on the island of Java. It has been leaking hot mud and gas since May last year, and could continue for years to come if something is not done. The idea is that the mud will flow around the concrete balls and lose energy, thereby stopping the flow...

Other scientists are sceptical...

Click on the picture, read the full story, and leave a comment to let us know what you think... Ingenious idea? Or a bit daft? What would you do?

Montserrat on high alert...

I've mentioned Earthweek before, but it is always good to be reminded of these things!

This week's edition tells of an ash plume from the Soufriere Hills volcano on Montserrat, which has resulted in the island being put on high alert, and hundreds of people being evacuated.

It also reports of snakes in China being observed for unusual behaviour - which would be a sure sign of an earthquake on the way...