Daily Archives: 9. October 2020
Hurricane Delta Hits Louisiana – LIVE BREAKING NEWS COVERAGE
Increased activity at Pacaya volcano, Guatemala
A period of increased volcanic activity started at Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano on Thursday, October 8, 2020, with intense Strombolian activity ejecting volcanic material up to 300 m (984 feet), ash emissions and at least 4 lava flows. Pacaya is a highly active basaltic volcano with frequent lava flows and Strombolian explosions originating in the Mackenney crater.
Volcanic ash is extending about 12 km (7.4 miles) to the west of the volcano, INSIVUMEH reports.
The current activity is creating 4 lava flows on the northern and eastern flank with a length of 250 and 300 m (820 and 300 feet).
Explosions at Pacaya volcano on October 8, 2020
A period of increased volcanic activity started at Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano on Thursday, October 8, 2020, with intense Strombolian activity ejecting volcanic material up to 300 m (984 feet), ash emissions and at least 4 lava flows. Pacaya is a highly active basaltic volcano with frequent lava flows and Strombolian explosions originating in the Mackenney crater.
Volcanic ash is extending about 12 km (7.4 miles) to the west of the volcano, INSIVUMEH reports.
The current activity is creating 4 lava flows on the northern and eastern flank with a length of 250 and 300 m (820 and 300 feet).
Explosions at Pacaya volcano on October 8, 2020
Atmospheric conditions are allowing visual observation of lava flows from various parts of the capital city.
New lava flows are possible and a further increase in activity is not ruled out, INSIVUMEH noted.
VOLCÁN PACAYA. En Caldero Los Llanos, Villa Canales se realiza visita de campo y monitoreo al volcán Pacaya, en el recorrido participa la Coordinadora Local para la Reducción de Desastres -COLRED-. Fuente: Sergio Girón, Delegado Departamental de la CONRED.
VOLCÁN PACAYA. La Unidad de Prevención de Volcanes -UPV- mantiene monitoreo y comunicación permanente con comunidades aledañas al volcán Pacaya. Fotografía: Nancy de Ozaeta, COLRED Concepción El Cedro.
A period of increased volcanic activity started at Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano on Thursday, October 8, 2020, with intense Strombolian activity ejecting volcanic material up to 300 m (984 feet), ash emissions and at least 4 lava flows. Pacaya is a highly active basaltic volcano with frequent lava flows and Strombolian explosions originating in the Mackenney crater.
Volcanic ash is extending about 12 km (7.4 miles) to the west of the volcano, INSIVUMEH reports.
The current activity is creating 4 lava flows on the northern and eastern flank with a length of 250 and 300 m (820 and 300 feet).
Explosions at Pacaya volcano on October 8, 2020
Atmospheric conditions are allowing visual observation of lava flows from various parts of the capital city.
People who live in areas near the Pacaya volcano are recommended to attend to the information shared by local authorities, review their Family Response Plan and have the 72-hour backpack ready for each member of the family.
To the residents and tourists, avoid approaching the Pacaya volcano area.
A period of increased volcanic activity started at Guatemala’s Pacaya volcano on Thursday, October 8, 2020, with intense Strombolian activity ejecting volcanic material up to 300 m (984 feet), ash emissions and at least 4 lava flows. Pacaya is a highly active basaltic volcano with frequent lava flows and Strombolian explosions originating in the Mackenney crater.
Volcanic ash is extending about 12 km (7.4 miles) to the west of the volcano, INSIVUMEH reports.
The current activity is creating 4 lava flows on the northern and eastern flank with a length of 250 and 300 m (820 and 300 feet).
Explosions at Pacaya volcano on October 8, 2020
Atmospheric conditions are allowing visual observation of lava flows from various parts of the capital city.
People who live in areas near the Pacaya volcano are recommended to attend to the information shared by local authorities, review their Family Response Plan and have the 72-hour backpack ready for each member of the family.
To the residents and tourists, avoid approaching the Pacaya volcano area.
Geological summary
Eruptions from Pacaya, one of Guatemala’s most active volcanoes, are frequently visible from Guatemala City, the nation’s capital. This complex basaltic volcano was constructed just outside the southern topographic rim of the 14 x 16 km (8.7 x 9.9 miles) Pleistocene Amatitlán caldera. A cluster of dacitic lava domes occupies the southern caldera floor.
The post-caldera Pacaya massif includes the ancestral Pacaya Viejo and Cerro Grande stratovolcanoes and the currently active Mackenney stratovolcano.
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=Pacaya+Guatemala&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=6&iwloc=B&output=embed
The collapse of Pacaya Viejo between 600 and 1 500 years ago produced a debris-avalanche deposit that extends 25 km (15 miles) onto the Pacific coastal plain and left an arcuate somma rim inside which the modern Pacaya volcano (Mackenney cone) grew.
A subsidiary crater, Cerro Chino, was constructed on the NW somma rim and was last active in the 19th century.
During the past several decades, activity has consisted of frequent strombolian eruptions with intermittent lava flow extrusion that has partially filled in the caldera moat and armored the flanks of Mackenney cone, punctuated by occasional larger explosive eruptions that partially destroy the summit of the growing young stratovolcano. (GVP)
Featured image credit: Nancy de Ozaeta, COLRED Concepción El Cedro.
Posted by Teo Blašković on October 9, 2020 at 12:18 UTC
Iceland’s most active volcano on verge of erupting again, scientists warn
Getty Images / Arctic-Images
Getty Images / Arctic-ImagesScientists in Iceland have raised the threat level for the Grimsvotn volcano, warning there are now multiple indications that an eruption could soon take place.
This volcano experienced an unusually powerful eruption in 2011, firing a 20km pillar of ash into the air, but was overshadowed by the smaller eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano the previous year, which forced the cancellation of some 100,000 flights in an unprecedented disruption.
Recently, the volcano has been observed “inflating” as new magma enters the chambers beneath it once again, and the resulting increased thermal activity has melted more ice. Localized earthquake activity has also increased, all combining to suggest that an eruption may soon take place.
Seismologists are now on the lookout for an intense swarm of earthquakes, which could last up to 10 hours, signaling a rush of magma to the surface and an imminent eruption.
Though a slim possibility, an eruption event of a similar scale to 2011 would exacerbate an already precarious situation for the airline industry which has been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Grimsvotn volcano is hidden beneath a shield of ice, with only one old ridge on its south side exposed, which is where the most recent eruptions have occurred. Grimsvotn has experienced at least 65 eruptions in the past 800 years, making it the country’s most frequently erupting volcano.
There are typically gaps of four to 15 years between smaller, more recent eruptions, while larger eruptions appear to take place every 150 to 200 years, with major events recorded in 2011, 1873, 1619.
Heat output from the volcano has increased dramatically in recent months, prompting the raising of the alert level, and is extremely high at present, melting surrounding ice and creating a large, hidden lake of meltwater some 100 meters deep beneath the 260-meter thick glacier above.
This poses a risk to nearby infrastructure as the meltwater can escape without warning, traveling through subterranean volcanic tunnels before emerging some 45km away. The passage of water through these tunnels is now monitored to prevent loss of life in case of sudden flash floods.
However, these sudden flood events also dramatically reduce the pressure at the volcano proper and can even trigger a full-blown eruption.
Mercifully, as a result of the ice cap on top of the volcano, and the meltwater reservoir beneath, the ash that will spew forth from the volcano will likely be dampened immediately.
While there will be some disruption to air travel, it hopefully won’t be on the scale of the Eyjafjallajokull event, though volcanic activity is notoriously hard to predict as evidenced by the 2010 eruption which caught the world off guard.
RT
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 11:47 UTC
Solar storm: Huge flare bursts from the Sun – Watch NASA video
A HUGE solar flare burst out of the Sun, and the phenomenon was caught in stunning detail by NASA cameras.
The Sun is constantly bubbling and erupting, releasing huge solar flares into space and when it does, it releases a barrage of solar particles into the cosmos. NASA has just released a video of a massive solar flare, which if it had been released earlier, the bombardment of solar particles would have been on a collision course with Earth.
The video from NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite shows the Sun beginning to murmur, before a huge flare is released.
Astronomy site Space Weather said: “If only this had happened one week ago.
Thankfully this time, the solar flare will miss Earth, but had it been a few days earlier our planet would be right in the crosshairs.
“A beautifully bright coronal mass ejection (CME) lumbered away from the Sun on October 6.
“NOAA forecasters say the CME will miss Earth. However, if this same explosion had happened just one week ago when the blast site was facing Earth, we would now be declaring a geomagnetic storm warning.”
For the most part, solar flares are relatively harmless.
On a normal occasion, a solar flare is responsible for auroras seen here on Earth.
This is because the magnetosphere deflects the particles from the Sun, leading to the blue and green lights in the northern and southern poles.
Solar flares can damage Earth’s technologiesHowever, on occasion, solar flares can be so powerful that they pose a threat to Earth’s technology.
As solar particles bombard the atmosphere, it can cause the magnetosphere to expand.
As such, it makes it much more difficult for satellite communications to penetrate the atmosphere, damaging technologies such as mobile phones, satellite television and GPS.
A huge solar flare can also cause a surge in the national grid, causing power outages.
Rarely does an event such as this happen, with the biggest technology-crippling solar storm coming in 1859, when a surge in electricity during what is now known as the Carrington Event, was so strong that telegraph systems went down across Europe.
There are also reports that some buildings set on fire as a result of the electrical surge.
However, another major solar storm could occur, which has led researchers to urge policy makers to invest in better infrastructure to observe our host star.
A recent study from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Russia, said: “A major solar storm could shut down electricity, television broadcasts, the internet, and radio communications, leading to significant cascading effects in many areas of life.
“According to some experts, the damage from such an extreme event could cost up to several trillion dollars and the restoration of infrastructure and the economy could take up to 10 years.
“Thus, understanding and forecasting the most hazardous extreme events is of prime importance for the protection of society and technology against the global hazards of space weather.”
SeanMartin
The Express (UK)
Fri, 09 Oct 2020 18:14 UTC
https://www.sott.net/article/442612-Solar-storm-Huge-flare-bursts-from-the-Sun-Watch-NASA-video
Iceland’s Most Active Volcano Looks Like It’s Getting Ready to Erupt Again
As a result, authorities have recently raised the threat level for this volcano.
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Iceland’s Most Active Volcano Looks Like It’s Getting Ready to Erupt Again
Dave McGarvie, The Conversation
9 Oct 2020
The ice-covered Grímsvötn volcano on Iceland produced an unusually large and powerful eruption in 2011, sending ash 20 kilometres into the atmosphere, causing the cancellation of about 900 passenger flights. In comparison, the much smaller 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull led to the cancellation of about 100,000 flights.
Understandably, any mention of another explosive eruption from an Icelandic volcano will raise concerns in the air travel industry, which is currently reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.
But there are clear signs that the Grímsvötn volcano is getting ready to erupt again. As a result, the authorities have recently raised the threat level for this volcano.
Grímsvötn is a peculiar volcano, as it lies almost wholly beneath ice, and the only permanently visible part is an old ridge on its south side which forms the edge of a large crater (a caldera). And it is along the base of this ridge, under the ice, that most recent eruptions have occurred.
Another peculiarity is that the heat output from the volcano is extraordinarily high (2000-4000 MW), and this melts the overlying ice and produces a hidden subglacial lake of meltwater. This is up to 100 metres (328 feet) deep and has ice up to about 260 metres (850 feet) thick floating on it. Fresh ice is continually flowing into the caldera, where it melts, and so the water level just keeps rising and rising.
This meltwater can escape suddenly, and after travelling southwards beneath the ice for about 45 kilometres it emerges at the ice margin as a flood, which in the past has washed away roads and bridges. Fortunately, the passage of meltwater beneath the ice to its outlet can be tracked, and so roads are closed in good time to avoid travellers getting caught in the flood and killed.
Yet another important peculiarity of Grímsvötn is that it can have a hair-trigger response to pressure. This happens when the meltwater lake drains – removal of the water from across the top of the volcano rapidly reduces the pressure.
This can trigger an eruption – it’s like lifting the lid off a pressure cooker. This has happened many times at Grímsvötn.
Grímsvötn is Iceland’s most frequently erupting volcano, and over the past 800 years some 65 eruptions are known with some certainty. The time gaps between eruptions are variable – and, for example, prior to the larger 2011 eruption there were smaller eruptions in 2004, 1998 and 1983 with gaps of between four and 15 years.
Crucially, and with the next eruption in mind, Grímsvötn appears to have a pattern of infrequent larger eruptions that occur every 150-200 years (for example 2011, 1873, 1619), with smaller and more frequent eruptions occurring roughly once a decade in between.
Signs of activity
A high frequency of eruptions at a volcano allows scientists to detect patterns that lead to eruptions (precursors). And if these are repeated each time a volcano erupts then it becomes possible for scientists to be more confident that an eruption is likely to happen in the near future.
It is, however, seldom possible to be precise about the exact day.
Icelandic scientists have been carefully monitoring Grímsvötn since its 2011 eruption, and have seen various signals that suggest the volcano is getting ready to erupt.
For example, the volcano has been inflating as new magma moves into the plumbing system beneath it (think of burying a balloon in the sand and then inflating it). Increasing thermal activity has been melting more ice and there has also been a recent increase in earthquake activity.
So what happens next? Again, based on the pattern observed at past eruptions, an intense swarm of earthquakes lasting a few hours (one to ten hours) will signal that magma is moving towards the surface and that an eruption is imminent. In cases where the hidden subglacial lake drains and triggers the eruption, the earthquakes occur after the lake has drained and just before the eruption.
The smaller Grímsvötn eruptions expend a lot of energy when they interact with water and ice at the surface. That means the resulting ash gets wet and sticky and so falls from the sky relatively quickly.
Ash clouds therefore only travel a few tens of kilometres from the eruption site. This is a good scenario for Icelanders and also for air travel, as it prevents the formation of substantial ash clouds that could drift around and close off airspace.
But will it be a small eruption? If Grímsvötn’s past pattern of occasional large eruptions with more numerous smaller eruptions occurring in between continues into the future, then the next eruption should be a small one (given there was a large one in 2011). And the word “should” is important here – Iceland’s volcanoes are complex natural systems and patterns are not always followed faithfully.
Dave McGarvie, Volcanologist, Lancaster University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Thanks to Laurel for this link
“This will be a topper for 2020 if it does go off,” says Laurel.
The post Iceland’s Most Active Volcano Looks Like It’s Getting Ready to Erupt Again appeared first on Ice Age Now.
by Robert
Media Criticizes Trump For Downplaying Virus Threat By Not Dying
Close to the bone:
The Babylon Bee
WASHINGTON, D.C—President Donald Trump is once again under fire from the media for recklessly downplaying the danger of COVID by refusing to die. As the president begins to show signs of recovery, many worry that this sends the wrong message about the seriousness of the global pandemic.
“His defiance is going to get people killed. Dying like he’s supposed to would be the most patriotic thing he could do,” complained CNN correspondent Adam Pelot. “If he lives, how will the people be able to trust science?”
Tagged: satire and parody
The disappointment this week in news rooms was palpable.
In other news, Biden may be far ahead in the polls, but Gallup Polling shows 56% think Trump will win, and only 40% think Biden will win.
According to David Catron, this is a more useful indicator than asking people “who they’ll vote for”:
July 17th 2020: The American Spectator
Lately, pollsters and pundits have been nervously pondering the following question: “If Trump is behind in the polls, why do most voters say, in the same surveys, that he will win the upcoming election?”
via JoNova
October 9, 2020 at 01:12PM
The Guardian: Climate Denial is an Extreme Form of Avocado Buyer’s Guilt
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
According to The Guardian, people who reject the idea we are in the midst of a climate emergency may be suffering an extreme form of the kind of climate anxiety Guardian readers experience, when wrestling with their conscience over whether to purchase an avocado.
‘Hijacked by anxiety’: how climate dread is hindering climate action
A growing school of psychologists believe the trauma of the climate crisis is a key barrier to change
Jillian Ambrose
Energy correspondentThu 8 Oct 2020 17.00 AEDTYou’re browsing in a supermarket and fretting mildly about the air miles of some green beans. Or you’re daydreaming of that island holiday you deserve once the pandemic has died down but worrying about whether you should be flying.
…
Maybe nothing you do will matter anyway.
They call it climate anxiety – a sense of dread, gloom and almost paralysing helplessness that is rising as we come to terms with the greatest existential challenge of our generation, or any generation.
…
“As that trauma is coming to the surface today we see this as anxiety,” she says.
Those left standing in a supermarket unsure whether they should buy an avocado may be suffering from mild eco-anxiety, according to Hickman. “You’re not falling apart but you feel caught in a dilemma.”
…
In its most extreme form this inability to engage presents itself as a complete denial of the climate crisis and climate science. But even among those who accept the dire predictions for the natural world, there are “micro-denials” that can block the ability to take action.
…
Who would have guessed that our repressed feelings of extreme guilt for enjoying the occasional chicken avocado salad are what drive us to reject the climate emergency?
The only question, should we seek a resolution to our repressed anxiety by cutting back on Avocado consumption, in the hope that the intensity of our climate guilt recedes sufficiently that we become consciously aware of it?
Or would it be better to provoke a crisis of conscience which forces us to acknowledge our personal climate anxiety, by eating more Avocados?
via Watts Up With That?
October 9, 2020 at 12:57PM
Why President Trump Recovered So Quickly
Dr. Fauci explains why President Trump recovered so quickly.
Slowing The Spread Of Sanity
We are now into week 30 of the two week lockdown.