MonsterandCRitics.com: Volcano smoke forces air traffic reroute in eastern Russia
Moscow - Smoke and ash pumped thousands of metres into the air by a restless Russian volcano forced rerouting of international air traffic, officials in the far eastern province of Kamchatka said Tuesday.
Intensifying activity inside the volcano Shiveluch, which is located in the centre of the Pacific Ocean peninsula Kamchatka, had thrown up a column of smoke, gas and ash more than 7 kilometres high, according to a statement from Russia's National Geophysical Service (RNES).
Although the volcano was not actively erupting, increasing pressure inside the volcano in recent weeks has triggered low-level earthquakes in the vicinity and thrown stones from the crater, it reported.
The RNES on Tuesday issued an orange rating for the volcano, one step below its most dangerous red rating.
The substantial smoke cloud and potential for an actual eruption make the volcano unsafe for tourists and aircraft to approach, Interfax reported.
Russia's remote Kamchatka peninsula is adjacent to a major air corridor for aircraft traveling between Japan, South Korea, and North America.
The nearest inhabited district to the volcano, the town Klyuchi, some 50 kilometres to the south-east, was not evacuated, according to news reports.
Shiveluch, one of Russia's largest and most active volcanoes, saw its last catastrophic eruption in 1956.
The volcano has emitted smoke and gas regularly since then. Its activity intensified in May.
Russia's Kamchatka peninsula is one of the world's most active seismic zones. The region contains some 150 volcanoes
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Bleach in the Icelandic Volcanic Cloud
ScienceDaily: Bleach in the Icelandic Volcanic Cloud
ScienceDaily (May 27, 2011) — One year after the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland brought European air traffic to a standstill its ash plume revealed a surprising scientific finding: Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz found that the ash plume contained not only the common volcanic gas sulfur dioxide, but also free chlorine radicals. Chlorine radicals are extremely reactive and even small amounts can have a profound impact on local atmospheric chemistry. The findings, which will be published in "Geophysical Research Letters" give solid evidence of volcanic plume chlorine radical chemistry and allowed calculations of chlorine radical concentrations.
It has been known for some time that volcanic eruptions emit chlorine-containing gases, causing scientists to suspect that highly reactive chlorine radicals could also be present. However, sufficient experimental evidence proved elusive. That changed when researchers analyzed air collected in the ash cloud emitted by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. During three special flights conducted by Lufthansa in spring 2010 using the CARIBIC atmospheric measurement container, researchers collected air samples which they brought back to their laboratory in Mainz for analysis. Among the compounds they looked for were hydrocarbons.
"Each volcano has its own character," says Angela Baker, lead author of the paper. "We found that hydrocarbon concentrations were up to 70% lower inside the Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud than outside. Reaction with chlorine radicals was the only realistic explanation for the hydrocarbon losses. And further investigation confirmed that free chlorine radicals were the cause." The scientists calculated concentrations of up to 66,000 chlorine atoms per cubic centimeter of air. While modest compared to concentrations of other gases, chlorine radicals are normally absent, and it does not take much of these very reactive atoms to have a noticeable impact on atmospheric chemistry.
Hydrocarbons like propane and butane can be found even in the cleanest and most remote parts of the lower atmosphere. Normally they are removed when they react with hydroxyl radicals, but they react many times faster with chlorine radicals. In doing so the chlorine reactions leave their specific "signature" on the mixture of hydrocarbons in the air. This signature can, in turn, be used to calculate how many chlorine radicals were present. The Max Planck scientists who calculated volcanic ash cloud chlorine radical concentrations for the first time anticipate that similar results will be found in plumes from other volcanoes, such as the currently erupting Grimsvötn. They also hope that their method will be used during future studies to identify and understand volcanic chlorine radical chemistry.
ScienceDaily (May 27, 2011) — One year after the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland brought European air traffic to a standstill its ash plume revealed a surprising scientific finding: Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz found that the ash plume contained not only the common volcanic gas sulfur dioxide, but also free chlorine radicals. Chlorine radicals are extremely reactive and even small amounts can have a profound impact on local atmospheric chemistry. The findings, which will be published in "Geophysical Research Letters" give solid evidence of volcanic plume chlorine radical chemistry and allowed calculations of chlorine radical concentrations.
It has been known for some time that volcanic eruptions emit chlorine-containing gases, causing scientists to suspect that highly reactive chlorine radicals could also be present. However, sufficient experimental evidence proved elusive. That changed when researchers analyzed air collected in the ash cloud emitted by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. During three special flights conducted by Lufthansa in spring 2010 using the CARIBIC atmospheric measurement container, researchers collected air samples which they brought back to their laboratory in Mainz for analysis. Among the compounds they looked for were hydrocarbons.
"Each volcano has its own character," says Angela Baker, lead author of the paper. "We found that hydrocarbon concentrations were up to 70% lower inside the Eyjafjallajökull ash cloud than outside. Reaction with chlorine radicals was the only realistic explanation for the hydrocarbon losses. And further investigation confirmed that free chlorine radicals were the cause." The scientists calculated concentrations of up to 66,000 chlorine atoms per cubic centimeter of air. While modest compared to concentrations of other gases, chlorine radicals are normally absent, and it does not take much of these very reactive atoms to have a noticeable impact on atmospheric chemistry.
Hydrocarbons like propane and butane can be found even in the cleanest and most remote parts of the lower atmosphere. Normally they are removed when they react with hydroxyl radicals, but they react many times faster with chlorine radicals. In doing so the chlorine reactions leave their specific "signature" on the mixture of hydrocarbons in the air. This signature can, in turn, be used to calculate how many chlorine radicals were present. The Max Planck scientists who calculated volcanic ash cloud chlorine radical concentrations for the first time anticipate that similar results will be found in plumes from other volcanoes, such as the currently erupting Grimsvötn. They also hope that their method will be used during future studies to identify and understand volcanic chlorine radical chemistry.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Half-term is on again!
DailyMail.co.uk: Half-term is on again! Met Office now says there is NO THREAT of volcano ash cloud ruining the Whitsun holidays for thousands
By Ray Massey and David Derbyshire
The Met Office today confirmed that the volcanic ash cloud posed no threat to families planning a getaway over the bank holiday weekend.
A spokesman said the situation was 'improving' with a much reduced concentration of ash drifting over the UK at 35,000-55,000 feet.
The Civil Aviation Authority confirmed no flights from the UK would be disrupted at the weekend.
However despite the optimism, the Met Office emphasised that it was a forecast and their predictions were dependent on Mother Nature.
The agency recommended travellers keep up to day with their airline for any changes.
Eruptions from Iceland’s Grimsvotn volcano have now stopped.
The statement comes after the Met Office was attacked by Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary who blamed the agency for a ‘totally inaccurate’ forecast that showed a dense cloud of ash engulfing the UK just in time for tomorrow’s bank holiday and half-term getaway.
On Tuesday night the organisation had insisted it stood by its prediction that an ash cloud of the highest density would cover the whole of the UK from 35,000ft to 55,000ft.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said the new forecast meant the bank holiday getaway could go ahead uninterrupted.
He has also put in place a new structure to deal more efficiently with any future eruptions by Icelandic volcanos.
‘The threat to the bank holiday has been lifted,’ he announced.
It means a big sigh of relief for millions of Britons preparing to fly out on half-term holiday ahead of Bank Holiday Monday.
The news follows days of uncertainty which saw hundreds of flights cancelled to and from Scotland and northern England as the ash cloud moved across the Continent.
Mr O’Leary told Channel 4 News last night: ‘You cannot shut airspace on the basis of these entirely inaccurate Met Office forecasts of where a volcano ash plume may move 2,000 miles south of Iceland. It makes no sense.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
One year after Eyjafjoell, Iceland volcano Grimvotn shuts down flights
CourierMail.com.au: One year after Eyjafjoell, Iceland volcano Grimvotn shuts down flights
A NEW volcanic eruption in Iceland has shut down the country's airspace, a year after the eruption of nearby Eyjafjoell caused aviation chaos across Europe.
However experts and aviation authorities said the impact of the Grimsvotn eruption should not be as far-reaching.
Grimsvotn, Iceland's most active volcano located at the heart of its biggest glacier Vatnajoekull, began erupting late on Saturday (early Sunday AEST), sending a plume of smoke and ash as high as 20km into the sky.
Ash soon covered nearby villages and farms and had by Sunday morning reached the capital, nearly 400 kilometres to the west.
"It's just black outside, and you can hardly tell it is supposed to be bright daylight," said Bjorgvin Hardarsson, a farmer at Hunbakkar Farm in the nearby village of Kirkjubaejarklaustur.
On Sunday morning, Iceland's airport administration, Isavia, announced that the country's main airport Keflavik was shutting and that basically all of the country's airspace was closing due to the ash cloud.
The airspace closure "affects pretty much all of Iceland right now, at least for the next hours... flights to and from Iceland are shutting down," said Isavia spokeswoman Hjordis Gudmundsdottir, adding that flight routes to the north of the North Atlantic island nation could also be affected.
However, she stressed, the fact that winds were blowing the ash to the north was far better than last year's eruption of Eyjafjoell, when a massive cloud of ash was blown to the south and southeast over mainland Europe.
The Eyjafjoell eruption caused the planet's biggest airspace shutdown since World War II, lasting almost a month, amid fears the volcanic ash could wreak havoc on aircraft engines.
By late morning on Sunday, no other European countries had decided to close their airspace, although aviation authorities in Britain and Scandinavia, among the hardest hit last year, said they were keeping a close eye on developments.
The European air safety organisation EuroControl said no impact was expected on European airspace outside Iceland or on transatlantic flights for at least 24 hours.
In The Netherlands, an aviation authority spokeswoman said there were as yet no plans to cancel a flight planned from the Amsterdam-Schiphol airport to Keflavik at 2200 AEST.
With ash falling on villages in the surrounding area and as far away as Reykjavik on Sunday, geophysicists at Iceland's Meteorological Office said they expected the Grimsvotn eruption to have far less impact on international flights than last year's blast.
"I don't expect this will have the same effect as Eyjafjoell volcano because the ash is not as fine," said Gunnar Gudmundsson.
"I don't think this will have much of an effect on international flights, or that it will shut down airports abroad."
Einar Kjartansson, another geophysicist at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, however insisted "it's much too early to say".
"If the eruption lasts for a long time we could be seeing similar effects as seen with Eyjafjoell last year," he cautioned, but added that for the time being "most of the traffic at least to the south of Iceland will probably not be affected".
"We don't know what will happen after that. We are expecting weather changes on Tuesday, when the winds should change to a northwesterly direction and the ash should clear from us here (in Reykjavik)," he said.
Experts have been quick to note though that no two volcanic eruptions are alike, and Gudmundsson said it was unlikely that Grimsvotn would emit a similar kind of ash — fine, with very sharp particles — as found in the massive plume that burst from Eyjafjoell.
"The eruption is still going strong, but because the ash is basalt it is rougher and falls back down to earth much quicker," he said.
Grimsvotn, which has erupted nine times between 1922 and 2004, is located in an enormous caldera — a collapsed volcanic crater — eight kilometres in diameter near the centre of the Vatnajoekull icefield.
When it last erupted in November 2004, volcanic ash fell as far away as mainland Europe and caused minor disruptions in flights to and from Iceland.
Geologists had worried late last year the volcano was about to blow when they noticed a large river run caused by rapidly melting glacier ice.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
EU energy chief sees nuclear deal in days
Reuters: EU energy chief sees nuclear deal in days
(Reuters) - The European Union will likely reach a deal on the shape of stress tests for the bloc's 143 nuclear reactors in the next few days, European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Thursday.
The European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group, ENSREG, and the EU's executive Commission came close to a deal on the structure of the tests, but talks fell apart when the Commission introduced last-minute changes.
Oettinger told reporters most criteria for the stress tests have been reached and only a few other questions remained for the working group seeking to craft a plan. He did not identify the remaining sticking points.
"Most of them are cleared," Oettinger told reporters after a conference in Prague. "We have two or three last questions for joint agreement."
"It is my intention, goal and interest to come to a joint agreement in the next days."
Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas, whose country runs six nuclear reactors and where officials have opposed wide-ranging tests, said member states could then approve the deal by mid-year.
But he made clear the Czechs would also remain in control of their own energy policy and that nuclear power would continue to play a key role.
"All criteria for the stress test should be negotiated by the first half of this year," Necas said.
"The tests will be then evaluated by the European Commission and European Council, which will approve their final version in June."
Necas, along with his Slovak counterpart Iveta Radicova, EU Energy Commissioner Oettinger, French Energy Minister Eric Besson and others, was in Prague for a meeting on nuclear power.
The European Union has agreed to test its nuclear reactors for their resistance to extreme events after an earthquake and tsunami badly damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.
The commission had the mandate to develop the tests but not to force a member state to do the tests or shut down a nuclear power plant. EU officials, however, have said any plant that fails will be difficult to defend in the face of mounting public concern.
The dispute has grown between those, such as EU energy commissioner Oettinger, who want the tests to be as wide-ranging as possible, and others such as the Czechs or the French, who have opposed the inclusion of terrorist scenarios, specifically the crash of a large airplane into a nuclear plant.
Czech Industry Minister Martin Kocourek said security was a priority for the Czechs but that under the Lisbon Treaty it would not be possible for the European Commission to set requirements in sovereign matters.
"We cannot accept proposals for further expansion of the stress test in the areas which fall under the sovereignty of member states and which are dealt with on the national level," he said in a statement.
(Reuters) - The European Union will likely reach a deal on the shape of stress tests for the bloc's 143 nuclear reactors in the next few days, European Union Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said on Thursday.
The European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group, ENSREG, and the EU's executive Commission came close to a deal on the structure of the tests, but talks fell apart when the Commission introduced last-minute changes.
Oettinger told reporters most criteria for the stress tests have been reached and only a few other questions remained for the working group seeking to craft a plan. He did not identify the remaining sticking points.
"Most of them are cleared," Oettinger told reporters after a conference in Prague. "We have two or three last questions for joint agreement."
"It is my intention, goal and interest to come to a joint agreement in the next days."
Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas, whose country runs six nuclear reactors and where officials have opposed wide-ranging tests, said member states could then approve the deal by mid-year.
But he made clear the Czechs would also remain in control of their own energy policy and that nuclear power would continue to play a key role.
"All criteria for the stress test should be negotiated by the first half of this year," Necas said.
"The tests will be then evaluated by the European Commission and European Council, which will approve their final version in June."
Necas, along with his Slovak counterpart Iveta Radicova, EU Energy Commissioner Oettinger, French Energy Minister Eric Besson and others, was in Prague for a meeting on nuclear power.
The European Union has agreed to test its nuclear reactors for their resistance to extreme events after an earthquake and tsunami badly damaged the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.
The commission had the mandate to develop the tests but not to force a member state to do the tests or shut down a nuclear power plant. EU officials, however, have said any plant that fails will be difficult to defend in the face of mounting public concern.
The dispute has grown between those, such as EU energy commissioner Oettinger, who want the tests to be as wide-ranging as possible, and others such as the Czechs or the French, who have opposed the inclusion of terrorist scenarios, specifically the crash of a large airplane into a nuclear plant.
Czech Industry Minister Martin Kocourek said security was a priority for the Czechs but that under the Lisbon Treaty it would not be possible for the European Commission to set requirements in sovereign matters.
"We cannot accept proposals for further expansion of the stress test in the areas which fall under the sovereignty of member states and which are dealt with on the national level," he said in a statement.
Federal appeals court upholds nuke plant license
Bloomsberg Business Week: Federal appeals court upholds nuke plant license
LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decision to renew the operating license for the nation's oldest nuclear power plant.
Five environmental and citizens groups claimed the NRC didn't have sufficient information to determine whether the Oyster Creek plant in Lacey Township, N.J., can operate safely for the next 20 years.
But the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia found the NRC did not abuse its discretion in rejecting the objections.
The court also says it appears events in Japan don't provide a reason to review Oyster Creek's license. Oyster Creek, which started operating in 1969, shares the same design as the stricken Fukushima Daiichi reactor that continues to spew radiation into the atmosphere in Japan following an April earthquake and tsunami that knocked out crucial safety and cooling systems.
"The court has washed its hands of Oyster Creek, but they washed it in tritium-contaminated water," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. He was referring to radioactive groundwater that leaked from underground pipes at the plant in 2009 and which could threaten drinking water supplies if it spreads.
Oyster Creek's owners have decided to shut the plant down in 2019, ten years ahead of schedule. They reached a deal with Gov. Chris Christie's administration in December calling for the early shutdown in return for the state dropping its insistence that Oyster Creek build one or more costly cooling towers to end the plant's use of billions of gallons of creek water to cool the plant.
That system kills billions of marine creatures each year, and is blamed by environmentalists for raising water temperatures and contributing to the algae blooms and increased numbers of stinging jellyfish in Barnegat Bay and nearby waterways.
The NRC granted Oyster Creek a new 20-year license in April 2009, rejecting criticism from a coalition of residents and environmental groups that the plant was too old and degraded to operate safely for another two decades.
The opposition centered on corrosion to the plant's drywell shield, a metal enclosure that keeps superheated radioactive steam within a containment building around the reactor.
The NRC, which governs the industry, had determined the shield is safe despite previous water leaks that caused rust to eat away parts of it.
The plant's operator, Chicago-based Exelon Corp., had applied a strong coating material to the liner and removed a sand bed at the base of the reactor that was found to hold moisture.
Oyster Creek's design -- a boiling-water reactor -- is considered obsolete by today's standards.
The Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station near Oswego, N.Y., went online Dec. 1, 1969, the same day as Oyster Creek, and recently got a new 20-year license. But Oyster Creek's original license was granted first, technically making it the oldest of the nation's 104 commercial nuclear reactors that are still operating.
Oyster Creek, located in the Forked River section of Lacey Township, about 50 miles east of Philadelphia and 75 miles south of New York City, generates enough electricity to power 600,000 homes a year. It provides 9 percent of New Jersey's electricity.
In its ruling, the appeals court determined the NRC did not abuse its discretion in granting the license over the objections of the opponents.
"We are confident that the NRC's review of Exelon's application was well-reasoned, and we will not second-guess technical decisions within the realm of its unique expertise," the court said in its ruling.
Tittel said it is extremely difficult for citizen groups to get a court to go against a government agency when that agency has proper legal oversight of a matter in question.
"This decision doesn't mean the plant is safe and the issues we raised are not important," he said. "It means the court decided to trust the NRC. There are still major problems with the plant including an inadequate, corroding containment wall, inadequate fire protection, issues with tritium leaks and elevated spent fuel rod storage and problems stemming from the aging of the facility."
The court also said the Japanese nuclear crisis provides no reason to re-open Oyster Creek's case.
LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's decision to renew the operating license for the nation's oldest nuclear power plant.
Five environmental and citizens groups claimed the NRC didn't have sufficient information to determine whether the Oyster Creek plant in Lacey Township, N.J., can operate safely for the next 20 years.
But the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia found the NRC did not abuse its discretion in rejecting the objections.
The court also says it appears events in Japan don't provide a reason to review Oyster Creek's license. Oyster Creek, which started operating in 1969, shares the same design as the stricken Fukushima Daiichi reactor that continues to spew radiation into the atmosphere in Japan following an April earthquake and tsunami that knocked out crucial safety and cooling systems.
"The court has washed its hands of Oyster Creek, but they washed it in tritium-contaminated water," said Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. He was referring to radioactive groundwater that leaked from underground pipes at the plant in 2009 and which could threaten drinking water supplies if it spreads.
Oyster Creek's owners have decided to shut the plant down in 2019, ten years ahead of schedule. They reached a deal with Gov. Chris Christie's administration in December calling for the early shutdown in return for the state dropping its insistence that Oyster Creek build one or more costly cooling towers to end the plant's use of billions of gallons of creek water to cool the plant.
That system kills billions of marine creatures each year, and is blamed by environmentalists for raising water temperatures and contributing to the algae blooms and increased numbers of stinging jellyfish in Barnegat Bay and nearby waterways.
The NRC granted Oyster Creek a new 20-year license in April 2009, rejecting criticism from a coalition of residents and environmental groups that the plant was too old and degraded to operate safely for another two decades.
The opposition centered on corrosion to the plant's drywell shield, a metal enclosure that keeps superheated radioactive steam within a containment building around the reactor.
The NRC, which governs the industry, had determined the shield is safe despite previous water leaks that caused rust to eat away parts of it.
The plant's operator, Chicago-based Exelon Corp., had applied a strong coating material to the liner and removed a sand bed at the base of the reactor that was found to hold moisture.
Oyster Creek's design -- a boiling-water reactor -- is considered obsolete by today's standards.
The Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station near Oswego, N.Y., went online Dec. 1, 1969, the same day as Oyster Creek, and recently got a new 20-year license. But Oyster Creek's original license was granted first, technically making it the oldest of the nation's 104 commercial nuclear reactors that are still operating.
Oyster Creek, located in the Forked River section of Lacey Township, about 50 miles east of Philadelphia and 75 miles south of New York City, generates enough electricity to power 600,000 homes a year. It provides 9 percent of New Jersey's electricity.
In its ruling, the appeals court determined the NRC did not abuse its discretion in granting the license over the objections of the opponents.
"We are confident that the NRC's review of Exelon's application was well-reasoned, and we will not second-guess technical decisions within the realm of its unique expertise," the court said in its ruling.
Tittel said it is extremely difficult for citizen groups to get a court to go against a government agency when that agency has proper legal oversight of a matter in question.
"This decision doesn't mean the plant is safe and the issues we raised are not important," he said. "It means the court decided to trust the NRC. There are still major problems with the plant including an inadequate, corroding containment wall, inadequate fire protection, issues with tritium leaks and elevated spent fuel rod storage and problems stemming from the aging of the facility."
The court also said the Japanese nuclear crisis provides no reason to re-open Oyster Creek's case.
NRC Finds Many U.S. Nuclear Plants Ill-Prepared to Handle Simultaneous Threats
The New York Times: Energy and Environment: NRC Finds Many U.S. Nuclear Plants Ill-Prepared to Handle Simultaneous Threats
On April 26, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff did a safety "walkdown" of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on southern California's coast, part of NRC inspections of all U.S. reactors that were triggered by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster in Japan.
The NRC's inspection report, released Friday, did not flag the plant's owner, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) for a serious violation of the rules the commission has imposed to assure the plant's safe shutdown in an anticipated emergency.
But it did list more than a half-dozen issues that could jeopardize the plant if it were confronted with the kind of chain reaction of unexpected and unplanned-for calamities that struck the Fukushima nuclear complex.
The NRC investigators reported:
--The plant had a single diesel-driven pump to provide emergency cooling water to a single reactor in case an earthquake cut off normal water flow. The pump could not have serviced both of the plant's reactors if they lost normal water supply simultaneously, the NRC staff said.
--Some doors at the plant required to protect against flooding of major safety equipment would not self-latch as required. One latch was "degraded," they said.
The plant's six emergency diesel generators were located in the same plant area, and thus vulnerable to a "common mode" failure.
--An earthquake could cause a structural failure in the building where the fire truck is stored, and debris could block crews from using the truck.
--PG&E planned for a contractor to provide seawater for emergency cooling, but had no backup plan if an earthquake and tsunami blocked highways to the plant. PG&E intended to rely on the California National Guard to deliver diesel fuel for emergency generators if roads were impassable, but had no memorandum of understanding in place for the deliveries.
--Four 20-foot extension cables, used to operate fans that cool portable generators, were missing from their storage location.
Vulnerabilities found at dozens of U.S. reactors
Something under one-third of the 104 U.S. reactors were found to have some vulnerabilities to extreme emergencies, according to the NRC, which is preparing a summary of its post-Fukushima findings.
The NRC says that all issues have been fixed or put on schedule for correction, and that the safety of the reactors was not compromised.
PG&E spokesman Paul Flake said issues reported by the NRC had been identified by the company's own review after Fukushima, and an inspection by the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations, the industry's confidential safety monitor. "All of the issues identified in the [NRC] inspection report are being addressed. We continue to work with the NRC to introduce safety improvements" required to protect the plant, he said.
"Our inspectors found all the reactors would be kept safe even in the event their regular safety systems were affected by these events, although a few plants have to do a better job maintaining the necessary resources and procedures," said Eric Leeds, director of the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
But the U.S. plants are now being reviewed in Fukushima's harsher light, that of a disaster far greater than planned for, which spread confusion among plant operators.
"We'll review the plants' responses [to the inspections] to see if they need to take any additional actions to meet our existing requirements, along with seeing what the NRC might need to do to enhance those requirements and continue to protect public health and safety," NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko said last week.
At a time when the NRC and industry leaders are calling for a rigorous safety culture within the U.S. nuclear industry, the inspection findings raise questions about whether some plants were following the letter of requirements but not prepared for "unthinkable" events.
One-at-a-time readiness
Among the findings in other reports:
Entergy's Arkansas Nuclear One plant safety plan is directed against the loss of offsite power to one of its units, and does not anticipate a simultaneous additional threat such as an earthquake.
Numerous manhole inspections in the past year have revealed safety-related cables submerged in water, a problem the NRC inspectors identified as minor.
At Duke Energy's Oconee Nuclear Station in South Carolina, pumps that would be used to remove water from auxiliary buildings in a flood could not be used because the plugs did not fit any outlets in the area.
Instrumentation on spent fuel pools would be unavailable if power were lost, which would require workers to visually inspect water levels -- "an unacceptable requirement under some scenarios," the NRC said. One such scenario would be a loss of water in the pool to a level that permitted fuel rods to ignite and release perilously high radiation levels.
The Palo Verde nuclear plant, operated by the Arizona Public Service Co., determined that some seals that were not hardened to withstand seismic shocks could fail in an earthquake, allowing water to enter rooms containing electrical equipment used to shut down the plant. Three tanks at the plant could rupture, leaking water into the plant, and a backup diesel generator and electrical switch gear were vulnerable to flooding in such an emergency.
The report on Dominion Resources' Millstone Power Station in Connecticut noted that some equipment is classified as "seismically qualified" and must function during and after the maximum earthquake anticipated for the site (based on historical data plus a safety margin).
However, most sump pumps and flooding detectors are considered "non-safety related" and thus are not hardened to withstand earthquakes, the report said. Firefighting equipment staged to respond to severe fires or explosions was not stored in hardened buildings because a severe fire and an earthquake "were not assumed to occur coincidentally."
An "isolation valve" for unit 1 would have to be operated to pressure the fire main to fight fire. But the valve would be under water following an anticipated flood that occurred at the same time as a fire. These issues are under review, the NRC said.
At Entergy's Indian Point 2 station on the Hudson River above New York City, inspectors reported that fire fighting equipment is not designed to withstand earthquakes, which could compromise the fire protection system. Generally, plants are not required to survive a simultaneous loss of outside and internal alternating current power ("station blackout") and an earthquake, the NRC said.
In a severe accident at Indian Point, where it was crucial to relieve pressure inside the reactor containment, high pressures could damage equipment required to carry out the venting and "potentially prevent containment depressurization," the NRC said. Workers at Fukushima were forced to vent hydrogen and steam after fuel assemblies melted in order to prevent an even more catastrophic damage to reactor containment structures and a far greater radiation release.
Ameren's Callaway nuclear plant in Missouri assigns operating staff to make up the fire brigade, but trying to fight two fires at once would be "very difficult" because of limited staffing, the NRC said.
The company had not assessed the capability of a halon fire suppression system that protects essential switchgear rooms. "The licensee determined that this equipment does not need to be evaluated based on an industry frequently asked question," the NRC said. The company has trained workers to use water to fight electrical switchgear fires if halon is not available, the report said, raising the risk of flooding in adjacent rooms with electrical controls because flood doors have not been established. The NRC said issues at both Indian Point and Callaway are being evaluated.
Threats not contemplated by designers
The inspections highlight a distinction between safety measures that are required and routinely inspected, based on anticipated risks -- the "design basis" events -- and threats that are considered too unlikely to require the same level of safety ruggedness, or "beyond design basis" events.
"I am really bothered by this separation between design basis and beyond-design basis," NRC Commissioner George Apostolakis said at a commission meeting last week.
"I appreciate the need for a design basis. Licensees know what they have to have to do. We impose all sorts of conditions. This particular pump must deliver this flow rate under these conditions. And then we are going to inspect. We asking them to test it and tell us what they find, all that."
The plant owners' responses to beyond design basis threats are usually voluntary. "We keep saying, 'Oh, these are beyond basis events therefore we don't' get involved.' We are happy that the industry responded. We look at it once. That's it. In the future it's up to them. I am really bothered by that."
"It is a constant challenge we have to deal with," NRC director of operations Bill Borchardt responded. "There is a balance."
On April 26, Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff did a safety "walkdown" of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant on southern California's coast, part of NRC inspections of all U.S. reactors that were triggered by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant disaster in Japan.
The NRC's inspection report, released Friday, did not flag the plant's owner, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) for a serious violation of the rules the commission has imposed to assure the plant's safe shutdown in an anticipated emergency.
But it did list more than a half-dozen issues that could jeopardize the plant if it were confronted with the kind of chain reaction of unexpected and unplanned-for calamities that struck the Fukushima nuclear complex.
The NRC investigators reported:
--The plant had a single diesel-driven pump to provide emergency cooling water to a single reactor in case an earthquake cut off normal water flow. The pump could not have serviced both of the plant's reactors if they lost normal water supply simultaneously, the NRC staff said.
--Some doors at the plant required to protect against flooding of major safety equipment would not self-latch as required. One latch was "degraded," they said.
The plant's six emergency diesel generators were located in the same plant area, and thus vulnerable to a "common mode" failure.
--An earthquake could cause a structural failure in the building where the fire truck is stored, and debris could block crews from using the truck.
--PG&E planned for a contractor to provide seawater for emergency cooling, but had no backup plan if an earthquake and tsunami blocked highways to the plant. PG&E intended to rely on the California National Guard to deliver diesel fuel for emergency generators if roads were impassable, but had no memorandum of understanding in place for the deliveries.
--Four 20-foot extension cables, used to operate fans that cool portable generators, were missing from their storage location.
Vulnerabilities found at dozens of U.S. reactors
Something under one-third of the 104 U.S. reactors were found to have some vulnerabilities to extreme emergencies, according to the NRC, which is preparing a summary of its post-Fukushima findings.
The NRC says that all issues have been fixed or put on schedule for correction, and that the safety of the reactors was not compromised.
PG&E spokesman Paul Flake said issues reported by the NRC had been identified by the company's own review after Fukushima, and an inspection by the Institute for Nuclear Power Operations, the industry's confidential safety monitor. "All of the issues identified in the [NRC] inspection report are being addressed. We continue to work with the NRC to introduce safety improvements" required to protect the plant, he said.
"Our inspectors found all the reactors would be kept safe even in the event their regular safety systems were affected by these events, although a few plants have to do a better job maintaining the necessary resources and procedures," said Eric Leeds, director of the NRC's Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
But the U.S. plants are now being reviewed in Fukushima's harsher light, that of a disaster far greater than planned for, which spread confusion among plant operators.
"We'll review the plants' responses [to the inspections] to see if they need to take any additional actions to meet our existing requirements, along with seeing what the NRC might need to do to enhance those requirements and continue to protect public health and safety," NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko said last week.
At a time when the NRC and industry leaders are calling for a rigorous safety culture within the U.S. nuclear industry, the inspection findings raise questions about whether some plants were following the letter of requirements but not prepared for "unthinkable" events.
One-at-a-time readiness
Among the findings in other reports:
Entergy's Arkansas Nuclear One plant safety plan is directed against the loss of offsite power to one of its units, and does not anticipate a simultaneous additional threat such as an earthquake.
Numerous manhole inspections in the past year have revealed safety-related cables submerged in water, a problem the NRC inspectors identified as minor.
At Duke Energy's Oconee Nuclear Station in South Carolina, pumps that would be used to remove water from auxiliary buildings in a flood could not be used because the plugs did not fit any outlets in the area.
Instrumentation on spent fuel pools would be unavailable if power were lost, which would require workers to visually inspect water levels -- "an unacceptable requirement under some scenarios," the NRC said. One such scenario would be a loss of water in the pool to a level that permitted fuel rods to ignite and release perilously high radiation levels.
The Palo Verde nuclear plant, operated by the Arizona Public Service Co., determined that some seals that were not hardened to withstand seismic shocks could fail in an earthquake, allowing water to enter rooms containing electrical equipment used to shut down the plant. Three tanks at the plant could rupture, leaking water into the plant, and a backup diesel generator and electrical switch gear were vulnerable to flooding in such an emergency.
The report on Dominion Resources' Millstone Power Station in Connecticut noted that some equipment is classified as "seismically qualified" and must function during and after the maximum earthquake anticipated for the site (based on historical data plus a safety margin).
However, most sump pumps and flooding detectors are considered "non-safety related" and thus are not hardened to withstand earthquakes, the report said. Firefighting equipment staged to respond to severe fires or explosions was not stored in hardened buildings because a severe fire and an earthquake "were not assumed to occur coincidentally."
An "isolation valve" for unit 1 would have to be operated to pressure the fire main to fight fire. But the valve would be under water following an anticipated flood that occurred at the same time as a fire. These issues are under review, the NRC said.
At Entergy's Indian Point 2 station on the Hudson River above New York City, inspectors reported that fire fighting equipment is not designed to withstand earthquakes, which could compromise the fire protection system. Generally, plants are not required to survive a simultaneous loss of outside and internal alternating current power ("station blackout") and an earthquake, the NRC said.
In a severe accident at Indian Point, where it was crucial to relieve pressure inside the reactor containment, high pressures could damage equipment required to carry out the venting and "potentially prevent containment depressurization," the NRC said. Workers at Fukushima were forced to vent hydrogen and steam after fuel assemblies melted in order to prevent an even more catastrophic damage to reactor containment structures and a far greater radiation release.
Ameren's Callaway nuclear plant in Missouri assigns operating staff to make up the fire brigade, but trying to fight two fires at once would be "very difficult" because of limited staffing, the NRC said.
The company had not assessed the capability of a halon fire suppression system that protects essential switchgear rooms. "The licensee determined that this equipment does not need to be evaluated based on an industry frequently asked question," the NRC said. The company has trained workers to use water to fight electrical switchgear fires if halon is not available, the report said, raising the risk of flooding in adjacent rooms with electrical controls because flood doors have not been established. The NRC said issues at both Indian Point and Callaway are being evaluated.
Threats not contemplated by designers
The inspections highlight a distinction between safety measures that are required and routinely inspected, based on anticipated risks -- the "design basis" events -- and threats that are considered too unlikely to require the same level of safety ruggedness, or "beyond design basis" events.
"I am really bothered by this separation between design basis and beyond-design basis," NRC Commissioner George Apostolakis said at a commission meeting last week.
"I appreciate the need for a design basis. Licensees know what they have to have to do. We impose all sorts of conditions. This particular pump must deliver this flow rate under these conditions. And then we are going to inspect. We asking them to test it and tell us what they find, all that."
The plant owners' responses to beyond design basis threats are usually voluntary. "We keep saying, 'Oh, these are beyond basis events therefore we don't' get involved.' We are happy that the industry responded. We look at it once. That's it. In the future it's up to them. I am really bothered by that."
"It is a constant challenge we have to deal with," NRC director of operations Bill Borchardt responded. "There is a balance."
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Scientists move closer to predicting volcano hazard
PlanetEarthOnline: Scientists move closer to predicting volcano hazard
UK and Russian scientists say they are a step closer to predicting how dangerous a volcano is after developing a method that lets them figure out how individual volcanoes are 'plumbed'.
The new approach means researchers need only analyse a single chunk of rock from a volcano to work out how big and deep its magma chamber is.
The same method also lets them calculate the length and width of the vent that brings the magma from the chamber to the surface.
Having both measurements is vital for predicting how hazardous a volcano will be.
'Generally speaking if a volcano has a big magma chamber and a narrow, short vent, the volcano tends to be more explosive than a volcano with a small chamber and wide vent,' says Professor Jon Blundy from the University of Bristol, a member of the research team.
'So, if we know the details of the plumbing system underneath a volcano, we're in a better position to say how dangerous it is likely to be,' he adds.
Being able to predict how hazardous a volcano is has long been the Holy Grail for volcanologists. But the size and depth of magma chambers underneath volcanoes varies hugely, and finding out the inner dimensions of individual volcanoes' plumbing systems has until now proved time-consuming, challenging and expensive.
Now researchers at the University of Bristol and Moscow State University have developed a mathematical model that is cheap, safe and easy to apply.
It relies on a fact volcanologists have known about for some time: as magma moves from the magma chamber towards the surface, both crystals and gas bubbles form inside the magma. The rate at which crystals and bubbles grow depends on just how quickly the magma rises to the surface, which in turn depends on the diameter of the vent through which it travels.
'Magma from explosive volcanoes produces rocks with lots of bubbles in it, whereas rocks from volcanoes that ooze magma more slowly contain crystals of different sizes,' explains Blundy.
The researchers have taken this further: using their mathematical model they show that the range of sizes and types of crystal in volcanic rock also tells them about the plumbing for different volcanoes.
'Counting the size of the crystals gives us a window into the subterranean plumbing of a volcano,' says Blundy.
To test their model, the researchers applied it to a rock sample from Mount St Helens volcano in the US, which erupted in the 1980s.
Their model predicted a vent diameter of around 30 metres, connecting the volcanic crater to a magma chamber at a depth of around 14 kilometres. These predictions fit with other estimates using more traditional techniques like satellites or seismometers.
'The idea is to use this surprisingly simple and low cost technique in conjunction with some of the other methods to tell us about individual volcanoes' plumbing systems, that then inform our models of how volcanoes operate during eruptions,' Blundy says.
The study is published in the April 2011 edition of the journal Geology
UK and Russian scientists say they are a step closer to predicting how dangerous a volcano is after developing a method that lets them figure out how individual volcanoes are 'plumbed'.
The new approach means researchers need only analyse a single chunk of rock from a volcano to work out how big and deep its magma chamber is.
The same method also lets them calculate the length and width of the vent that brings the magma from the chamber to the surface.
Having both measurements is vital for predicting how hazardous a volcano will be.
'Generally speaking if a volcano has a big magma chamber and a narrow, short vent, the volcano tends to be more explosive than a volcano with a small chamber and wide vent,' says Professor Jon Blundy from the University of Bristol, a member of the research team.
'So, if we know the details of the plumbing system underneath a volcano, we're in a better position to say how dangerous it is likely to be,' he adds.
Being able to predict how hazardous a volcano is has long been the Holy Grail for volcanologists. But the size and depth of magma chambers underneath volcanoes varies hugely, and finding out the inner dimensions of individual volcanoes' plumbing systems has until now proved time-consuming, challenging and expensive.
Now researchers at the University of Bristol and Moscow State University have developed a mathematical model that is cheap, safe and easy to apply.
It relies on a fact volcanologists have known about for some time: as magma moves from the magma chamber towards the surface, both crystals and gas bubbles form inside the magma. The rate at which crystals and bubbles grow depends on just how quickly the magma rises to the surface, which in turn depends on the diameter of the vent through which it travels.
'Magma from explosive volcanoes produces rocks with lots of bubbles in it, whereas rocks from volcanoes that ooze magma more slowly contain crystals of different sizes,' explains Blundy.
The researchers have taken this further: using their mathematical model they show that the range of sizes and types of crystal in volcanic rock also tells them about the plumbing for different volcanoes.
'Counting the size of the crystals gives us a window into the subterranean plumbing of a volcano,' says Blundy.
To test their model, the researchers applied it to a rock sample from Mount St Helens volcano in the US, which erupted in the 1980s.
Their model predicted a vent diameter of around 30 metres, connecting the volcanic crater to a magma chamber at a depth of around 14 kilometres. These predictions fit with other estimates using more traditional techniques like satellites or seismometers.
'The idea is to use this surprisingly simple and low cost technique in conjunction with some of the other methods to tell us about individual volcanoes' plumbing systems, that then inform our models of how volcanoes operate during eruptions,' Blundy says.
The study is published in the April 2011 edition of the journal Geology
Scientists seek sleepy volcano’s wake-up call
TheColumbian.com: Scientists seek sleepy volcano’s wake-up call
Mount St. Helens has been mostly quiet since its most recent dome-building eruptions ended in January 2008. But scientists say it’s a sure thing the volatile volcano in our backyard will reawaken.
The question they hope to answer is when.
Clues to the volcano’s future lie in the faint signals of magma moving in a cigar-shaped chamber deep within the mountain, in the eruptive history of a similar volcano on Russia’s remote Kamchatka Peninsula, and in the long geological record contained within Mount St. Helens itself.
Cynthia Gardner, a scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, predicts the mountain will resume rebuilding itself sooner rather than later.
“Mount St. Helens will probably erupt again within the next several decades,” she says. “As we look at its eruptive history, we know there was a flank collapse 2,500 years ago. We saw the cone rebuild itself over a century or a century and a half.”
Yet since the 1980 eruption, she said, the mountain has rebuilt only 7 percent of its pre-eruption mass. “If we look at patterns from St. Helens’ past history, and from volcanoes around the world, we come to the conclusion we are likely to see more eruptions.”
Mapping the mountain
Michael Clynne, a USGS scientist based in Menlo Park, Calif., has studied Mount St. Helens up close since 1997. He’s making a geological map of the area and visits the volcano every summer, climbing to the crater rim, camping out on the mountain’s flanks, walking around on its deposits, and collecting rocks.
Back in his lab, the rocks are sliced thin, studied under powerful microscopes and dated using radiocarbon dating or, for rocks older than 20,000 years, argon dating. They hold a record of volcanic activity stretching back thousands of years.
The rock specimens document that the explosive 1980 eruption, triggered by an earthquake and the largest volcanic landslide in history, was part of a cycle that has repeated itself over millennia. The pyroclastic flows of superheated gases, the debris flows and the ash deposits that instantly transformed the landscape were nothing new. In fact, the serene symmetrical peak that blew its top in 1980 is the product of a long, violent history — a history that is still being written.
“Twenty-two hundred years ago, there was a much bigger collapse on the south side of the mountain that dammed the Lewis River,” Clynne said. “Most of those deposits lie beneath Lewis River reservoirs now, but you can see the evidence around the reservoirs, in breakout lahars.”
Spirit Lake, displaced by the collapse of the north flank of the mountain in 1980, was created by the damming of the North Fork of the Toutle River about 3,900 years ago, Clynne said.
“There were big eruptions that blocked the Toutle River in the earliest part of the Spirit Lake stage” he said. “The lake has been created and destroyed several times. There have been big floods down the Toutle River several times in the past thousands of years, caused by the breaching of temporary lakes.”
Two big floods that occurred in the Pine Creek period, some 2,900 to 2,550 years ago, “may have been precipitated by the collapse of lava domes,” he said.
Based on his research to date, Clynne doesn’t expect another explosive eruption like the one in 1980 anytime soon.
“That eruption was caused by an accumulation of gas-rich magma,” he said. “That magma takes decades to centuries to accumulate, so typically, the mountain cannot have another of these eruptions in the near future. What happens next is that there is lots of magma left in the chamber, but it’s gas-poor. You get dome eruptions for decades to centuries.”
From late 1980 to 1986, Mount St. Helens spewed lava sporadically, building a lava dome that grew to a height of about 1,000 feet and a width of 3,500 feet. That was followed by a period of quiescence that lasted until 2004, when dome-building resumed.
The rock that emerged from the magma chamber during the 2004-08 period was composed of high-silica, gas-poor andesite and dacite.
“The lava comes out of the ground almost solid,” Clynne said. “It is not able to flow. It piles up right over the vent, then sort of falls over. It will do this again with gas-poor magma over the next few decades, until it gets a new load of gas-rich magma.”
“We have no way of knowing when the next batch of dacite will emerge,” he said. “When enough of it melts to separate, to become buoyant, it will come up the conduit to the shallow chamber.” That chamber lies five to six kilometers beneath the mountain and measures about one kilometer across.
“When you get enough gas-rich magma at the top, that’s when it erupts.”
In Clynne’s geological map, the entire edifice of the volcano and its flanks will be portrayed — a profile of Mount St. Helens through time.
The truncated mountain “will become a peak again,” Clynne said. “We can’t really say if it will be beautiful and symmetrical again. It depends on the kinds of eruptions and where the vents are. If it continues to build the way it is now, it will eventually fill the crater and reshape itself. That requires that we don’t have another collapse.”
Listening for magma
Tracking that flow of magma is a challenge, says Mike Lisowski, a geophysicist at the Cascades Volcano Observatory. With the help of sophisticated sensors, he studies the deformation of the mountain, looking for signals that magma is recharging within the volcano.
Mount St. Helens is one of two Cascade volcanoes being closely monitored by the Plate Boundary Observatory, a National Science Foundation-funded research project that studies movement between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. (The other peak is Mt. Shasta in northern California.)
The program has installed 30 GPS units on Mount St. Helens and out to a distance of 20 miles from the mountain. Tiltmeters on the flanks of the mountain also detect changes in its shape, known as deformation.
“It’s a pity that the Plate Boundary Observatory instruments weren’t put in earlier,” Lisowski said. “It would have been great to have had them in 2004.”
So far, deformation of the mountain due to the movement of magma is “barely perceptible,” Lisowski said.
“During the whole eruption period from 2004 to 2008, the site at Johnston Ridge Observatory moved toward the mountain by just one inch,” he said.
Yet there is movement of various types.
“When we look at sites all around the mountain, we see that they are all moving toward the mountain,” Lisowski said. “Also, there is a downward motion that indicates that somewhere deep inside the volcano, magma is being withdrawn. It’s deflation, like with a balloon. The walls of the balloon get smaller. The crust surrounds the balloon.”
Other things are going on beneath the mountain, as well.
“There’s background tectonic movement,” Lisowski said. “Everything is moving to the north-northeast.” Slow-motion underground earthquakes known as “slip events” occur when the Pacific plate slips beneath the North American plate.
“They aren’t releasing tremors, but they do cause movement,” Lisowski said. That makes it hard to detect deformation of the mountain itself. “We are looking for small volcanic signals in a background of tectonic events.”
A Russian ‘sister’
For a few years, geologists thought a remote Russian volcano called Bezymianny might hold the answer to the future of Mount St. Helens. The 9,453-foot peak erupted in a massive blast in 1956 that had a lot in common with Mount St. Helens. Bezymianny never stopped erupting during the following 50 years. By 2007, its lava dome covered most of the crater surface and poked well above the crater rim.
Both mountains are stratovolcanoes — mountains that build themselves with a series of eruptions spewing lava, ash, cinders and blocks.
The first sign that Mount St. Helens was reawakening in the fall of 2004 was the emergence of fire-red lava from within the crater. A week and a half later, on Oct. 1, the volcano shot a noontime blast of steam and ash into the sky. A new dome-building stage had begun.
Scientists looked to Bezymianny for clues to what might be next.
They calculated that the Russian volcano’s 50-year-old lava dome was at least 10 times the size of the 111 million cubic yards of material that piled up in the crater of St. Helens between 2004 and 2006.
John Pallister, a USGS geologist at the CVO, even speculated that the two mountains were “sister volcanoes,” and that if the eruption at Mount St. Helens were to continue indefinitely, in a few decades it would look a lot like Bezymianny.
That hasn’t happened. Dome-building activity at St. Helens stopped in 2008. The mountain did rumble to life briefly three months ago, on Valentine’s Day, with a 4.3-magnitude earthquake north of the peak, followed by more than a half-dozen smaller aftershocks.
But scientists said the seismic activity did not indicate that magma was rising within the volcano. Instead, they speculated that it might be a sign of post-eruption settling in the landscape surrounding the mountain.
Assumptions shaken
Research into the history of the volcano has shattered old assumptions, Clynne said.
“We used to think the volcano began 45,000 years ago. We started dating rock and found it really began 250,000 years ago.”
Mount St. Helens is by far the world’s most-studied volcano. That’s among its most important legacies, Clynne said.
“Mount St. Helens has renewed interest in volcanology all over the world.”
Mount St. Helens has been mostly quiet since its most recent dome-building eruptions ended in January 2008. But scientists say it’s a sure thing the volatile volcano in our backyard will reawaken.
The question they hope to answer is when.
Clues to the volcano’s future lie in the faint signals of magma moving in a cigar-shaped chamber deep within the mountain, in the eruptive history of a similar volcano on Russia’s remote Kamchatka Peninsula, and in the long geological record contained within Mount St. Helens itself.
Cynthia Gardner, a scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, predicts the mountain will resume rebuilding itself sooner rather than later.
“Mount St. Helens will probably erupt again within the next several decades,” she says. “As we look at its eruptive history, we know there was a flank collapse 2,500 years ago. We saw the cone rebuild itself over a century or a century and a half.”
Yet since the 1980 eruption, she said, the mountain has rebuilt only 7 percent of its pre-eruption mass. “If we look at patterns from St. Helens’ past history, and from volcanoes around the world, we come to the conclusion we are likely to see more eruptions.”
Mapping the mountain
Michael Clynne, a USGS scientist based in Menlo Park, Calif., has studied Mount St. Helens up close since 1997. He’s making a geological map of the area and visits the volcano every summer, climbing to the crater rim, camping out on the mountain’s flanks, walking around on its deposits, and collecting rocks.
Back in his lab, the rocks are sliced thin, studied under powerful microscopes and dated using radiocarbon dating or, for rocks older than 20,000 years, argon dating. They hold a record of volcanic activity stretching back thousands of years.
The rock specimens document that the explosive 1980 eruption, triggered by an earthquake and the largest volcanic landslide in history, was part of a cycle that has repeated itself over millennia. The pyroclastic flows of superheated gases, the debris flows and the ash deposits that instantly transformed the landscape were nothing new. In fact, the serene symmetrical peak that blew its top in 1980 is the product of a long, violent history — a history that is still being written.
“Twenty-two hundred years ago, there was a much bigger collapse on the south side of the mountain that dammed the Lewis River,” Clynne said. “Most of those deposits lie beneath Lewis River reservoirs now, but you can see the evidence around the reservoirs, in breakout lahars.”
Spirit Lake, displaced by the collapse of the north flank of the mountain in 1980, was created by the damming of the North Fork of the Toutle River about 3,900 years ago, Clynne said.
“There were big eruptions that blocked the Toutle River in the earliest part of the Spirit Lake stage” he said. “The lake has been created and destroyed several times. There have been big floods down the Toutle River several times in the past thousands of years, caused by the breaching of temporary lakes.”
Two big floods that occurred in the Pine Creek period, some 2,900 to 2,550 years ago, “may have been precipitated by the collapse of lava domes,” he said.
Based on his research to date, Clynne doesn’t expect another explosive eruption like the one in 1980 anytime soon.
“That eruption was caused by an accumulation of gas-rich magma,” he said. “That magma takes decades to centuries to accumulate, so typically, the mountain cannot have another of these eruptions in the near future. What happens next is that there is lots of magma left in the chamber, but it’s gas-poor. You get dome eruptions for decades to centuries.”
From late 1980 to 1986, Mount St. Helens spewed lava sporadically, building a lava dome that grew to a height of about 1,000 feet and a width of 3,500 feet. That was followed by a period of quiescence that lasted until 2004, when dome-building resumed.
The rock that emerged from the magma chamber during the 2004-08 period was composed of high-silica, gas-poor andesite and dacite.
“The lava comes out of the ground almost solid,” Clynne said. “It is not able to flow. It piles up right over the vent, then sort of falls over. It will do this again with gas-poor magma over the next few decades, until it gets a new load of gas-rich magma.”
“We have no way of knowing when the next batch of dacite will emerge,” he said. “When enough of it melts to separate, to become buoyant, it will come up the conduit to the shallow chamber.” That chamber lies five to six kilometers beneath the mountain and measures about one kilometer across.
“When you get enough gas-rich magma at the top, that’s when it erupts.”
In Clynne’s geological map, the entire edifice of the volcano and its flanks will be portrayed — a profile of Mount St. Helens through time.
The truncated mountain “will become a peak again,” Clynne said. “We can’t really say if it will be beautiful and symmetrical again. It depends on the kinds of eruptions and where the vents are. If it continues to build the way it is now, it will eventually fill the crater and reshape itself. That requires that we don’t have another collapse.”
Listening for magma
Tracking that flow of magma is a challenge, says Mike Lisowski, a geophysicist at the Cascades Volcano Observatory. With the help of sophisticated sensors, he studies the deformation of the mountain, looking for signals that magma is recharging within the volcano.
Mount St. Helens is one of two Cascade volcanoes being closely monitored by the Plate Boundary Observatory, a National Science Foundation-funded research project that studies movement between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates. (The other peak is Mt. Shasta in northern California.)
The program has installed 30 GPS units on Mount St. Helens and out to a distance of 20 miles from the mountain. Tiltmeters on the flanks of the mountain also detect changes in its shape, known as deformation.
“It’s a pity that the Plate Boundary Observatory instruments weren’t put in earlier,” Lisowski said. “It would have been great to have had them in 2004.”
So far, deformation of the mountain due to the movement of magma is “barely perceptible,” Lisowski said.
“During the whole eruption period from 2004 to 2008, the site at Johnston Ridge Observatory moved toward the mountain by just one inch,” he said.
Yet there is movement of various types.
“When we look at sites all around the mountain, we see that they are all moving toward the mountain,” Lisowski said. “Also, there is a downward motion that indicates that somewhere deep inside the volcano, magma is being withdrawn. It’s deflation, like with a balloon. The walls of the balloon get smaller. The crust surrounds the balloon.”
Other things are going on beneath the mountain, as well.
“There’s background tectonic movement,” Lisowski said. “Everything is moving to the north-northeast.” Slow-motion underground earthquakes known as “slip events” occur when the Pacific plate slips beneath the North American plate.
“They aren’t releasing tremors, but they do cause movement,” Lisowski said. That makes it hard to detect deformation of the mountain itself. “We are looking for small volcanic signals in a background of tectonic events.”
A Russian ‘sister’
For a few years, geologists thought a remote Russian volcano called Bezymianny might hold the answer to the future of Mount St. Helens. The 9,453-foot peak erupted in a massive blast in 1956 that had a lot in common with Mount St. Helens. Bezymianny never stopped erupting during the following 50 years. By 2007, its lava dome covered most of the crater surface and poked well above the crater rim.
Both mountains are stratovolcanoes — mountains that build themselves with a series of eruptions spewing lava, ash, cinders and blocks.
The first sign that Mount St. Helens was reawakening in the fall of 2004 was the emergence of fire-red lava from within the crater. A week and a half later, on Oct. 1, the volcano shot a noontime blast of steam and ash into the sky. A new dome-building stage had begun.
Scientists looked to Bezymianny for clues to what might be next.
They calculated that the Russian volcano’s 50-year-old lava dome was at least 10 times the size of the 111 million cubic yards of material that piled up in the crater of St. Helens between 2004 and 2006.
John Pallister, a USGS geologist at the CVO, even speculated that the two mountains were “sister volcanoes,” and that if the eruption at Mount St. Helens were to continue indefinitely, in a few decades it would look a lot like Bezymianny.
That hasn’t happened. Dome-building activity at St. Helens stopped in 2008. The mountain did rumble to life briefly three months ago, on Valentine’s Day, with a 4.3-magnitude earthquake north of the peak, followed by more than a half-dozen smaller aftershocks.
But scientists said the seismic activity did not indicate that magma was rising within the volcano. Instead, they speculated that it might be a sign of post-eruption settling in the landscape surrounding the mountain.
Assumptions shaken
Research into the history of the volcano has shattered old assumptions, Clynne said.
“We used to think the volcano began 45,000 years ago. We started dating rock and found it really began 250,000 years ago.”
Mount St. Helens is by far the world’s most-studied volcano. That’s among its most important legacies, Clynne said.
“Mount St. Helens has renewed interest in volcanology all over the world.”
Monday, May 16, 2011
Volcanoes Of The Kamchatka Peninsula
IrishWeatherOnline: Volcanoes Of The Kamchatka Peninsula
The Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, located along the Pacific “ring of fire,” includes more than 100 volcanoes. While most of these volcanoes are not actively erupting, many are considered dangerous due to their eruptive history and their proximity to population centers and air travel corridors.
This astronaut photograph highlights the summit crater and snow-covered slopes of the Avachinsky stratovolcano as it pokes above a surrounding cloud deck.
The 2,741 meter (8,993 foot) high Avachinsky volcano has an extensive historical and geological record of eruptions. The latest activity occurred in 2008.
The large city of Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, is located approximately 25 kilometers (15 miles) to the southwest and is built over approximately 30,000–40,000 year old debris deposits from an avalanche that originated at Avachinsky—suggesting that the city may be at risk from a similar hazard in the future. To the southeast (image right), the large breached crater of Kozelsky Volcano is also visible above the clouds. Kozelsky is a parasitic cone, formed by the eruption of material from vents along the flank of Avachinsky.
The topography of the volcanoes is accentuated by shadows caused by the relatively low sun angle, and by the oblique viewing angle. Oblique images are taken looking outwards from the International Space Station, rather than the “straight down” (or nadir) view typical of most Earth-observing sensors.
Two Philippine volcanoes rumble to life again
All Headline News: Two Philippine volcanoes rumble to life again
Two Philippine volcanoes are showing signs of activity, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
In a bulletin issued on Sunday, Mount Mayon in Albay Province registered 15 volcanic quakes and one rock fall in the last 24 hours.
On the same day, Mount Bulusan in Sorsogon Province logged four volcanic earthquakes on Sunday and another 11 on Saturday. The fluctuating volcanic activities are signs that Bulusan remains unstable, according to a volcanologist of the agency.
Phivolcs reported a moderate emission of white steam that shot up 400 meters (1,312 feet) above Mayor’s crater.
With these observations, Phivolcs raised Alert level 1 over the area surrounding Mayon Volcano, which places a six-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius under a permanent danger zone on the area.
The agency, however, said that while no eruption may be imminent, there is a continuous threat from sudden small explosions and rock falls from the upper and middle slopes of Mayon.
Phivolcs advised local disaster councils in Sorsogon to be prepared in case Bulusan shows increased volcanic activities in the coming days. The Alert status in the area surrounding Bulusan is also at level 1, but the permanent danger zone is at a smaller 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) radius.
Two Philippine volcanoes are showing signs of activity, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).
In a bulletin issued on Sunday, Mount Mayon in Albay Province registered 15 volcanic quakes and one rock fall in the last 24 hours.
On the same day, Mount Bulusan in Sorsogon Province logged four volcanic earthquakes on Sunday and another 11 on Saturday. The fluctuating volcanic activities are signs that Bulusan remains unstable, according to a volcanologist of the agency.
Phivolcs reported a moderate emission of white steam that shot up 400 meters (1,312 feet) above Mayor’s crater.
With these observations, Phivolcs raised Alert level 1 over the area surrounding Mayon Volcano, which places a six-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius under a permanent danger zone on the area.
The agency, however, said that while no eruption may be imminent, there is a continuous threat from sudden small explosions and rock falls from the upper and middle slopes of Mayon.
Phivolcs advised local disaster councils in Sorsogon to be prepared in case Bulusan shows increased volcanic activities in the coming days. The Alert status in the area surrounding Bulusan is also at level 1, but the permanent danger zone is at a smaller 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) radius.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Expert says eruption of Etna volcano linked to earthquake in Spain
EnglishNews.cn: Expert says eruption of Etna volcano linked to earthquake in Spain
ROME, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The eruption of the Etna volcano in southern Italy early Thursday is connected to the earthquakes that rocked the Spanish region of Murcia, killing 12 people and injuring more than 170 others, a seismology expert said Thursday.
"We are currently witnessing an intense seismic activity in the entire Mediterranean area from Spain all the way to Malta which has a certain impact on regional volcanoes," said Domenico Patane, director of the Sicily office of Italy s National Geophysics Institute.
Patane said volcanoes are like windows from where underground magma surfaces and it's normal that they respond to earthquakes occurring in a geographic proximity.
"The Spanish eastern coast hit by the quake, after all, lies close to Italy, in the Mediterranean. Both Spain and Sicily are on the same earth plate," he said.
The earthquakes in Spain on Wednesday, which could be felt in Madrid, reportedly had their epicenter near the towns of Lorca and Totana in the Murcia region. The initial tremor of 4.4 magnitude was followed by a quake of about 5.2 magnitude.
Around 2 a.m. Thursday people in Sicily felt the earth slightly tremble and heard the sound of an explosion coming from Etna's pit crater. < The eruption sent flying massive quantities of lava and volcanic ash, which spilled on the main town of Catania and other nearby villages but luckily caused no serious damage.
The central airport was forced to close after it was submerged by the ash.
Patane said there were no severe risks for local inhabitants but just for buildings and infrastructures that could be damaged by the ash and condensed lava.
"It's normal to have frequent small-scale quakes and minor volcano eruptions in the Mediterranean," he said, "We're used to seismic activity here in Sicily and recently several minor shocks have been felt also across the whole of Italy."
Mount Etna is the highest active volcano in Europe, with a 45-kilometer-diameter crater.
ROME, May 12 (Xinhua) -- The eruption of the Etna volcano in southern Italy early Thursday is connected to the earthquakes that rocked the Spanish region of Murcia, killing 12 people and injuring more than 170 others, a seismology expert said Thursday.
"We are currently witnessing an intense seismic activity in the entire Mediterranean area from Spain all the way to Malta which has a certain impact on regional volcanoes," said Domenico Patane, director of the Sicily office of Italy s National Geophysics Institute.
Patane said volcanoes are like windows from where underground magma surfaces and it's normal that they respond to earthquakes occurring in a geographic proximity.
"The Spanish eastern coast hit by the quake, after all, lies close to Italy, in the Mediterranean. Both Spain and Sicily are on the same earth plate," he said.
The earthquakes in Spain on Wednesday, which could be felt in Madrid, reportedly had their epicenter near the towns of Lorca and Totana in the Murcia region. The initial tremor of 4.4 magnitude was followed by a quake of about 5.2 magnitude.
Around 2 a.m. Thursday people in Sicily felt the earth slightly tremble and heard the sound of an explosion coming from Etna's pit crater. < The eruption sent flying massive quantities of lava and volcanic ash, which spilled on the main town of Catania and other nearby villages but luckily caused no serious damage.
The central airport was forced to close after it was submerged by the ash.
Patane said there were no severe risks for local inhabitants but just for buildings and infrastructures that could be damaged by the ash and condensed lava.
"It's normal to have frequent small-scale quakes and minor volcano eruptions in the Mediterranean," he said, "We're used to seismic activity here in Sicily and recently several minor shocks have been felt also across the whole of Italy."
Mount Etna is the highest active volcano in Europe, with a 45-kilometer-diameter crater.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Alaska Volcanoes: Mount Veniaminof
The map shows volcanoes of the Alaska Peninsula (the Aleutian Range).
Mount Veniaminof is an active stratovolcano located on the Alaska Peninsula. The Alaska Volcano Observatory currently rates Veniaminof as Aviation Color Code GREEN and Volcano Alert Level NORMAL as of 15:36, 3 June 2009 (UTC).[3] The mountain was named after Ioann (Ivan Popov) Veniaminov (1797–1879), a Russian Orthodox missionary priest (and later a prominent bishop in Russia) whose writings on the Aleut language and ethnology are still standard references. He is a saint of the Orthodox Church, known as Saint Innocent for the monastic name he used in later life.
The volcano was the site of a colossal (VEI 6) eruption around 1750 BC. This eruption left a large caldera. In modern times the volcano has had numerous small eruptions (over ten of them since 1930); these are located at a cinder cone in the middle of the caldera.
Veniaminof has one of the highest elevations of Alaskan volcanoes. Partly for this reason, it is covered by a glacier that fills most of the caldera. Because of the glacier and the caldera walls, there is the possibility of a major flood from a future glacier run.
Bibliography
Wikipedia
Mount Veniaminof is an active stratovolcano located on the Alaska Peninsula. The Alaska Volcano Observatory currently rates Veniaminof as Aviation Color Code GREEN and Volcano Alert Level NORMAL as of 15:36, 3 June 2009 (UTC).[3] The mountain was named after Ioann (Ivan Popov) Veniaminov (1797–1879), a Russian Orthodox missionary priest (and later a prominent bishop in Russia) whose writings on the Aleut language and ethnology are still standard references. He is a saint of the Orthodox Church, known as Saint Innocent for the monastic name he used in later life.
The volcano was the site of a colossal (VEI 6) eruption around 1750 BC. This eruption left a large caldera. In modern times the volcano has had numerous small eruptions (over ten of them since 1930); these are located at a cinder cone in the middle of the caldera.
Veniaminof has one of the highest elevations of Alaskan volcanoes. Partly for this reason, it is covered by a glacier that fills most of the caldera. Because of the glacier and the caldera walls, there is the possibility of a major flood from a future glacier run.
Bibliography
Wikipedia
Life pauses on rumbling Philippine volcano
GoogleNews: Life pauses on rumbling Philippine volcano
TAAL VOLCANO, Philippines — Boats lay idle on the shores of a lake surrounding the Philippines' rumbling Taal volcano as village elder Violy Seda retold her dramatic escape from death a generation ago.
The 65-year-old woman was a young mother during Taal's last major eruption in 1977, which covered the island with deadly ash, violently shook the ground and sent villagers rushing through the night to their boats to escape.
"Throughout the day there were powerful earthquakes that sent us falling over ourselves," said Seda, who now has seven children and 32 grandchildren.
"By nightfall we had packed everything and jumped on our boats just as a loud bang erupted. The night sky glowed and we would have died if we stayed behind."
No one was killed in that eruption, and the villagers soon returned to ply their trade as tour guides on the island, the most active among the Philippines' 23 volcanoes and just 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Manila.
Now the volcano is threatening to erupt again, but the few thousand people living there are undaunted by the latest signals and are again refusing to leave unless a major eruption looks certain.
"I grew up here and all my children were born on this volcano. These rumblings are normal for people like us," Seda said.
Taal is famous for its distinct crater lake.
It is a 23-square-kilometre (14-square-mile) volcano island that lies inside a bigger lake formed from previous volcanic activity. Together they are among the most spectacular sights, and popular tourist destinations, in the Philippines.
Most of the residents on the island work in the tourism sector.
They ferry tourists across the lake from towns encircling the island, and provide guided treks and horse rides up its main crater for about 500 pesos (less than $10) per person.
But with 47 craters and its history of powerful explosions, Taal is classified a "permanent danger zone", according to government volcanologists.
It has erupted at least 33 times since 1572, the most destructive of which was in 1911 when it left 1,334 people dead, sent ash falling on to Manila and triggered wave surges that engulfed entire lakeshore villages.
A recent surge in seismic activity on the island forced state volcanologists to hoist the second of a five-step alert system on April 9.
This meant magma may be slowly moving up its crater, ahead of a possible explosion.
All tourist activity was halted and authorities called for the elderly and the young to be evacuated.
Boatman Gregorio Enriquez, 41, explained that the villagers had decided to remain because they had nowhere else to go, and they could only hope the seismic activity would soon subside so the tourists would return.
"You can always try to outrun an explosion, but you can never beat poverty as a result of the alert status," Enriquez said.
Enriquez, a father of two young girls, said he typically earned about 3,000 pesos (about $70) ferrying tourists, although his boat had been idle for a month.
Villagers are now subsisting on local carp caught from the lake and vegetables from their plots.
Without cash from tourists, rice, the staple food sold in towns across the lake, is mostly beyond the reach of the poor villagers.
"Life for the past month has become a monotonous cycle of waiting, sleeping and more waiting," Enriquez said.
With him in a makeshift shed were about a dozen members of his extended family, all of them waiting for the clan's patriarch to return from buying a sack of rice with savings made during better times.
Children splashed in the lake while the family-owned horses were tethered on nearby coconut trees, their heads bent low from the tropical noon-day heat.
Migrating egrets and gulls fought off crows for scraps of fish lying on the otherwise lifeless beach front.
"This volcano is both a blessing and a curse for us," lamented Enriquez.
At the local tourism office, a huge yellow sign proclaimed that the entire island remained on alert for possible eruption, and no tourist activity was permitted.
"We haven't had any tourists setting foot here for the past month. The only (people) that have visited are volcanologists and the press," complained Susan Mameng, the island's tourism officer.
"People here are getting desperate. What is ironic is that the island is alive, and yet we may be slowly dying if we don't get tourists back," she said.
TAAL VOLCANO, Philippines — Boats lay idle on the shores of a lake surrounding the Philippines' rumbling Taal volcano as village elder Violy Seda retold her dramatic escape from death a generation ago.
The 65-year-old woman was a young mother during Taal's last major eruption in 1977, which covered the island with deadly ash, violently shook the ground and sent villagers rushing through the night to their boats to escape.
"Throughout the day there were powerful earthquakes that sent us falling over ourselves," said Seda, who now has seven children and 32 grandchildren.
"By nightfall we had packed everything and jumped on our boats just as a loud bang erupted. The night sky glowed and we would have died if we stayed behind."
No one was killed in that eruption, and the villagers soon returned to ply their trade as tour guides on the island, the most active among the Philippines' 23 volcanoes and just 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Manila.
Now the volcano is threatening to erupt again, but the few thousand people living there are undaunted by the latest signals and are again refusing to leave unless a major eruption looks certain.
"I grew up here and all my children were born on this volcano. These rumblings are normal for people like us," Seda said.
Taal is famous for its distinct crater lake.
It is a 23-square-kilometre (14-square-mile) volcano island that lies inside a bigger lake formed from previous volcanic activity. Together they are among the most spectacular sights, and popular tourist destinations, in the Philippines.
Most of the residents on the island work in the tourism sector.
They ferry tourists across the lake from towns encircling the island, and provide guided treks and horse rides up its main crater for about 500 pesos (less than $10) per person.
But with 47 craters and its history of powerful explosions, Taal is classified a "permanent danger zone", according to government volcanologists.
It has erupted at least 33 times since 1572, the most destructive of which was in 1911 when it left 1,334 people dead, sent ash falling on to Manila and triggered wave surges that engulfed entire lakeshore villages.
A recent surge in seismic activity on the island forced state volcanologists to hoist the second of a five-step alert system on April 9.
This meant magma may be slowly moving up its crater, ahead of a possible explosion.
All tourist activity was halted and authorities called for the elderly and the young to be evacuated.
Boatman Gregorio Enriquez, 41, explained that the villagers had decided to remain because they had nowhere else to go, and they could only hope the seismic activity would soon subside so the tourists would return.
"You can always try to outrun an explosion, but you can never beat poverty as a result of the alert status," Enriquez said.
Enriquez, a father of two young girls, said he typically earned about 3,000 pesos (about $70) ferrying tourists, although his boat had been idle for a month.
Villagers are now subsisting on local carp caught from the lake and vegetables from their plots.
Without cash from tourists, rice, the staple food sold in towns across the lake, is mostly beyond the reach of the poor villagers.
"Life for the past month has become a monotonous cycle of waiting, sleeping and more waiting," Enriquez said.
With him in a makeshift shed were about a dozen members of his extended family, all of them waiting for the clan's patriarch to return from buying a sack of rice with savings made during better times.
Children splashed in the lake while the family-owned horses were tethered on nearby coconut trees, their heads bent low from the tropical noon-day heat.
Migrating egrets and gulls fought off crows for scraps of fish lying on the otherwise lifeless beach front.
"This volcano is both a blessing and a curse for us," lamented Enriquez.
At the local tourism office, a huge yellow sign proclaimed that the entire island remained on alert for possible eruption, and no tourist activity was permitted.
"We haven't had any tourists setting foot here for the past month. The only (people) that have visited are volcanologists and the press," complained Susan Mameng, the island's tourism officer.
"People here are getting desperate. What is ironic is that the island is alive, and yet we may be slowly dying if we don't get tourists back," she said.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
St. Helens observatory reopens next week
The Olympian: St. Helens observatory reopens next week
Johnston Ridge Observatory at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument will reopen for the season May 15, with several new exhibits and a new outdoor amphitheater.
Inside the visitor center, people will be able to use new touch-screen exhibits that tell the story of how the volcano and surrounding landscape have recovered since the 1980 eruption.
A newly remodeled high-definition theater with surround sound will enhance the movie-viewing experience, said monument spokesman Ken Sandusky. In addition, a new movie will make its debut sometime this summer.
Also making its debut this summer will be the outdoor amphitheater. It is on the hill to the west-southwest of the observatory.
“It’s a place for interpreters to give their presentations. It’s a pretty big facility, and could seat a couple of hundred people,” monument spokesman Ken Sandusky said. “That will be one of the neatest things this summer.”
The new touch-screen exhibits will offer information on the blast zone recovery and the return of life in the area, Sandusky said.
There also will be new interpretive signs across the monument.
“Some of the ones you couldn’t read last year because of weathering, will be fresh, with new stories this year, creating a new vivid experience,” Sandusky said.
“All the new interpretive information and displays telling the Return to Life story makes this year especially exciting,” monument manager Tom Mulder said in a prepared statement.
Complicating access across much of the monument will be the weather. Late-season snow means many roads might open later than usual.
“Road 99 to Windy Ridge won’t be open for quite some time,” Sandusky said of the main access point on the monument’s east side. “There will be a lot of access issues because of snow across the (Gifford Pinchot National Forest).”
Johnston Ridge Observatory at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument will reopen for the season May 15, with several new exhibits and a new outdoor amphitheater.
IF YOU GO
Hours: The visitor center will be open daily 10 a.m.-6 p.m. through October.
Admission: The cost to enter Johnston Ridge and Coldwater Lake is $8 per person for people 16 and older, children 15 and younger are free.
Website: The monument earlier this year debuted a new website, www.fs.usda.gov/mountsthelens.
Anniversary celebration: For the 31st anniversary of the eruption, admission to Johnston Ridge Observatory and Coldwater Lake will be free May 18.
Information: Additional information about access to the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and roads blocked by snow can be obtained online or by calling 360-449-7800.
Inside the visitor center, people will be able to use new touch-screen exhibits that tell the story of how the volcano and surrounding landscape have recovered since the 1980 eruption.
A newly remodeled high-definition theater with surround sound will enhance the movie-viewing experience, said monument spokesman Ken Sandusky. In addition, a new movie will make its debut sometime this summer.
Also making its debut this summer will be the outdoor amphitheater. It is on the hill to the west-southwest of the observatory.
“It’s a place for interpreters to give their presentations. It’s a pretty big facility, and could seat a couple of hundred people,” monument spokesman Ken Sandusky said. “That will be one of the neatest things this summer.”
The new touch-screen exhibits will offer information on the blast zone recovery and the return of life in the area, Sandusky said.
There also will be new interpretive signs across the monument.
“Some of the ones you couldn’t read last year because of weathering, will be fresh, with new stories this year, creating a new vivid experience,” Sandusky said.
“All the new interpretive information and displays telling the Return to Life story makes this year especially exciting,” monument manager Tom Mulder said in a prepared statement.
Complicating access across much of the monument will be the weather. Late-season snow means many roads might open later than usual.
“Road 99 to Windy Ridge won’t be open for quite some time,” Sandusky said of the main access point on the monument’s east side. “There will be a lot of access issues because of snow across the (Gifford Pinchot National Forest).”
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Volcanology
Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma, and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena. The term volcanology is derived from the Latin word vulcan. Vulcan was the ancient Roman god of fire.
A volcanologist is a person who studies the formation of volcanoes, and their current and historic eruptions. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, especially active ones, to observe volcanic eruptions, collect eruptive products including tephra (such as ash or pumice), rock and lava samples. One major focus of enquiry is the prediction of eruptions; there is currently no accurate way to do this, but predicting eruptions, like predicting earthquakes, could save many lives.
History of volcanology
The earliest known recording of a volcanic eruption may be on a wall painting dated to about 7000 BCE found at the Neolithic site at Çatal Höyük (now known as Çatalhöyük), in Anatolia, Turkey. This painting has been interpreted as a depiction of an erupting volcano, with a cluster of houses below shows a twin peaked volcano in eruption, with a town at its base (though archaeologists now question this interpretation. The volcano may be either Hasan Dağ, or its smaller neighbour, Melendiz Dağ.
Mythical explanationsThe classical world of Greece and the early Roman Empire explained volcanoes as the work of the gods as science and alchemy had no explanation for their existence. Grecian myths and tales tell of Atlantis, a fabled island that sank into the sea. Plato (428-348 BCE) told of the disappearance of a vast island and its powerful civilization, the Atlanteans, in two of his dialogues, Critias and Timaeus.
It is now considered that the island of Thera, now Santorini, in the Aegean Sea, was destroyed by a tremendous series of volcanic explosions around 1620 BCE, with ash falls of up to a foot deep recorded in Turkey. The explosion of Thera sent colossal tsunamis, estimated at 100 feet height, racing across the Aegean, and the southern coast of Crete. Other recordings of the Thera eruption spawned Greek myths, namely the Deucalion, in which Poseidon, god of the sea, took revenge upon Zeus by inundating Attica, Argolis, Salonika, Rhodes and the coast of Lycia (Turkey) to Sicily.
Greeks also considered that Hephaestus, the god of fire, sat below the volcano Etna, forging the weapons of Zeus. His minions, the cyclops with their single staring eye, may be an allegory to the round craters and cones of a volcano. Indeed, the Greek word used to describe volcanoes was etna, or hiera, after Heracles, the son of Zeus. The Roman poet Virgil, in interpreting the Greek mythos, held that the hero Enceladus was buried beneath Etna by the goddess Athena as punishment for disobeying the gods; the mountain's rumblings were his tormented cries, the flames his breath and the tremors his railing against the bars of his prison. Enceladus' brother Mimas was buried beneath Vesuvius by Hephaestus, and the blood of other defeated giants welled up in the Phlegrean Fields surrounding Vesuvius.
Tribal legends of volcanoes abound from the Pacific Ring of Fire and the Americas, usually invoking the forces of the supernatural or the divine to explain the violent outbursts of volcanoes. Taranaki and Tongariro, according to Māori mythology, were lovers who fell in love with Pihanga, and a spiteful jealous fight ensued. Māori will not to this day live between Tongariro and Taranaki for fear of the dispute flaring up again.
Greco-Roman science The first attempt at a scientific explanation of volcanoes was undertaken by the Greek philosopher Empedocles (c. 490-430 BCE), who saw the world divided into four elemental forces, of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Volcanoes, Empedocles maintained, were the manifestation of Elemental Fire. Plato contended that channels of hot and cold waters flow in inexhaustible quantities through subterranean rivers. In the depths of the earth snakes a vast river of fire, the Pyriphlegethon, which feeds all the world's volcanoes. Aristotle considered underground fire as the result of "the...friction of the wind when it plunges into narrow passages."
Wind played a key role in volcano explanations until the 16th century. Lucretius, a Roman philosopher, claimed Etna was completely hollow and the fires of the underground driven by a fierce wind circulating near sea level. Ovid believed that the flame was fed from "fatty foods" and eruptions stopped when the food ran out. Vitruvius contended that sulfur, alum and bitumen fed the deep fires. Observations by Pliny the Elder noted the presence of earthquakes preceded an eruption; he died in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE while investigating it at Stabiae. His nephew, Pliny the Younger gave detailed descriptions of the eruption in which his uncle died, attributing his death to the effects of toxic gases. Such eruptions have been named Plinian in honour of the two authors.
Christian mythology
The study of volcanology was not advanced much between the days of Plato and Hutton. The Christian world explained volcanoes by a multitude of prescientific notions, but it was also thought they were the work of Satan or the wrath of God, and only saintly miracles could avert their wrath. For this reason the relics of Saint Agatha were paraded in front of lava advancing on Catania in 253 CE, and miraculously the lava clove in two (down two valleys) and spared the town. Unfortunately the relics of St. Agatha proved ineffective in 1669, with the loss of much of Catania to Etna's lava.
In 1660 the eruption of Vesuvius rained twinned pyroxene crystals and ash upon the nearby villages. The twinned pyroxene crystals resembled the crucifix and this was interpreted as the work of Saint Januarius. In Naples, the relics of St Januarius are paraded through town at every major eructation of Vesuvius. The register of these processions allowed British diplomat and amateur naturalist Sir William Hamilton to document Vesuvius' eruptions, one of the first few 'scientific' studies of the eruptive history of a volcano.
Renaissance observations
Renaissance descriptions of volcanoes vastly improved the state of knowledge, despite the resistance of the Church to scientific explorations of the natural world, especially those at odds with Biblical teachings. Nevertheless, nuées ardentes were described from the Azores in 1580. Georgius Agricola argued the rays of the sun, as later proposed by Descartes had nothing to do with volcanoes. Agricola believed vapor under pressure caused eruptions of 'mointain oil' and basalt.
Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) witnessed eruptions of Mount Etna and Stromboli, then visited the crater of Vesuvius and published his view of an Earth with a central fire connected to numerous others caused by the burning of sulfur, bitumen and coal.
Johannes Kepler considered volcanoes as conduits for the tears and excrement of the Earth, voiding bitumen, tar and sulfur. Descartes, pronouncing that God had created the Earth in an instant, declared he had done so in three layers; the fiery depths, a layer of water, and the air. Volcanoes, he said, were formed where the rays of the sun pierced the earth.
Science wrestled with the ideas of the combustion of pyrite with water, that rock was solidified bitumen, and with notions of rock being formed from water (Neptunism). Of the volcanoes then known, all were near the water, hence the action of the sea upon the land was used to explain volcanism.
Modern volcanology
Volcanologist examining tephra horizons in south-central Iceland.Seismic observations are made using seismographs deployed near volcanic areas, watching out for increased seismicity during volcanic events, in particular looking for long period harmonic tremors, which signal magma movement through volcanic conduits.[3]
Surface deformation monitoring includes the use of geodetic techniques such as leveling, tilt, strain, angle and distance measurements through tiltmeters, total stations and EDMs. This also includes GNSS observations and InSAR.[4] Surface deformation indicates magma upwelling: increased magma supply produces bulges in the volcanic center's surface.
Gas emissions may be monitored with equipment including portable ultra-violet spectrometers (COSPEC, now superseded by the miniDOAS), which analyzes the presence of volcanic gases such as sulfur dioxide; or by infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR). Increased gas emissions, and more particularly changes in gas compositions, may signal an impending volcanic eruption.[3]
Temperature changes are monitored using thermometers and observing changes in thermal properties of volcanic lakes and vents, which may indicate upcoming activity.
Satellites are widely used to monitor volcanoes, as they allow a large area to be monitored easily. They can measure the spread of an ash plume, such as the one from Eyjafjallajokull's 2010 eruption, as well as SO2 emissions. InSAR and thermal imaging can monitor large, scarcely populated areas where it would be too expensive to maintain instruments on the ground.
Other geophysical techniques (electrical, gravity and magnetic observations) include monitoring fluctuations and sudden change in resistivity, gravity anomalies or magnetic anomaly patterns that may indicate volcano-induced faulting and magma upwelling.
Stratigraphic analyses includes analyzing tephra and lava deposits and dating these to give volcano eruption patterns, with estimated cycles of intense activity and size of eruptions.
A volcanologist is a person who studies the formation of volcanoes, and their current and historic eruptions. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, especially active ones, to observe volcanic eruptions, collect eruptive products including tephra (such as ash or pumice), rock and lava samples. One major focus of enquiry is the prediction of eruptions; there is currently no accurate way to do this, but predicting eruptions, like predicting earthquakes, could save many lives.
History of volcanology
The earliest known recording of a volcanic eruption may be on a wall painting dated to about 7000 BCE found at the Neolithic site at Çatal Höyük (now known as Çatalhöyük), in Anatolia, Turkey. This painting has been interpreted as a depiction of an erupting volcano, with a cluster of houses below shows a twin peaked volcano in eruption, with a town at its base (though archaeologists now question this interpretation. The volcano may be either Hasan Dağ, or its smaller neighbour, Melendiz Dağ.
Mythical explanationsThe classical world of Greece and the early Roman Empire explained volcanoes as the work of the gods as science and alchemy had no explanation for their existence. Grecian myths and tales tell of Atlantis, a fabled island that sank into the sea. Plato (428-348 BCE) told of the disappearance of a vast island and its powerful civilization, the Atlanteans, in two of his dialogues, Critias and Timaeus.
It is now considered that the island of Thera, now Santorini, in the Aegean Sea, was destroyed by a tremendous series of volcanic explosions around 1620 BCE, with ash falls of up to a foot deep recorded in Turkey. The explosion of Thera sent colossal tsunamis, estimated at 100 feet height, racing across the Aegean, and the southern coast of Crete. Other recordings of the Thera eruption spawned Greek myths, namely the Deucalion, in which Poseidon, god of the sea, took revenge upon Zeus by inundating Attica, Argolis, Salonika, Rhodes and the coast of Lycia (Turkey) to Sicily.
Greeks also considered that Hephaestus, the god of fire, sat below the volcano Etna, forging the weapons of Zeus. His minions, the cyclops with their single staring eye, may be an allegory to the round craters and cones of a volcano. Indeed, the Greek word used to describe volcanoes was etna, or hiera, after Heracles, the son of Zeus. The Roman poet Virgil, in interpreting the Greek mythos, held that the hero Enceladus was buried beneath Etna by the goddess Athena as punishment for disobeying the gods; the mountain's rumblings were his tormented cries, the flames his breath and the tremors his railing against the bars of his prison. Enceladus' brother Mimas was buried beneath Vesuvius by Hephaestus, and the blood of other defeated giants welled up in the Phlegrean Fields surrounding Vesuvius.
Tribal legends of volcanoes abound from the Pacific Ring of Fire and the Americas, usually invoking the forces of the supernatural or the divine to explain the violent outbursts of volcanoes. Taranaki and Tongariro, according to Māori mythology, were lovers who fell in love with Pihanga, and a spiteful jealous fight ensued. Māori will not to this day live between Tongariro and Taranaki for fear of the dispute flaring up again.
Greco-Roman science The first attempt at a scientific explanation of volcanoes was undertaken by the Greek philosopher Empedocles (c. 490-430 BCE), who saw the world divided into four elemental forces, of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Volcanoes, Empedocles maintained, were the manifestation of Elemental Fire. Plato contended that channels of hot and cold waters flow in inexhaustible quantities through subterranean rivers. In the depths of the earth snakes a vast river of fire, the Pyriphlegethon, which feeds all the world's volcanoes. Aristotle considered underground fire as the result of "the...friction of the wind when it plunges into narrow passages."
Wind played a key role in volcano explanations until the 16th century. Lucretius, a Roman philosopher, claimed Etna was completely hollow and the fires of the underground driven by a fierce wind circulating near sea level. Ovid believed that the flame was fed from "fatty foods" and eruptions stopped when the food ran out. Vitruvius contended that sulfur, alum and bitumen fed the deep fires. Observations by Pliny the Elder noted the presence of earthquakes preceded an eruption; he died in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE while investigating it at Stabiae. His nephew, Pliny the Younger gave detailed descriptions of the eruption in which his uncle died, attributing his death to the effects of toxic gases. Such eruptions have been named Plinian in honour of the two authors.
Christian mythology
The study of volcanology was not advanced much between the days of Plato and Hutton. The Christian world explained volcanoes by a multitude of prescientific notions, but it was also thought they were the work of Satan or the wrath of God, and only saintly miracles could avert their wrath. For this reason the relics of Saint Agatha were paraded in front of lava advancing on Catania in 253 CE, and miraculously the lava clove in two (down two valleys) and spared the town. Unfortunately the relics of St. Agatha proved ineffective in 1669, with the loss of much of Catania to Etna's lava.
In 1660 the eruption of Vesuvius rained twinned pyroxene crystals and ash upon the nearby villages. The twinned pyroxene crystals resembled the crucifix and this was interpreted as the work of Saint Januarius. In Naples, the relics of St Januarius are paraded through town at every major eructation of Vesuvius. The register of these processions allowed British diplomat and amateur naturalist Sir William Hamilton to document Vesuvius' eruptions, one of the first few 'scientific' studies of the eruptive history of a volcano.
Renaissance observations
Renaissance descriptions of volcanoes vastly improved the state of knowledge, despite the resistance of the Church to scientific explorations of the natural world, especially those at odds with Biblical teachings. Nevertheless, nuées ardentes were described from the Azores in 1580. Georgius Agricola argued the rays of the sun, as later proposed by Descartes had nothing to do with volcanoes. Agricola believed vapor under pressure caused eruptions of 'mointain oil' and basalt.
Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) witnessed eruptions of Mount Etna and Stromboli, then visited the crater of Vesuvius and published his view of an Earth with a central fire connected to numerous others caused by the burning of sulfur, bitumen and coal.
Johannes Kepler considered volcanoes as conduits for the tears and excrement of the Earth, voiding bitumen, tar and sulfur. Descartes, pronouncing that God had created the Earth in an instant, declared he had done so in three layers; the fiery depths, a layer of water, and the air. Volcanoes, he said, were formed where the rays of the sun pierced the earth.
Science wrestled with the ideas of the combustion of pyrite with water, that rock was solidified bitumen, and with notions of rock being formed from water (Neptunism). Of the volcanoes then known, all were near the water, hence the action of the sea upon the land was used to explain volcanism.
Modern volcanology
Volcanologist examining tephra horizons in south-central Iceland.Seismic observations are made using seismographs deployed near volcanic areas, watching out for increased seismicity during volcanic events, in particular looking for long period harmonic tremors, which signal magma movement through volcanic conduits.[3]
Surface deformation monitoring includes the use of geodetic techniques such as leveling, tilt, strain, angle and distance measurements through tiltmeters, total stations and EDMs. This also includes GNSS observations and InSAR.[4] Surface deformation indicates magma upwelling: increased magma supply produces bulges in the volcanic center's surface.
Gas emissions may be monitored with equipment including portable ultra-violet spectrometers (COSPEC, now superseded by the miniDOAS), which analyzes the presence of volcanic gases such as sulfur dioxide; or by infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR). Increased gas emissions, and more particularly changes in gas compositions, may signal an impending volcanic eruption.[3]
Temperature changes are monitored using thermometers and observing changes in thermal properties of volcanic lakes and vents, which may indicate upcoming activity.
Satellites are widely used to monitor volcanoes, as they allow a large area to be monitored easily. They can measure the spread of an ash plume, such as the one from Eyjafjallajokull's 2010 eruption, as well as SO2 emissions. InSAR and thermal imaging can monitor large, scarcely populated areas where it would be too expensive to maintain instruments on the ground.
Other geophysical techniques (electrical, gravity and magnetic observations) include monitoring fluctuations and sudden change in resistivity, gravity anomalies or magnetic anomaly patterns that may indicate volcano-induced faulting and magma upwelling.
Stratigraphic analyses includes analyzing tephra and lava deposits and dating these to give volcano eruption patterns, with estimated cycles of intense activity and size of eruptions.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
The Hawaiian Volcano Obsesrvatory
From Wikipedia
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) is a volcano observatory located at Uwekahuna Bluff on the rim of Kīlauea Caldera on the Island of Hawaiʻi. The observatory monitors four active Hawaiian volcanoes: Kīlauea, Mauna Loa, Hualālai, and Haleakalā. Because Kīlauea and Mauna Loa are significantly more active than Hualālai and Haleakalā, much of the observatory's research is concentrated on the former two mountains. The observatory has a worldwide reputation as a leader in the study of active volcanism. Due to the relatively non-explosive nature of Hawaiian volcanic eruptions, scientists can study on-going eruptions in proximity without being in extreme danger. Located at the main site is the public Thomas A. Jaggar Museum.
History
Besides the oral history of Ancient Hawaiians, several early explorers left records of observations. Rev. William Ellis kept a journal of his 1823 missionary tour, and Titus Coan documented eruptions through 1881. Scientists often debated the accuracy of these descriptions. When prominent geologist Thomas Jaggar of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology gave a lecture in Honolulu in 1909, he was approached by businessman Lorrin A. Thurston (grandson of Asa Thurston who was on the 1823 missionary tour) about building a full-time scientific observatory at Kīlauea. The Hawaiian Volcano Research Association was formed by local businessmen for its support. George Lycurgus, who owned the Volcano House at the edge of the main caldera, proposed a site adjacent to his hotel and restaurant.
In 1911 and 1912, small cabins were built on the floor of the caldera next to the main active vent of Halemaʻumaʻu, but these were hard to maintain. MIT added $25,000 in support in 1912 from the estate of Edward and Caroline Whitney to build a more permanent facility.
The first instruments were housed in a cellar next to the Volcano House called the Whitney Laboratory of Seismology. Inmates from a nearby prison camp had excavated through 5.5 feet of volcanic ash. Massive reinforced concrete walls supported a small building built on top of the structure. Professor F. Omori of Japan, now best known for his study of aftershocks, designed the original seismometers. This seismograph vault (building number 29 on a site inventory) is state historic site 10-52-5506, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1974 as site 74000292.
From 1912 until 1919, the observatory was run by Jaggar personally. Many important events were recorded, although as pioneers, the team often ran into major problems. For example, in 1913 an earthquake opened a crack in a wall and water seeped in. The windows meant to admit natural light caused the vault to heat up in the intense tropical sun. The opening of the national park in 1916 (at the urging of Thurston) brought more visitors to bother the scientists, but also park rangers who would take over public lectures. The prison that had supplied laborers was replaced by the Kīlauea Military Camp.
In 1919, Jaggar convinced the National Weather Service to take over operations at the observatory. In 1924, the observatory was taken over by the US Geological Survey and it has been run by the USGS ever since (except for a brief period during the Great Depression, when the observatory was run by the National Park Service). When the Volcano House hotel burned to the ground in 1940, the old building was torn down (although the instruments in the vault continued to be used until 1961).
George Lycurgus convinced friends in Washington D.C. (many of whom had stayed in the Volcano House) to build a larger building farther back from the cliff, so he could built a new larger hotel at the former HVO site. By 1942, the "Volcano Observatory and Naturalist Building" was designated number 41 on the park inventory. However, with the advent of World War II, it was commandeered as a military headquarters. HVO was allowed to use building 41 from October 1942 to September 1948, when it became the park headquarters (and still is today, after several additions).
About two miles west, in an area known as Uwekahuna, a "National Park Museum and Lecture Hall" had been built in 1927. The name means roughly "the priest wept" in the Hawaiian Language, which indicates it might have been used to make offerings in the past. The HVO moved there in 1948 after some remodeling of the building. This site was even closer to the main vent of Kīlauea. In 1985 a larger building was built for the observatory adjacent to the old lecture hall, which was turned back into a museum and public viewing site.
Today
Modern electronic equipment now monitors earthquakes from several sites. This information is provided immediately over the Internet, as well as live cameras covering the eruptions. Another important function of HVO is to monitor the sulphur emissions that produce the condition known as vog. The observatory advises the park service when to close areas due to dangerous hazards.
While the main Observatory building itself is not open to the public, the adjacent Thomas A. Jaggar Museum includes interpretive exhibits on the work done at the observatory. The exhibits from general information on volcanoes, and lava to the scientific equipment and clothing used by volcanologists. Some of the museum's windows provide a sheltered view of the Kīlauea Caldera and Halemaʻumaʻu Crater. A public observation deck overlooking Kīlauea provides spectacular views.
It a popular destination within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, located at coordinates 19°25′12″N 155°17′16.8″W / 19.42°N 155.288°W / 19.42; -155.288, on Crater Rim Drive west from the visitors center.
http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) is a volcano observatory located at Uwekahuna Bluff on the rim of Kīlauea Caldera on the Island of Hawaiʻi. The observatory monitors four active Hawaiian volcanoes: Kīlauea, Mauna Loa, Hualālai, and Haleakalā. Because Kīlauea and Mauna Loa are significantly more active than Hualālai and Haleakalā, much of the observatory's research is concentrated on the former two mountains. The observatory has a worldwide reputation as a leader in the study of active volcanism. Due to the relatively non-explosive nature of Hawaiian volcanic eruptions, scientists can study on-going eruptions in proximity without being in extreme danger. Located at the main site is the public Thomas A. Jaggar Museum.
History
Besides the oral history of Ancient Hawaiians, several early explorers left records of observations. Rev. William Ellis kept a journal of his 1823 missionary tour, and Titus Coan documented eruptions through 1881. Scientists often debated the accuracy of these descriptions. When prominent geologist Thomas Jaggar of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology gave a lecture in Honolulu in 1909, he was approached by businessman Lorrin A. Thurston (grandson of Asa Thurston who was on the 1823 missionary tour) about building a full-time scientific observatory at Kīlauea. The Hawaiian Volcano Research Association was formed by local businessmen for its support. George Lycurgus, who owned the Volcano House at the edge of the main caldera, proposed a site adjacent to his hotel and restaurant.
In 1911 and 1912, small cabins were built on the floor of the caldera next to the main active vent of Halemaʻumaʻu, but these were hard to maintain. MIT added $25,000 in support in 1912 from the estate of Edward and Caroline Whitney to build a more permanent facility.
The first instruments were housed in a cellar next to the Volcano House called the Whitney Laboratory of Seismology. Inmates from a nearby prison camp had excavated through 5.5 feet of volcanic ash. Massive reinforced concrete walls supported a small building built on top of the structure. Professor F. Omori of Japan, now best known for his study of aftershocks, designed the original seismometers. This seismograph vault (building number 29 on a site inventory) is state historic site 10-52-5506, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1974 as site 74000292.
From 1912 until 1919, the observatory was run by Jaggar personally. Many important events were recorded, although as pioneers, the team often ran into major problems. For example, in 1913 an earthquake opened a crack in a wall and water seeped in. The windows meant to admit natural light caused the vault to heat up in the intense tropical sun. The opening of the national park in 1916 (at the urging of Thurston) brought more visitors to bother the scientists, but also park rangers who would take over public lectures. The prison that had supplied laborers was replaced by the Kīlauea Military Camp.
In 1919, Jaggar convinced the National Weather Service to take over operations at the observatory. In 1924, the observatory was taken over by the US Geological Survey and it has been run by the USGS ever since (except for a brief period during the Great Depression, when the observatory was run by the National Park Service). When the Volcano House hotel burned to the ground in 1940, the old building was torn down (although the instruments in the vault continued to be used until 1961).
George Lycurgus convinced friends in Washington D.C. (many of whom had stayed in the Volcano House) to build a larger building farther back from the cliff, so he could built a new larger hotel at the former HVO site. By 1942, the "Volcano Observatory and Naturalist Building" was designated number 41 on the park inventory. However, with the advent of World War II, it was commandeered as a military headquarters. HVO was allowed to use building 41 from October 1942 to September 1948, when it became the park headquarters (and still is today, after several additions).
About two miles west, in an area known as Uwekahuna, a "National Park Museum and Lecture Hall" had been built in 1927. The name means roughly "the priest wept" in the Hawaiian Language, which indicates it might have been used to make offerings in the past. The HVO moved there in 1948 after some remodeling of the building. This site was even closer to the main vent of Kīlauea. In 1985 a larger building was built for the observatory adjacent to the old lecture hall, which was turned back into a museum and public viewing site.
Today
Modern electronic equipment now monitors earthquakes from several sites. This information is provided immediately over the Internet, as well as live cameras covering the eruptions. Another important function of HVO is to monitor the sulphur emissions that produce the condition known as vog. The observatory advises the park service when to close areas due to dangerous hazards.
While the main Observatory building itself is not open to the public, the adjacent Thomas A. Jaggar Museum includes interpretive exhibits on the work done at the observatory. The exhibits from general information on volcanoes, and lava to the scientific equipment and clothing used by volcanologists. Some of the museum's windows provide a sheltered view of the Kīlauea Caldera and Halemaʻumaʻu Crater. A public observation deck overlooking Kīlauea provides spectacular views.
It a popular destination within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, located at coordinates 19°25′12″N 155°17′16.8″W / 19.42°N 155.288°W / 19.42; -155.288, on Crater Rim Drive west from the visitors center.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Tacoma: Lahar siren test today spotlights Volcano Awareness Month
Just thought I'd share this to show what some communities that live near volcanoes do to prepare their citizenry.
Tacoma Daily Index: Lahar siren test today spotlights Volcano Awareness Month
On Mon., May 2 at noon, Pierce County Emergency Management will test its 17 outdoor lahar warning sirens in the Puyallup River Valley. Additionally, the cities of Fife, Orting and Puyallup will test their 10 older civil defense era sirens. To correspond with Volcano Awareness Month, some valley schools are coordinating evacuation drills along with the test.
May is designated as Volcano Awareness Month which coincides with the anniversary of the catastrophic eruptions of Mount St. Helens in May of 1980. Eruptions and lahars at Mount St. Helens took the lives of 57 people and caused billions of dollars in property damage.
Lahars (mudflows) from Mount Rainier are the primary hazard to developed areas in the valley including Orting, Sumner, Puyallup and Fife and this drill is a reminder of the actions residents in a volcano hazard zone should take. The recent tsunami and the destruction it brought remind us how important it is to provide early warning to residents. The lahar sirens are designed for the outdoor and driving public and are one of the tools used to alert residents during a lahar.
To coincide with this drill, Emergency Management will send out a Pierce County ALERT. This is a fairly new mass communication tool that allows the county to call residents and businesses during emergencies or other significant events. The morning of the siren drill, Emergency Management will call residents of the Puyallup River Valley from Orting to Fife, to remind them about the test. (Puyallup residents will be notified by their own mass notification system). County residents and businesses can 'opt-in' other devices to receive these messages as well as cell phones, email, texts, etc. by signing up online at http://www.piercecountywa.org .
Tacoma Daily Index: Lahar siren test today spotlights Volcano Awareness Month
On Mon., May 2 at noon, Pierce County Emergency Management will test its 17 outdoor lahar warning sirens in the Puyallup River Valley. Additionally, the cities of Fife, Orting and Puyallup will test their 10 older civil defense era sirens. To correspond with Volcano Awareness Month, some valley schools are coordinating evacuation drills along with the test.
May is designated as Volcano Awareness Month which coincides with the anniversary of the catastrophic eruptions of Mount St. Helens in May of 1980. Eruptions and lahars at Mount St. Helens took the lives of 57 people and caused billions of dollars in property damage.
Lahars (mudflows) from Mount Rainier are the primary hazard to developed areas in the valley including Orting, Sumner, Puyallup and Fife and this drill is a reminder of the actions residents in a volcano hazard zone should take. The recent tsunami and the destruction it brought remind us how important it is to provide early warning to residents. The lahar sirens are designed for the outdoor and driving public and are one of the tools used to alert residents during a lahar.
To coincide with this drill, Emergency Management will send out a Pierce County ALERT. This is a fairly new mass communication tool that allows the county to call residents and businesses during emergencies or other significant events. The morning of the siren drill, Emergency Management will call residents of the Puyallup River Valley from Orting to Fife, to remind them about the test. (Puyallup residents will be notified by their own mass notification system). County residents and businesses can 'opt-in' other devices to receive these messages as well as cell phones, email, texts, etc. by signing up online at http://www.piercecountywa.org .
INDONESIA: Government to relocate volcano survivors
IrinNews.com: INDONESIA: Government to relocate volcano survivors
JAKARTA, 2 May 2011 (IRIN) - The Indonesian government looks set to relocate thousands of survivors of last year's deadly Mount Merapi volcano to safer locations, officials say.
Under a two-year project, Jakarta will provide land, housing, and money to more than 2,700 families whose villages were destroyed in the eruptions; build infrastructure and provide jobs, at an estimated cost of US$158 million, Syamsul Maarif, chairman of the country's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), told IRIN.
More than 13,000 people will benefit from the scheme, including residents of five villages in badly affected Cangkringan sub-district and one in Klaten District.
"With almost all the displaced having moved to temporary shelters, our focus now is how to rebuild communities affected by the disaster," Maarif said, adding that each household would be entitled to 100 sqm of land and 30 million rupiah ($3,500) to build a house.
Some residents, however, had objected to the relocation plan so they would be allowed to build houses near their previous neighbourhoods.
"We want to maintain community cohesiveness but at the same time be prepared for a future disaster," Maarif said.
"There must be an agreement that because they live in a place that has the potential to be affected by an eruption, they have to immediately evacuate when ordered to do so."
Thousands displaced
Merapi, one of the country's most active volcanoes, first erupted on 25 October 2010, sending jets of searing gas down its slopes. It continued erupting for a month, killing more than 300 people and driving 200,000 from their homes.
In January, floods caused by rainwater mixing with volcanic rocks and sands displaced hundreds, cut off roads and endangered six villages in Magelang District, 26km from the peak of Merapi.
Budi Hermanto, an activist working with Jalin Merapi, a group which helps coordinate aid for Merapi victims, said some 400 families displaced by the floods were still living in tents in three locations in Magelang District, Central Java.
"Even if their houses were not damaged, it's too dangerous for them to return because they live by the river and the land has been eroded," Hermanto said.
The Ministry of Public Works said it would start building 255 permanent houses for volcano survivors in Sleman District this year, while between 2012 and 2013 some residents would be financially assisted to build homes on their own.
"We hope the government will soon determine the danger zones and locations where houses will be built," said Budi Yuwono, a director-general at the ministry.
Maarif said most of the displaced had moved to temporary shelters in 11 locations in Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces.
In addition, as part of the reconstruction plan, the government will convert 1,310 hectares of land along the slopes of the volcano into protected forest or a national park, Maarif said.
Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf al-Jufri said that the more than 13,000 people living in temporary shelters would also be provided a daily food allowance of 5,000 rupiah ($0.60) each for the next three to six months until they get back on their feet.
Those relocated will also be given cattle, seeds and saplings so that they can resume farming, said Maarif.
However, said Hermanto: "The government has promised to compensate for cattle killed in the eruptions but so far there has not been a settlement. Some work in the fields but others do odd jobs such as mining sand."
Located within the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia is no stranger to volcanoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.
The archipelago nation - the fourth most populated - is home to at least 129 active volcanoes, 68 of which are classified as dangerous.
JAKARTA, 2 May 2011 (IRIN) - The Indonesian government looks set to relocate thousands of survivors of last year's deadly Mount Merapi volcano to safer locations, officials say.
Under a two-year project, Jakarta will provide land, housing, and money to more than 2,700 families whose villages were destroyed in the eruptions; build infrastructure and provide jobs, at an estimated cost of US$158 million, Syamsul Maarif, chairman of the country's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), told IRIN.
More than 13,000 people will benefit from the scheme, including residents of five villages in badly affected Cangkringan sub-district and one in Klaten District.
"With almost all the displaced having moved to temporary shelters, our focus now is how to rebuild communities affected by the disaster," Maarif said, adding that each household would be entitled to 100 sqm of land and 30 million rupiah ($3,500) to build a house.
Some residents, however, had objected to the relocation plan so they would be allowed to build houses near their previous neighbourhoods.
"We want to maintain community cohesiveness but at the same time be prepared for a future disaster," Maarif said.
"There must be an agreement that because they live in a place that has the potential to be affected by an eruption, they have to immediately evacuate when ordered to do so."
Thousands displaced
Merapi, one of the country's most active volcanoes, first erupted on 25 October 2010, sending jets of searing gas down its slopes. It continued erupting for a month, killing more than 300 people and driving 200,000 from their homes.
In January, floods caused by rainwater mixing with volcanic rocks and sands displaced hundreds, cut off roads and endangered six villages in Magelang District, 26km from the peak of Merapi.
Budi Hermanto, an activist working with Jalin Merapi, a group which helps coordinate aid for Merapi victims, said some 400 families displaced by the floods were still living in tents in three locations in Magelang District, Central Java.
"Even if their houses were not damaged, it's too dangerous for them to return because they live by the river and the land has been eroded," Hermanto said.
The Ministry of Public Works said it would start building 255 permanent houses for volcano survivors in Sleman District this year, while between 2012 and 2013 some residents would be financially assisted to build homes on their own.
"We hope the government will soon determine the danger zones and locations where houses will be built," said Budi Yuwono, a director-general at the ministry.
Maarif said most of the displaced had moved to temporary shelters in 11 locations in Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces.
In addition, as part of the reconstruction plan, the government will convert 1,310 hectares of land along the slopes of the volcano into protected forest or a national park, Maarif said.
Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf al-Jufri said that the more than 13,000 people living in temporary shelters would also be provided a daily food allowance of 5,000 rupiah ($0.60) each for the next three to six months until they get back on their feet.
Those relocated will also be given cattle, seeds and saplings so that they can resume farming, said Maarif.
However, said Hermanto: "The government has promised to compensate for cattle killed in the eruptions but so far there has not been a settlement. Some work in the fields but others do odd jobs such as mining sand."
Located within the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia is no stranger to volcanoes, earthquakes, and other natural disasters.
The archipelago nation - the fourth most populated - is home to at least 129 active volcanoes, 68 of which are classified as dangerous.
Simmering Ecuadorian Volcano Spews Ash Sky High
NTDTelevision: Simmering Ecuadorian Volcano Spews Ash Sky High
Residents of Baños, Ecuador were doing what little they could on Saturday to clean their town of a thick coating of ash spewed by the "Throat of Fire" volcano after it erupted on Friday.
Loud explosions shook the ground and rattled windows near the volcano forcing residents to flee.
The volcano is known as Tungurahua in the indigenous Quechua language and is 81 miles southeast of Quito.
Baños, a town popular with foreign and local tourists, was among the places evacuated voluntarily and whose resident now must contend, once more, with cleaning up after the volcano.
Tungurahua, a 16 thousand 5 hundred foot volcano, has been classed as active since 1999 and had a strong eruption in 2008.
It is one of eight active volcanoes in Ecuador.
Residents of Baños, Ecuador were doing what little they could on Saturday to clean their town of a thick coating of ash spewed by the "Throat of Fire" volcano after it erupted on Friday.
Loud explosions shook the ground and rattled windows near the volcano forcing residents to flee.
The volcano is known as Tungurahua in the indigenous Quechua language and is 81 miles southeast of Quito.
Baños, a town popular with foreign and local tourists, was among the places evacuated voluntarily and whose resident now must contend, once more, with cleaning up after the volcano.
Tungurahua, a 16 thousand 5 hundred foot volcano, has been classed as active since 1999 and had a strong eruption in 2008.
It is one of eight active volcanoes in Ecuador.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Chasing Lava, by Wendell A. Duffield
Chasing Lava: A Geologist's Adventures at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, by Wendell A. Duffield
Mountain Press Publishing Company, 2003
160 pages the Galllery of photos, additional reading and index
Library: 551.210 DUF
Description
In 1969, as Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, a young geologist known as Duff was preparing to set foot on a rocky landscape of another sort: Kilauea Volcano on the island of Hawaii, where he would spend three years at the Hawaii Volcano Observatory.
Volcanologists and general readers alike will enjoy this entertaining account of living and working at Kilauea-one of the world's most active volcanoes and the home of Pele, goddess of fire and volcanoes.
Duff's narrative encompasses everything from the scientific (observations that the movements of a cooled crust on a lava lake mimicked plate tectonics) to the humorous (his dog's doscovery of a snake on the supposedly snake-free island) to the life-threatening (a colleague's plunge into molten lava.)
Table of Contents
1. A farm boy's image of Hawaii
2. A Volcano observatory is born
3. The Hawaii Volcano Observatory Grows
4. Mingo leads the way
5. Our new home
6. Focusing in: The Hawaiian Islands and their string of old neighbors
7. Taking the pulse of Kilauea
8. Are you on the level?
9. A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, a geodomiter, and thou
10. You're right! That is a snake!
11. Yellow runoff
12. Water beds and magma beds
13. Tree molds and leg molds
14. A Suffocating experience
15. How fast can you runn?
16. Living off the land
17. Camping at Halape
18. Swords into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks
19. Disharmonious tremor and premature eruption
20. Tainted lava
21. The dance of the plates
22. Why I cruise parking lots
23. The South Flank story
24. Mingo goes home
25. Epilogue: Sharing the fruits of maturation
A Gallery of Directors and Scientists-in-Charge of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, 1912-2002
Additional reading for the technically inclined
Index
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