MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

“A lava dome atop the massive Cleveland Volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands has gotten larger in the past week, and officials keeping an eye on the restive mountain have raised eruption threat levels.

The lava dome, a viscous mass of lava belched up from inside the mountain but too thick to flow down its sides, widened by 33 feet (10 meters) over five days, to 164 feet across (50 m).

On the fifth day, Aug. 2, the Alaska Volcano Observatory raised the volcano alert level to “watch” and aviation color code to orange, the second-highest levels in each four-level scale.

‘The presence of the lava dome increases the possibility of an explosive eruption but does not necessarily indicate that one will occur,’ the latest report from the AVO stated.

The agency added that it does not anticipate any threat to air traffic from ash plumes or other airborne debris should Cleveland erupt. ‘Lava flows onto the flanks of the volcano may develop but would not be hazardous to aviation,’ the report said.

The 5,676-foot-tall (1,730 m) volcano, on the uninhabited island of Chuginadak, has erupted more than 20 times since 1828. The last eruption occurred over the course of a week in late July.

The mountain is part of the infamous Ring of Fire, a string of volcanoes strewn around the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean that produces some of the world’s most dramatic and dangerous eruptions.

The Cleveland Volcano could put on quite a show in coming days.” Read more.

By Mark Dunphy – “A newly released NASA satellite image shows an ash plume drifting from a volcano that produced one of the largest eruptions in modern history.

Anak Krakatau (also known as Krakatoa), a volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in Indonesia, has been intermittently active for the past several decades.

The island exploded in 1883, killing approximately 40,000 people, although some estimates put the death toll much higher. The explosion is considered to be the loudest sound ever heard in modern history, with reports of it being heard nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from its point of origin. The shock wave from the explosion was recorded on barographs around the globe.

On July 31, 2011, a wispy ash plume rose above the volcano and drifted west… The natural-colour satellite image was acquired by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) aboard Earth Observing-1 (EO-1). Dark gray areas of Anak Krakatau are composed principally of lava flows deposited in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. These flows are topped by a young cinder cone near the center of the island. Green vegetation covers older lavas along the eastern coastline.” Read more.

“Mount Etna on Sicily, Italy’s one of the most famous volcanoes, started erupting once again this weekend. Flames and sparks have been shooting into the air, reaching a height of about 250 meters, according to witnesses.

Whenever Etna comes alive, local authorities always fear that the ash clouds and heavy smoke could cut off the island from the continent by block flights out of Catania airport. However, strong winds helped this time. The ash has been blown away towards the Ionian Sea, with no flights cancelled or delayed.

Mount Etna, which remained inactive for six months, started erupting on Saturday morning and continued through Saturday and Sunday. With the latest activity, the grand total of Etna eruptions for this year stands at eight, which makes the year 2011 quite an active year for the Sicilian volcano.

Etna’s eighth paroxysmal eruptive episode of the year 2011 lasted less than one day, with a phase of lava fountaining activity lasting about 2-3 hours.

This was the most intense eruption since the first one in the night of 12-13 January this year. Unlike the earlier eruptions, except for the first one, the lava flow emitted during the 30 July paroxysm was longer. It immediately reached the sloping terrain to the north and northeast of Monte Centenari.” Read more.

By Tammy Lee Morris – “The Hierro — or El Hierro — volcano located in the Canary Islands may be getting ready for eruption, according to information on the website Earthquake-report.com. An earthquake swarm that has numbered 700 or more small quakes under the volcano has occurred recently, raising concern that the volcano may be working up to an eruption.

What is an earthquake swarm? It is a series of small magnitude earthquakes that strike in the same location over a (usually) short time period. Earthquake swarms are common precursors and warnings to volcanic activity.

The Canary Islands are located off the northwestern coast of Africa, near the border between Morocco and Western Sahara. They are a chain of islands known as an archipelago and are legally a nationality of Spain. There are 13 islands in the archipelago and the Canaries are a popular tourist destination…

It is uncertain when El Hierro last erupted, but it is believed there may have been an eruption in 1793. The location of the current earthquake swarm is at the northwest part of the island near the El Golfo cone, which, according to Volcano Live, was the site of a landslide that was responsible for a tsunami 50,000 years ago that measured just over 300 feet in height.” Read more.

720 Earthquakes Recorded On El Hierro In The Canary Islands – “An unprecedented 720 earthquakes have been recorded on El Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Islands, during the past week. The earthquake swarm has even prompted the Canary Islands Government to convene the first ever meeting of the Steering Committee and Volcanic Monitoring, reflected in the Specific Plan Protection Civil and Emergency for Volcanic Risk, given what it described ‘the significant increase in seismic activity’.” Read more.

“NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The weather on Monday afternoon was unlike anything seen so far during this summer of severe weather.

Parts of the Tri-State area were pounded from the sky — with wind, lightning and ice.

Residents in Little Neck, Queens picked up the hail and put them in their freezers just to have evidence.

‘I’ve never seen anything, it was horrifying,’ Gail Kolidas told CBS 2′s Lou Young.

As intense as the damage was, it was also concentrated along the Queens-Nassau line.

The hail stones shattered car windows, punctured plastic lawn furniture and vinyl siding. It also did a good job of rattling nerves.

‘Unbelievable,’ remarked Sherly Mesten.

Hours after the storm ended, the hail was still melting where it pooled down into the lawn.

‘It looks like eggs,’ said Young Kim, ‘I see this, this is ice. Unbelievable.'” Read more.

By Jiyeon Lee – “Seoul (CNN) — A landslide near the South Korean town of Chuncheon killed 32 people and injured 24 others, authorities said Wednesday.

More than 750 rescue workers had been dispatched to the site after the collapse occurred at midnight, according to the Central Disaster Relief Center.

About 400 families have lost their homes and more than 14,000 were left without power.

The hillside gave way during a summer of record-setting rainfall, which has caused flooding and major traffic disruptions across portions of the country.

Chuncheon is about 75 kilometers (45 miles) northeast of the capital, Seoul, which has seen more than 400 millimeters (15 inches) of rain since Tuesday.” Read more.

“The Reventador Volcano has shown increased activity and government officials ask no one to approach. Revenatador is located 90 km west of Quito and has a long history of activity. In November 2002 the volcano erupted for the first time in 26 years destroying roads between Quito and Lago Agrio. The 17 km high ash cloud affected 2 million people as it spread over the provinces of Pichincha, Napo and Suscumbios and forced the closure of the Quito Airport causing flights to be rerouted to Guayaquil or Latacunga. A subsequent eruption in November of 2008 effected residents of El Chaco in the Amazon basin.

The Geophysical Institute of Ecuador stated ‘it is clear that the volcano appears significantly more active than in previous months, this being much more noticeable in recent days’ Rash on the volcano Reventador occurs ‘significantly active than in previous months’ and ‘in these circumstances the presence of people near the crater of Reventador is dangerous and in no way recommended to climb to the summit.'” Source.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The alert level for an Alaska volcano is being raised after officials say persistent thermal anomalies have been spotted in satellite data.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory on Wednesday raised the level Cleveland Volcano to advisory from unassigned.

There is no real-time seismic network at the volcano, located 939 miles southwest of Anchorage on an uninhabited island. Officials are not able to track local earthquake activity related to volcanic unrest.

Short-lived explosions with ash clouds or plumes exceeding 20,000 feet above sea level are frequent on Cleveland. It last showed signs of unrest last summer, with a small ash emission and lava flows on its upper flanks.” Read more.

July 16: Magnitude 6.1 earthquake shakes Alaska’s Aleutian Islands – “A 6.1 magnitude earthquake has struck Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, but no tsunami warning was issued. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the quake on Saturday was centered 604 miles southwest of Anchorage on the eastern part of the Aleutian Islands. It had a depth of 43 kilometers.” Read more.