It appears that a major eruption is underway at the Shiveluch volcano in the Kamchatka peninsula. Here is the location from Google Earth:
Here is a recent photo (August 27th) showing it building a lava dome in the crater. There is speculation on some blogs that the dome has collapsed and has been blown out.
Here is part of the KVERT release:
Strong explosive eruption of Sheveluch volcano with ash explosions >10 km (>32,800 ft) ASL probably continues. The activity of the volcano could affect international and low-flying aircraft.
Additional photos are available here at the Kamchatka Volcanoes Emergency Response Team (KVERT) website.
From the excellent Volcansim Blog
Reports from Russia indicate that a large eruption of Shiveluch began yesterday. A bulletin from the Kamchatka Volcanoes Emergency Response Team (KVERT), issued at 22:35 UTC on 10 September warns that ‘Ash explosions > 10 km (>32,800 ft) ASL from the volcano could affect international and low-flying aircraft’. According to the bulletin, ’strong explosions’ occurred between around 14:19 and 14:55 UTC on 10 September, with seismic data indicating ash plumes reaching 15000 metres above sea level; if ash plumes are indeed reaching 10-15 km altitude, then this is a sizeable event. The bulletin reports that according to seismic data ‘10 volcanic events (ash explosions and hot avalanches or pyroclastic flows) occurred at the lava dome from 16:33 till 20:25 UTC on September 10′. Whether the activity is still continuing is not clear, and there are no visual or satellite images of this event because of cloud cover.
Tokyo VAAC issued a volcanic ash advisory at 04:40 UTC today reporting emissions at FL210 (21000 feet / 6400 metres) at 02:16 UTC, but giving no subsequent eruption cloud observations. No further advisories have been issued, so perhaps things have calmed down again at Shiveluch.
The Russian press gives no additional information on this eruption, but reports that KVERT volcanologists have said that there is no danger to local inhabitants from this burst of activity.
More info:
KVERT: information releases – current activity summary for Kamchatka volcanoes
Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Response Team – KVERT information page from the AVO
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Phil. (10:44:58) :
Ron de Haan (06:01:32) :
In March we had the eruption of Mt Redoubt, in June the eruption of Sarychev Peak which effected weather events all over the NH and now Shiveluch. All three eruptions produced plumes that penetrated the stratosphere.
No sign of a stratospheric plume on MODIS over the last few days.
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/realtime/single.php?A092560235
Phil, I only have the data available from the link I’ve posted.
Anybody have a link for the SATO index, but at annual intervals?
Thanks, Ed
I wonder if it is related…
Here on the Left Coast just south of San Francisco, it was cold all day.
Now it is raining.
(Last night we had a tiny sprinkle. Odd, but not a big deal. This is real rain.)
Very unusual. “Normally” we might get a sprinkle, then dry through Halloween. Sometimes, but rarely, a drizzle near Halloween just to make you worry, but I can’t remember being “rained out” in 20 years. Now we’re being rained on and it isn’t even October yet…
Some years it was “A/C” weather all through September. Never been fireplace and raincoat weather before…
Is it just me? Looking at the map / picture up top, it looks like there is a “fuzzy line” just south of Anchorage. Above that, the picture is sharp. Below it, fuzzy. Click on it and the full sized image is sharp, but the displayed image looks like it was doing the “repeated pass image sharpening” thing and got interrupted. Might want to try a new upload of the picture. (Unless of course it IS just me 😉
Ron de Haan (11:28:05) :
RR Kampen (07:52:31) :
“Your link unfortunately does not work.”
Strange. Works for me. Shows global temperature anomaly for summer (JJA) 2009 and shows the US as on of three cool islands on a very warm globe.
“For colder weather conditions in the Netherlands you have to wait until the Atlantic cools down a little more but that’s only a matter of time.”
Wouldn’t help, as there is no discernible relation between cool pools in the Atlantic and winter weather in Holland. By the way, which part of the Atlantic do you mean?
Rereke Whakaaro (22:54:38) :
… assuming, of course, that gravity is constant.
—————————————————
With all that CO2 we are spewing into the atmosphere, the mass of the earth must be increasing….shirley?
It wouldn’t surprise me to see Global Warming causing a gravitational shift. News reports are no stranger than this.
Oh give it a break already – as if this or other eruptions have not ever happened in the face of MASSIVE warming before – are you kidding me. first off the ash clouds has to punch trop, secondly it’s position or latitude makes a huge difference.
How this or other natural cycles omits CO2 which IS behind the background warming is really a g i n t s t r e t c h
This is exceedingly bad news, coming at this time, under the conditions we already have.
For who is interested, just some links I copied when I searched for Volcanic SO2 emissions:
So2 Emissions:
Kasatochi
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/09/13/kasatochi-volcano-so2-update-aerosols-may-have-cooling-effect-on-the-nh-this-year/
Sarychev
http://geology.com/news/2009/sarychev-volcano-sulfur-dioxide-cloud.shtml
Redoubt:
http://volcanology.suite101.com/article.cfm/satellite_images_of_mt_redoubt_volcano_eruption
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/04/04/redoubt-volcano-erupts-again/
Kilauea
http://geology.com/news/2008/kilaueas-sulfur-dioxide-plume.shtml
Sat data: http://sacs.aeronomie.be/nrt/
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~lnkapela/
August 2008 monthly data set http://sacs.aeronomie.be/archive/month.php?Year=2008&Month=08&Day=01&Region=000
June 2009 monthly data set
http://sacs.aeronomie.be/archive/month.php?Year=2009&Month=06&Day=01&Region=000
literature:
http://www.earth-prints.org/handle/2122/5101?mode=full
Random:
http://www.nebirdsplus.org/Sunrise_The_Russian_Connection.htm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1199352/Red-sky-night-Heavens-turn-crimson-Britain-Russian-volcano-erupts.html
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/estack/mother_nature_biggest_polluter.guest.html.html
Bad news if we ever see the day:
Another Laki Eruption:
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Laki_%28volcano%29
RR Kampen (01:14:24) :
Ron de Haan (11:28:05) :
RR Kampen (07:52:31) :
“Your link unfortunately does not work.”
Strange. Works for me. Shows global temperature anomaly for summer (JJA) 2009 and shows the US as on of three cool islands on a very warm globe.
“For colder weather conditions in the Netherlands you have to wait until the Atlantic cools down a little more but that’s only a matter of time.”
Wouldn’t help, as there is no discernible relation between cool pools in the Atlantic and winter weather in Holland. By the way, which part of the Atlantic do you mean?
RR Kampen,
I don’t know why the link does not work.
In regard to the winters in the Netherlands,
Have a look at this graph and tell me there is no link between the negative phases of the NOA and Dutch winters.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Winter-NAO-Index.png
Cold weather in the Netherlands and most of west europe is al based on a large high presure area with nort east winds from russia and scandinavia. Wind from the north father in the winter months will result in snow but other directions west and south west(most of the time) wil give rain and wind
The alert status at Shiveluch was lowered from “red” to “orange” over the weekend. It appears that the ash plume since the explosions on Friday (9/11/09) may not have been as large, possibly reaching only ~6.5 km / 21,000 feet, but clouds obscured most of the eruption. The current status report:
Activity of the volcano continues: a new viscous lava flow effuses at the lava dome. Ash explosions > 10 km (> 32,800 ft) ASL could occur at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect international and low-flying aircraft. Seismic activity of the volcano decreased: only three explosive events occurred from 02:15 till 15:46 UTC on September 11
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2009/09/monday_musings_the_end_at_mont.php
For who is interested in more detailed information about Shiveluch Vocano:
http://www.kscnet.ru/ivs/volcanoes/holocene/main/textpage/shiveluch.htm
Lucy Skywalker (01:20:12):
We all love ya! But long lines of plutonic activity are for nerds. Meet me at Nepenthe’s in Big Sur next weekend and I’ll show you some lines of unplatonic activity. 😉
Re: Ron de Haan (11:44:23) :
“In regard to the winters in the Netherlands,
Have a look at this graph and tell me there is no link between the negative phases of the NOA and Dutch winters.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Winter-NAO-Index.png ”
—
Hi Ron, as Jeroen explained above cold winter weather in Holland derives from blockings over the region Greenland-Scandinavia-Northwest Russia and these are associated with negative NAO. Blockings are relatively rare, but negative temp anomalies are large then. A winter sporting only four weeks of this generally ends up at the coldest in the record.
So yes, there is a definite link, which is well known in the met community here.
But it is hard to correlate the NAO with the distribution of cold and warm SST-pools in the Atlantic. We would have expected a cool to normal August based on the distribution this summer, but the month went into the top 10-percentile.
For who is interested to see what’s going on at Chaitén Volcano, today the web cam provides a short view of the on going eruption:
http://www.aipchile.cl/camara/detail.php?cameraID=116
RR Kampen (02:19:48) :
I have said what I have said.
All memorable Dutch winters happened when the Atlantic was in a cold phase.
Nothing more nothing less.
http://www.intellicast.com/Community/Content.aspx?ref=rss&a=167
Any “hobby” meteorologist can tell you not to expect a cold August when the North Sea has warmed up to 20 degrees Celsius.
http://home.hccnet.nl/v.d.horn/meteopagina/zeewatertemperatuur.htm
Expect to have a winter similar to last year.
In other words, keep you skates at hand.
Records of explosive volcanic eruptions during the past 500 years
http://www.geo.umass.edu/faculty/bradley/bradley1992b.pdf
For who is interested in Chaitén, Werner Louis has kept the most complete record covering the entire eruption with amazing pictures and all the reports:
http://inglaner.com/volcan_chaiten.htm
Re: Ron de Haan (10:40:50) :
RR Kampen (02:19:48) :
“All memorable Dutch winters happened when the Atlantic was in a cold phase.
Nothing more nothing less.”
There is no relation. I have said what I’ve said. You may come with sources giving evidence to your hypothesis! I checked e.g. the record cold of 2 March 2005 and found the Atlantic in a warm fase.
“Any “hobby” meteorologist can tell you not to expect a cold August when the North Sea has warmed up to 20 degrees Celsius.”
After July 2006 the North Sea was record warm at 20-22° C. The ensuing August was decidely cool (also record wet). The North Sea does nothing to the jet.
By the way, there is no relation between a warm North Sea and rainfall in September/fall. Checked last week.
“Expect to have a winter similar to last year.
In other words, keep you skates at hand.”
It is well known that season prediction doesn’t work. Best we can say is: the chance winter 2009-10 will be warmer than the 1971-2000 average is near 5/6.
There used to be a large Russian Airbase about 200 miles from there. Wonder if they are getting any ash.
Update from: http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/
The alert status at Shiveluch was lowered from “red” to “orange” over the weekend. It appears that the ash plume since the explosions on Friday (9/11/09) may not have been as large, possibly reaching only ~6.5 km / 21,000 feet, but clouds obscured most of the eruption. The current status report:
Activity of the volcano continues: a new viscous lava flow effuses at the lava dome. Ash explosions > 10 km (> 32,800 ft) ASL could occur at any time. The activity of the volcano could affect international and low-flying aircraft. Seismic activity of the volcano decreased: only three explosive events occurred from 02:15 till 15:46 UTC on September 11
If you want to see images of the volcano before the eruption, including closeups of the dome, check out the KVERT page for Shiveluch.