UPDATE: I’ve updated the sat IR image below, plus added some Google Earth imagery below. The ash plume has hit the stratosphere and has now extended to more than 1000 miles from the point of origin. It looks more and more like the volcano is Nabro, which has not erupted in recent history. – Anthony
Eruption under way in N Ethiopia and Eritrea region. Think Nabro or Dubbi. Moderate earthquake swarm up to 5.7 ‘s going on there today. Latest sat photo showing eruption:
Source: http://www.sat24.com/zoomloop.aspx?ir=true®ion=af&lat=16&lon=46
Here’s the USGS Earthquake Map:
Here’s the 5.7 magnitude Earthquake Details
- This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.
| Magnitude | 5.7 |
|---|---|
| Date-Time |
|
| Location | 13.530°N, 41.625°E |
| Depth | 9.9 km (6.2 miles) |
| Region | ERITREA – ETHIOPIA REGION |
| Distances | 133 km (82 miles) WNW of Assab, Eritrea
200 km (124 miles) SW of Al Hudaydah, Yemen 233 km (144 miles) E of Mekele, Ethiopia 353 km (219 miles) SE of ASMARA, Eritrea |
| Location Uncertainty | horizontal +/- 17.1 km (10.6 miles); depth +/- 2.8 km (1.7 miles) |
| Parameters | NST=113, Nph=114, Dmin=320.6 km, Rmss=0.88 sec, Gp= 72°,
M-type=regional moment magnitude (Mw), Version=6 |
| Source |
|
| Event ID | usc00045xc |
More on the earthquake swarm in the region:
Commenter Brian D. writes in Tips and Notes:
With two 5.7′s just before the eruption, and a sat image showing a rather tall plume in the equatorial region, wonder how high and strong this bad boy is. Nabro has no known modern eruptions. Dubbi has 2(1861, 1400). Man, did this one come out of nowhere.
Also h/t to Okie333
UPDATE: Here’s Google Earth imagery of Nabro
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I’ve checked MODIS Terra and Aqua imagery and there’s no good imagery yet, if anyone spots any, leave a comment.
Christchurch just got nailed with 6.0. Man, those poor folks. I’d be leaving that city.
Oil extraction in the Saudi kingdom, Sudan, and Eritrea most certainly lessened the quake and volcanims with pressure reduction.
Wow, I commented on the previous volcano posting and go mow the yard & weedeater and here’s another one! Yeah, the New Zealand situation is a bit nervous. As is Arkansas! Kamchatka has been fairly regularly honking tall plumes since 2008. Quiets down for a few weeks or so then shoots off a few plumes. Be interesting to see what the coming eclipse will reveal about any increase in SO2 in the stratosphere now. Being that Russia will have a good look.
Going to need some serious cracking or tsunami to get water into that place.
Millmeters of sea rise / decade isn’t going to get the job done in our lifetime.
MSM hasn’t picked up the story yet.
How interesting: Sun just went blank again.
Just had another decent shake (mag. 6.0) here in Christchurch NZ. Most of the buildings that would have collapsed had already collapsed during the Feb 22 6.1 quake.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/5136644/Powerful-earthquakes-rock-Christchurch
I wonder why it is a US map that is referenced. I know who pays for that. It is afterall in a different continent in the Old World. Shouldn’t the Brits or perhaps the Chinese be funding this stuff ? I guess I am in a state of mind to look for ways to reduce government expenses.
Warwick, NZ just received a 6.0 at 9.6km and 5.2 at 11km depth a few minutes ago.
May have been near Christchurch again but not sure about that.
Dunno about Australopithecus afarensis but Ethiopia is the ancestral home of coffee. Ethiopian genes from antiquity are extremely wide spread, ranging from northern Europe to Melanesia.
Seems to me that the sesmic and volcanic activity occurs after a solar geomagnetic activity spike when sun calms down rapidly….. We had the solar flare event just a few days ago. NOTE – this is a non scientific and unchecked observation by me so it probably can be falsified by data.
You can see the plume on the visible sat at the link provided for the sat images. Impressive!
Ok, we have a visible satellite pic now, very obvious volcanic plume:
http://www.sat24.com/en/et
As has been mentioned, near-ish to the Afar region. Interesting place, and it the hottest place on earth. Salt is still mined there. Hope it settles or at least the plume stays where it is, my wife is in Addis Ababa right now.
At least one person reporting a plume height of 50km! For comparison, Pinatubo was around 35km altitude.
“AntonyIndia says:
June 12, 2011 at 8:03 pm”
Yes, “Lucy”. And her remains are in a museum in Addis Ababa.
I think Deadman must be a Politician or a Watermelon(green on the outside red in the middle) either way he’s not real bright. Reminds me of the song How Does it Feel to be Thick as a Brick
Plume is almost at Khartoum, Sudan now. It is moving pretty fast, obviously in the stratosphere in order to move that quickly.
We should remember that the Christchurch earthquake swarm started on September 3rd – by mid Sept. Govt expert scientists were calling it “textbook” and “fading”. How wrong was that.
Prior to Sept 3rd the Christchurch area had not been noted for earthquakes. You might feel shakes from further afield like the Alpine Fault region – but Christchurch was pretty quiet.
So post- Sept 3rd is a whole new ballgame – rolling on and on.
Crosspatch, I think that was 50k as in feet.
Is there some metric for total volcanic activity or intensity? Is it graphed over time somewhere? Seems like we might be on some sort of spike on that metric.
James of the West says:
June 12, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Not a bad idea at all. Big Flare, big lull. Rock has a property where if you put pressure against it, then release that pressure, the material that moved falls off.
fred nerk says:
June 12, 2011 at 9:04 pm
You might what to check his blog before you make that assertion. Click his name in his comments, or click http://impactofcc.blogspot.com/ Consider a little research before commenting, please.
Warwick Hughes says:
June 12, 2011 at 9:08 pm
Somewhat OT. Further to what you say the only guy who has had a modicum of success at predicting future earthquakes in NZ since Sept 3rd 7.1 quake is a Kiwi fella called Ken Ring. His theories about short term weather and quake predictions are based on lunar activities. He was hounded by the MSM and so called Govt expert Geo scientists as a publicity seeking charlatan and scaremonger. The negative publicity made him go into hiding. Shame on the sanctimonious pisspot scientific orthodoxy and MSM for not at least allowing him a proper hearing.
For those who knock Deadman suggest you visit his site before firing your next slavo.
It was 50km but it is now been clarified as the width of the plume at the time, not the altitude. There is an initial ash advisory that puts it at about 30,000 feed (FL300) or about 10km altitude.
Note, this eruption “came out of nowhere” and is in a very sparsely populated area. There probably won’t be any webcams pointed at this one.