Heightened activity at Italy’s Stromboli volcano frightens residents

The flanks of the Stromboli volcano north of Sicily spews lava towards the sea on January 14, 2013 after one of Europe’s most active volanoes churned into activity. Spectacular lava flows and smoke from an active volcano on the Italian island of Stromboli on Monday sparked fear among inhabitants but geophysicists said the situation was under control.

January 15, 2013 – ITALY – Spectacular lava flows and smoke from an active volcano on the Italian island of Stromboli on Monday sparked fear among inhabitants but geophysicists said the situation was under control. Stromboli is part of the seven-island Eolian Archipelago just off Sicily in southern Italy. The volcano is active but on Monday there was a particularly powerful eruption and sustained lava flows, following four days of heightened activity. Stromboli mayor Marco Giorgianni told the island’s 500 inhabitants that they were not at risk and experts from Italy’s civil protection agency are due on the island for further controls shortly. “We are afraid,” one resident, Pier Paolo Cincotta, was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying. “No-one has really explained to us what the situation is and what we should do,” he said. Italy’s National Geophysics Institute is monitoring the situation. –France 24 

New Zealand volcano restless: Mt Tongariro has continued to emit steam and gas but beneath the mountain, things have been quiet so far this year. The Te Maari craters, the site of eruptions in August and November last year, continue to be active with continuous emissions of steam and volcanic gas, GNS Science said. The gas was coming from a large fumarole and crack in a cliff just east of the Upper Te Maari crater. The main Upper Te Maari crater is also discharging gas but at a lesser rate. “Gas and steam emissions from the volcano will continue to be a feature of the mountain for several years to come,” GNS head vulcanologist Gill Jolly said.  GNS Science vulcanologists are planning to take new gas measurements to compare with those made at the end of December.  Aerial observations at the end of last year showed a large amount of material had filled in the Upper Te Maari crater in the November 21 eruption but the main shape of the crater had not changed. Meanwhile seismic activity had remained relatively low, with no earthquakes yet recorded beneath the mountain this year.  GNS said Tongariro continued to be in a heightened state of unrest and eruptions could occur with little or no warning.  –Stuff

Mexico volcano becomes more explosive: Colima volcano has entered a new eruptive phase with more explosions during the past days. On January 6, the first explosion produced an ash column of 3 km height. The second explosion occurred 4 days later on Thursday 10 January. The second blast destroyed the lava dome that had been emplaced in 2007 in the summit crater. On Sunday January 13 the third explosion occurred, but the event was smaller than the previous two. The eruptions expelled approximately 1.5 million cubic meters of volcanic material that was part of the old dome and left a new crater of 220 m diameter inside the 420 m wide summit crater. –Volcano Discovery

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