ภูเขาไฟ ที่กำลังปะทุ !!!!!!!!!!!

เตือนภัยการภูเขาไฟ 18 ลูกพร้อมๆ กันในอินโดนีเซีย 2 ลูกอยู่ระดับ 3

18 Indonesian volcanoes on alert status

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sun, 08/07/2011 1:05 PM



18 Indonesian volcanoes on alert status

Eighteen Indonesian volcanoes are on “alert” status, two of which are at Alert Level 3, which is called “Siaga”, the Volcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation Center says.

Center head Surono said Sunday in Jakarta the erupting Mount Lokon in North Sulawesi and Mount Ibu in North Maluku were the two volcanoes at Siaga status.

The center has adopted four levels of alert status: “Normal” (Level 1), “Waspada” (Level 2), “Siaga” (Level 3) and “Awas” (Level 4).

Surono said the conditions at Mt Lokon and Mt Ibu were currently considered most worrisome because they had been consistently erupting searing clouds affecting a radius of 2.5 kilometers.

He added, however, that the eruptions had not yet endangered people living around the volcanoes.

“The eruptions are heading west, while people are concentrated in east,” he said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Surono added that 16 other volcanoes were at Level 2 alert status, “Waspada”, including Mt. Papandayan and Mt. Guntur in West Java.

“Locals have reported several quakes,” he said.

Surono said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had summoned him on Saturday to report the volcanoes’ status and the center’s preparations to anticipate possible disasters.

He said ideally there should be an expert monitoring the activities of each volcano in Indonesia, as is the case in Japan.

“Currently an expert handles five mountains.”
Eighteen Indonesian volcanoes are on “alert” status, two of which are at Alert Level 3, which is called “Siaga”, the Volcanology and Geology Disaster Mitigation Center says.
Center head Surono said Sunday in Jakarta the erupting Mount Lokon in North Sulawesi and Mount Ibu in North Maluku were the two volcanoes at Siaga status.
The center has adopted four levels of alert status: “Normal” (Level 1), “Waspada” (Level 2), “Siaga” (Level 3) and “Awas” (Level 4).
Surono said the conditions at Mt Lokon and Mt Ibu were currently considered most worrisome because they had been consistently erupting searing clouds affecting a radius of 2.5 kilometers.
He added, however, that the eruptions had not yet endangered people living around the volcanoes.
“The eruptions are heading west, while people are concentrated in east,” he said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.
Surono added that 16 other volcanoes were at Level 2 alert status, “Waspada”, including Mt. Papandayan and Mt. Guntur in West Java.
“Locals have reported several quakes,” he said.
Surono said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had summoned him on Saturday to report the volcanoes’ status and the center’s preparations to anticipate possible disasters.
He said ideally there should be an expert monitoring the activities of each volcano in Indonesia, as is the case in Japan.
“Currently an expert handles five mountains.”

18 Indonesian volcanoes on alert status | The Jakarta Post

 

ภูเขาไฟ Karangetang สุลาเวสี อินโดนีเซีย ปะทุอย่างแรง

<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="100%"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="2" valign="top" width="100%">2011-08-08 02:58:38 - Volcano Eruption - Indonesia

</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" width="100%">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td width="25%">EDIS Code:</td> <td>VE-20110808-31881-IDN</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Date&Time:</td> <td>2011-08-08 02:58:38 [UTC]</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Continent:</td> <td>Indonesian Archipelago</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Country:</td> <td>Indonesia</td> </tr> <tr> <td>State/Prov.:</td> <td>Siau Island, </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Location:</td> <td>Mt. Karangetang Volcano, </td> </tr> <tr> <td>City:</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> Damage level: Moderate (Level 2)

Not confirmed information!
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> <td align="right" width="440"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> Description: </td> </tr><tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> A volcano that has been spewing lava and clouds of searing gas high into the air has let out a new, powerful burst, sending panicked villagers streaming down the sides of the mountain. A man who fell as he was fleeing was injured, said Ludianto, head of the search and rescue team. The victim suffered only cuts and bruises. Mount Karangetang on Siau - part of the Sulawesi island chain - started spitting clouds of gas and lava up to 600 metres on Friday, said volcanologist Surono. Earlier today, hot ash tumbled down its slopes triggering fresh panic. Nearly 600 people living along Karangetang's slopes have been evacuated, said Tonny Supit, the district chief. Indonesia lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.
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ใช่จ้า..................

 

ภูเขาไฟใต้ทะเล ในอเมริกาปะทุ

<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" valign="top" width="100%">2011-08-10 03:35:50 - Volcano Eruption - USA

</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" width="100%">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td width="25%">EDIS Code:</td> <td>VE-20110810-31906-USA</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Date&Time:</td> <td>2011-08-10 03:35:50 [UTC]</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Continent:</td> <td>North-America</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Country:</td> <td>USA</td> </tr> <tr> <td>State/Prov.:</td> <td>States of Washington and Oregon, </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Location:</td> <td>Axial Volcano, Juan de Fuca Ridge, </td> </tr> <tr> <td>City:</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> Not confirmed information!
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> <td align="right" width="440"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> Description: </td> </tr><tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> An undersea volcano has erupted off the coast of Oregon, spewing forth a layer of lava more than 12 feet thick in some places, and opening up deep vents that belch forth a cloudy stew of hot water and microbes from deep inside the Earth. Scientists uncovered evidence of the early April eruption on a routine expedition in late July to the Axial Seamount, an underwater volcano that stands 250 miles off the coast of Oregon. The discovery came as a surprise, as researchers attempted to recover instruments they'd left behind to monitor the peak a year earlier. When the researchers hefted a seafaring robotic vehicle overboard to fetch the instruments, the feed from the onboard camera sent back images of an alien seafloor landscape. "At first we were really confused, and thought we were in the wrong place," said Bill Chadwick, a geologist with Oregon State University. "Finally we figured out we were in the right place but the whole seafloor had changed, and that's why we couldn't recognize anything. All of a sudden it hit us that, wow, there had been an eruption. So it was very exciting." In addition to producing hardened lakes of blobby lava, in places more than a mile across, the eruption changed the architecture of the region's seafloor hot springs. "There are more vents, they're higher temperature, and there are microbes living in them that are usually deep in the crust that come up to the surface in these events," Chadwick told OurAmazingPlanet.

The Axial Volcano rises 3,000 feet above the seafloor, the most active of a string of volcanoes along the Juan de Fuca Ridge, a plate boundary where the seafloor is slowly pulling apart. Chadwick and colleagues have been keeping tabs on the peak since it last erupted in 1998. Thanks to a monitoring system they developed to measure the mountain's minute movements, the team predicted the volcano was due for another eruption sometime between 2011 and 2014. "So for me, it's a very exciting thing that this worked!" Chadwick said. The instruments kept track of the movement of the seafloor, which very gradually inflates and deflates like a giant, magma-filled balloon, Chadwick said, collapsing suddenly after an eruption, and rising, in this case, by about 6 inches a year in the lead-up to an eruption. Scientists have long known about the existence of subsea volcanoes, but information on their behavior is relatively sparse. Eruptions were first observed in the 1990s, and, although technology has improved, getting to the underwater peaks to study them is difficult.

Data from the Axial Seamount's recent eruption will provide the first long-term picture of a subsea volcano from one eruption to the next. Chadwick said scientists are still trying to figure out how seafloor volcanoes differ from their terrestrial counterparts. It could be it's easier to predict ocean eruptions, Chadwick said. It's possible that because the crust is thinner there, and magma is in ready supply, the mountains' slow inflations provide a good analogue for knowing when eruptions will occur. However, he cautioned that a single successful prediction wasn’t enough to forecast what the future holds. "At Axial, we've only seen this once, so we don't know for sure it's going to be reliable," Chadwick said. "So we'll certainly keep making these measurements, and hopefully be around to see what happens next."
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ภูเขาไฟ cleveland ก็เริ่มปะทุอีก

Situation Update No. 6
Posted:2011-07-21, 03:22:55 [UTC]
Ref.no.: VA-20110721-31682-USA

Situation Update No. 6
On 2011-08-10 at 03:02:47 [UTC]

Event: Volcano Activity
Location: USA State of Alaska Cleveland Volcano
Situation: A volcano on a remote Alaska island has begun erupting, but poses little danger to people or aircraft, officials said Tuesday. The eruption at Cleveland Volcano is a slow effusion of magma that is forming a lava dome, and not an explosive eruption that generates large ash plumes, said John Power, the scientist-in-charge at the Alaska Volcano Observatory. "So far, it's just lava as far as we can tell from our satellite imagery and the people who have managed to see it from passing airplanes," he said. The volcano is in a very remote area, on uninhabited Chuginadak Island, and that lowers the danger level. "Certainly, if there were people who were going to be in the area, they would need to be concerned but there aren't many of those folks there right now," he said. Currently the lava dome is confined within the summit crater. Power said the biggest danger would be if the lava dome began to grow large enough to spill out, then it could begin to generate ash-producing explosions. "If it were to explode and push a bunch of ash up into the flight levels, then it would be a much more dangerous situation," he said.

Based upon past observations at several volcanoes, dome growth like this can go on for weeks to months. "It's something we're going to be watching very closely, or as close as we can given our operational constraints there," he said. There is no real-time seismic network at the volcano, located in the Aleutian Islands 939 miles southwest of Anchorage. Officials are not able to track local earthquake activity related to volcanic unrest. For pictures, they also have to rely on satellite imagery or what people in airplanes snap as they pass the volcano and send to the observatory. Given the current level of activity and hazards, he said they don't plan to fly to the volcano, especially considering the expense. But weather has cleared in the last few days to allow better satellite imagery. "We've had a few good days where the top of the volcano has been sticking out of the clouds, so things are looking nice for us in terms of direct observations," Power said. 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. The observatory says the last significant eruption of the 5,676-foot volcano began in February 2001 and eventually produced a lava flow that reached the ocean.

 

ข้อมูลการปะทุของภูเขาไฟ ในช่วงนี้ Activity at Kizimen and Shiveluch volcanoes, Kamchatka Peninsula
Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:50 CDT



Indonesia: Mt. Ibu Emits Thick Smoke

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:59 CDT



Aleutian Islands: Cleveland volcano erupts

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:59 CDT

US: Huge Lava Pond Forms On Hawaii's Mount Kilauea

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:57 CDT


US: New Eruption Starts At Alaska's Cleveland Volcano

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:27 CDT

 

ภูเขาไฟ Soputan ตรงสุลาเวสีตอนเหนือ ปะทุเมื่อวันอาทิตย์ที่ผ่านมา

Indonesia: North Sulawesi's Mount Soputan Erupts


Jakarta Post
Sun, 14 Aug 2011 14:04 CDT


© AFP
Mount Soputan near Manado emits thick clouds of volcanic ash on Sunday.


Mount Soputan in Minahasa, North Sulawesi, emitted a cloud of ash on Sunday morning, reaching 1 kilometer in height.

The volcanic eruption drew the attention of residents of Tompaso district in Minahasa, from which the volcano can be clearly seen.

"I was surprised and panicked seeing the eruption at about 10 a.m. It was a big eruption; the clouds and ash looked very tall; almost the same as those produced in the big eruption several months ago," said Tompaso resident Riko Tamunu, 24.

He said he was attending church when the eruption occurred, adding that there had been smaller eruptions earlier at about 6 a.m. on Sunday.

Some Tomoso residents also left their houses, churches or other buildings upon hearing the sound of the eruption. Several residents captured the event using their cell phone cameras, TribunNews reported.

 

ภูเขาไฟ Papandayan ทางตะวันตกของชวา กำลังจะปะทุอย่างหนัก

<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" valign="top" width="100%">2011-08-24 04:45:43 - Volcano Activity - Indonesia

</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" width="100%">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td width="25%">EDIS Code:</td> <td>VA-20110824-32075-IDN</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Date&Time:</td> <td>2011-08-24 04:45:43 [UTC]</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Continent:</td> <td>Indonesian Archipelago</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Country:</td> <td>Indonesia</td> </tr> <tr> <td>State/Prov.:</td> <td>West Java, </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Location:</td> <td>Mount Papandayan Volcano, </td> </tr> <tr> <td>City:</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> Not confirmed information!
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> <td align="right" width="440"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> Description: </td> </tr><tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> Indonesia’s highly active Mount Papandayan volcano is in imminent danger of erupting, the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Agency warned on Wednesday. The agency, known as the PVMGB, said it was likely the volcano in Garut, West Java, would erupt either before or just after Idul Fitri, which marks the end of Ramadan. The prediction was based on the increasing activity of the volcano, the agency said on its Web site. “The volcano has more energy compared to its last eruption in 2002,” agency head Surono said in Bandung, the provincial capital, on Tuesday. Papandayan has shown an alarming increase in activities since the volcano’s status was raised to standby. Between Aug. 19 and 20, there were 45 earthquakes. “If the quakes increase to 60, an eruption will happen,” he said. “If Papandayan erupts, the annual exodus [mudik] routes will be blocked and 16 subdistricts in Garut will be isolated.” The agency asked officials at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to stay alert. The head of West Java’s BNPB, Ujuwalprana Sigit, said it had prepared multiple quick-response strategies for the possible eruption. The BNPB has prepared evacuation routes and emergency shelters for people living within 5 kilometers of the crater.
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พระอาจารย์รัตน์แจ้งมาว่า

ตอนนี้พลังงานหมุนตามเข็มนาฬิกาแล้ว 100% ตั้งแต่ วันนี้ 22 สิงหาคม 2011 ตั้งแต่เวลา 9.00 น.เป็นต้นไป พลังงานทั้งหลายจะพุ่งลงตรงๆ 90 องศา (ลงกลางหัวคนพอดี) พลังงานจะพุ่งลงดินและลงพื้นโลกเลย ทั้งนี้จะทำให้เกิด

- ภัยธรรมชาติที่รุนแรงขึ้น
- ภูเขาไฟจะระเบิดรุนแรง และ ถี่ขึ้น
- แผ่นดินไหวจะแรง และ มากขึ้น
- ระบบต่างๆ จะเริ่มมีปัญหา

ให้เริ่มระวังตัวเอาไว้กัน

ถ้าเป็นตามนี้อยากให้พวกเราโฟกัสเรื่อง ภูเขาไฟระเบิดกันด้วยจ้า

 

Ash thrown up by Russian volcano forces air traffic reroute

Aug 29, 2011, 8:58 GMT



Moscow - Ash thrown kilometres into the sky by an increasingly active volcano in a remote Russian Pacific coast territory has forced a reroute of international air traffic, government officials said Monday.
A column of smoke and ash from the volcano Shiveluch, located in the centre of Russia's rugged Kamchatka peninsula, has reached an altitude of 8.6 kilometres and poses a threat to aircraft, officials at Russia's National Geophysical Service (RNES) told Interfax.
The ash discharges were increasing in intensity and volume over the weekend. The RNES is now rating Shiveluch at level orange, one step below its most dangerous rating, red.
The Monday ash column was the most significant in a month and was accompanied by rock slides and an increase in the size of a rock dome known to contain lava, the report said.
The flight advisory aside, the volcano currently does not threaten human life or property, in part because the closest village to Shiveluch is some 45 kilometres' distant, officials said.
Shiveluch is one of the Pacific region's most active volcanoes. Its last catastrophic eruption was in 1956. Its last major eruption was in 1964.
After several decades of relative dormancy the volcano started showing signs of growing activity in 2006.
Shiveluch's increasing ash emissions are a sign of rising pressure. However, it is impossible to predict when the volcano might erupt, RNES spokesmen have said.
Containing more than 150 volcanoes, Russia's Kamchatka peninsula is one of the world's most active seismic zones.



Ash thrown up by Russian volcano forces air traffic reroute - Monsters and Critics


เถ้าถ่าน พวยพุ่งจากภูเขาไฟในรัสเซีย ทำให้ต้องเปลี่ยนเส้นทางจราจรทา<wbr>งอากาศ

 

ภูเขาไฟ Popocatepetl ทางใต้ของเม็กซิโก เริ่มปะทุ

<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" valign="top" width="100%">2011-08-31 05:49:43 - Volcano Eruption - Mexico

</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" width="100%">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign="top"> <table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" width="100%"> <tbody><tr> <td width="25%">EDIS Code:</td> <td>VE-20110831-32165-MEX</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Date&Time:</td> <td>2011-08-31 05:49:43 [UTC]</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Continent:</td> <td>Central-America</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Country:</td> <td>Mexico</td> </tr> <tr> <td>State/Prov.:</td> <td>Mexico-Puebla-Morelos, </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Location:</td> <td>Popocatepetl Volcano, </td> </tr> <tr> <td>City:</td> <td>
</td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2"> Not confirmed information!
</td> </tr> </tbody></table> </td> <td align="right" width="440"> </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> Description: </td> </tr><tr> <td colspan="2" valign="top"> The Popocatepetl volcano south of Mexico City is shooting blasts of ash from its crater. Mexico’s national disaster prevention agency says the volcano has spewed ash more than a half mile (a kilometer) into the sky four times Tuesday. It says there is a possibility ash could fall onto Mexico City overnight. The agency is urging people to stay at least 7 miles (12 kilometers) from the crater. The 17,886-foot (5,450-meter) volcano is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southeast of the capital.
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ภูเขาไฟ ในเม็กซิโก อิตาลี่ รัสเซีย เริ่มมีการปะทุ

Mexico's Popocatepetl Volcano Blasts Out Ash


Associated Press
Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:16 CDT


© Wikimedia Commons
View of the Popocatepetl volcano from Amecameca, Mexico State.

The Popocatepetl (po-po-ka-TEH-peh-tel) volcano south of Mexico City is shooting blasts of ash from its crater.

Mexico's national disaster prevention agency says the volcano has spewed ash more than a half mile (a kilometer) into the sky four times Tuesday. It says there is a possibility ash could fall onto Mexico City overnight.

The agency is urging people to stay at least 7 miles (12 kilometers) from the crater.

The 17,886-foot (5,450-meter) volcano is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southeast of the capital.



Mount Etna In Sicily Puts On A Natural Fireworks Show

Mark Dunphy
Irish Weather Online
Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:25 CDT



The Mount Etna volcano in Sicily, Italy, erupted for the twelfth time this year on Monday.

Throughout 2011, activity at Sicily's Mount Etna has been characterised by paroxysms: short, violent bursts of activity. Each event has included volcanic tremors, ash emissions, and lava flows centered around the New Southeast Crater, just below the summit.

According to the Osservatorio Vulcanologico dell'Etna: "On the early morning of 29 August 2011, the 12th paroxysmal eruptive episode of this year occurred at the New Southeast Crater, almost 8 days after its predecessor. This event generated tall lava fountains and an eruption column that caused ash falls in the southeast sector of the volcano, as well as various lava flows down the western slope of the Valle del Bove.



"During this paroxysm, the southeastern flank of the pyroclastic cone of the New Southeast Crater fractured, with the opening of several eruptive vents down to the base of the cone, which produced lava fountains and a broad lava flow that advanced to the Valle del Bove, too. The acme of this episode lasted less than 40 minutes."

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. On 12-13 January 2011 lava fountaining occurred from the vent on the east flank of Etna's Southeast Crater cone, lasting more than 1.5 hours. Italian Authorities were forced to temporarily close airports for a couple of hours while the ash cloud cleared.

Mt. Etna live webcam here, here and here.

Russia: Shiveluch Volcano's ash disrupts air traffic


News24.com
Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:33 CDT


© Unknown
Shiveluch Volcano

Moscow - Ash thrown kilometres into the sky by an increasingly active volcano in a remote Russian Pacific coast territory has forced a reroute of international air traffic, government officials say.

A column of smoke and ash from the volcano Shiveluch, located in the centre of Russia's rugged Kamchatka peninsula, reached an altitude of 8.6km on Monday and posed a threat to aircraft, officials at Russia's National Geophysical Service (RNES) told Interfax.

The ash discharges were increasing in intensity and volume over the weekend. The RNES is now rating Shiveluch at level orange, one step below its most dangerous rating.

The ash column was the most significant in a month and was accompanied by rock slides and an increase in the size of a rock dome known to contain lava, the report said.

Officials said the volcano did not currently threaten human life or property, in part because the closest village to Shiveluch was about 45km away.

Shiveluch is one of the Pacific region's most active volcanoes. Its last catastrophic eruption was in 1956. After several decades of relative dormancy the volcano started showing signs of growing activity in 2006.

Shiveluch's increasing ash emissions are a sign of rising pressure. However, it is impossible to predict when the volcano might erupt, the RNES spokesperson said.

Containing more than 150 volcanoes, Russia's Kamchatka peninsula is one of the world's most active seismic zones.

 

แผ่นดินไหวที่ภูเขาไฟที่ไอซ์แลนด์ ส่งสัญญาณการปะทุ

Quake-hit Iceland volcano Katla shows strengthening signs of eruption

by ClickGreen staff. Published Fri 02 Sep 2011 12:00, Last updated: 2011-09-02

Iceland's massive Katla volcano is showing increasing signs of a possible eruption following an intense week of earthquakes and tremors.

The feared volcano was struck by a magnitude 3.2 earthquake last night as experts believe magma is slowly filling inside the mountain, giving rise to fears the volcano could soon erupt.

The latest quake follows a week of increasing activity with official reports of harmonic tremors and earthquake swarms.

Observers have been closely watching Katla since July when the volcano showed the first signs of increased activity.

Last weekend, the Icelandic Met Office confirmed two swarms of earthquakes in Katla and on Wednesday night, a harmonic tremor – a potential indicator to an eruption - was detected.

Last night's stronger earthquake was picked up in the volcano's caldera - its magma chamber.

Katla, which has not experienced a significant eruption for 93 years, is the second largest volcano on Iceland and its eruption will be felt across Europe.

Last year, the country's president Ólafur Grímsson warned "the time for Katla to erupt is coming close, Iceland has prepared and it is high time for European governments and airline authorities all over Europe and the world to start planning for the eventual Katla eruption".

It is believed Katla, named after a vindictive troll of Viking folklore, has the potential to be much stronger and disruptive than the last two Icelandic volcanic eruptions that caused chaos across Europe's air space, grounding flights and closing airports.

Katla is much larger than its neighbouring Eyjafjallajokull – which erupted last year - with a magma chamber about 10 times the size.

Volcanologists warn that if Katla does erupt, the combination of the magma and the large ice sheet covering the volcano could lead to explosive activity and an ash plume for weeks, if not months.

 

Iceland's Katla Volcano Monitored After Seismic Activity Increases



© Getty

มีการสั่นไหวเล็กๆ ของภูเขาไป Katla ที่ไอซ์แลนด์ แต่ยังไม่ได้ทำให้เกิดการปะทุที่จะก่อให้เกิดอันตราย



A surge of small earthquakes has been reported around Iceland's Katla volcano, but scientists said Tuesday there is no immediate concern that the increased seismic activity will trigger a dangerous eruption.

Although earthquakes around Katla are common, an increase in cluster earthquakes is not.

"It's one of the most feared volcanos, so we're closely monitoring it," said Pall Einarsson of the University of Iceland. "That said, it's normal for earthquakes to be detected around Katla. What's a bit unusual is that we're seeing swarms of small earthquakes, some occurring every 10 minutes or so."

After flying over the area to monitor the situation Tuesday evening, scientists said they could not yet determine what caused the increased seismic activity. Although they detected signs that Katla was preparing for an eruption, they also emphasized that the volcano had also seen similar activity without erupting before.

Nevertheless, "there are signs of Katla being more active now than in the past few years so there is every reason to keep an eye on her," said Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, a professor of geophysics at the University of Iceland, after the flight.

Iceland sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge. Eruptions, common throughout Iceland's history, are often triggered by seismic activity when the Earth's plates move and when magma from deep underground pushes its way to the surface.

Like earthquakes, predicting the timing of volcanic eruptions is an imprecise science.

Last year's eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano forced hundreds of people to be evacuated and paralyzed international air travel for weeks because of a hovering ash cloud.

And history has shown that when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupts, Katla - located under the massive Myrdalsjokull icecap - isn't far behind.

Katla, which threatens disastrous flooding if its ice cap melts, typically awakens every 80 years or so, and last erupted in 1918.

Activity around Katla started to increase around July but has since grown even stronger. The strongest earthquake detected so far has been a 3.0 magnitude. There also was flooding that wiped out a bridge in July.

Like people, each volcano has a different personality of sorts, says Einarsson.

"We look at the behavior, try to analyze patterns and then try to come up with an explanation," says Einarsson. "This is a bit difficult to interpret so far, but it's correct to say that it signals some sort of activity in the volcano and some sort of magna intrusions are probably taking place."

Geologists also are worried about the Hekla volcano, which unlike Katla, is not covered by a glacier and produces little seismic activity.

During the Middle Ages, Icelanders called the Hekla volcano, the country's most active, the "Gateway to Hell," believing that souls were dragged into the fire below.

"If we saw earthquakes like this in Hekla, we would immediately signal a warning sign," Einarsson said.

Another one of Iceland's volcanos proved particularly deadly in 1783.

When Laki erupted, it freed gases that turned into smog. The smog floated across the jet stream, changing weather patterns. Many died from gas poisoning in the British Isles. Crop production fell in western Europe. Famine spread.

"Everyone has their eyes on a big Katla eruption," said Andy Russell with Newcastle University's Earth Surface Processes Research Group, who travels frequently to Iceland for research. "You can never say never, but I don't think there's need for alarm right now."

Russell said past Katla eruptions have caused floods the size of the Amazon and sent boulders as big as houses tumbling down valleys and roads. Flooding occurred within 45 minutes of the eruption, he said.

Iceland is one of the few places in the world where a mid-ocean ridge actually rises above sea level. Many volcanic eruptions along the ocean basin often go undetected because they can't be easily seen.

Dodds contributed to this report from London.