Mayon volcano began spewing lava on Monday, leading to the evacuation of over 3,000 people living on the Philippines’ main island of Luzon as ash fell from the sky.
After steam began to rise from the summit and trails of lava began pouring down the volcano’s side, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) and authorities announced that the volcano had reached “level 3” status, according to a CNN report.
Citizens in the towns of Barangay Anoling, Daraga, Barangays Sua, Quirangay, Tumpa, Ilawod and Salugan of Camalig and in Barangays Tandarora, Maninila, and Travesia in Guinobatan reported ash in the air moments after.
PHIVOLCS noted in an alert that the ash along with several rockfalls indicated an “increased tendency towards hazardous eruption,” adding that a “bright crater glow” coming from Mayon indicates “the growth of a new lava dome and beginnings of lava flow towards the southern slopes.” – READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]A bright red burst of lava that spurted like a fountain and flowed down the side of the Philippines’ most active volcano sent more villagers scrambling for safety Tuesday, as officials warned tourists from entering the danger zone.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the lava flowed as much as 1.2 miles from the cloud-shrouded crater of Mount Mayon, while ash fell on several villages in northeastern Albay province.
“This kind of eruption, it will take about weeks, so we have to sustain the operations in the evacuation centers,” Albay Governor Al Francis Bichara told the ANC news channel, according to Reuters. “We need to use the calamity funds.”
At least 34,000 people have been displaced by Mayon’s eruption since the weekend from two cities and six towns. Many of the people took shelter in schools turned into evacuation centers, Jukes Nunez, an Albay provincial disaster response officer, told the Associated Press by telephone. Others took refuge in the homes of relatives.– READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]Generally speaking, it’s pretty easy to tell when something is going on with a volcano. When a large volcano is about to blow its top it typically shows signs of unrest many days, months, or even years ahead of time. Add to that the fact that many volcanos are constantly monitored and are popular with sightseers and you can understand why the vast majority of volcanic activity is easy to observe and study. When the Havre volcano produced a massive eruption several years back scientist not only didn’t predict it, they actually almost missed it entirely.
In a new paper published in Science Advances, researchers explain how they first spotted the eruption and discuss the incredible challenges associated with studying a volcano that is erupting on the bottom of the ocean.
`As you can probably imagine, studying anything deep underwater is inherently more challenging that studying something on dry land. Not only is visibility much lower from a distance, but you can’t exactly just walk right up to an underwater volcano to get a better view.- READ MORE
[give_form id=”79809″] [divider][/divider]It’s not often that a whole new chunk of land just comes jutting out of the ocean, but that’s just what happened with a new island in the South Pacific. A large undersea volcano blew its top in late 2014, shooting rock and ash skyward, and once everything calmed down an entirely new island had been formed. Now, NASA is looking at the newly formed landmass for possible hints at how the landscape of Mars behaved billions of years ago.
The new island, which is being referred to by the unofficial name Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, didn’t seem to have a bright future when it first emerged in the wake of the volcano’s fury, but researchers now believe it actually might stick around for quite a while. New data suggests it might even last as long as 30 years.
“Everything we learn about what we see on Mars is based on the experience of interpreting Earth phenomena,” Jim Garvin of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center explains. “We think there were eruptions on Mars at a time when there were areas of persistent surface water. We may be able to use this new Tongan island and its evolution as a way of testing whether any of those represented an oceanic environment or ephemeral lake environment.”
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