Kilauea Volcano Erupts On Hawaii's Big Island (nytimes.com) 56
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: The Kilauea volcano erupted from its summit on Thursday morning (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source), spewing an ash plume that reached 30,000 feet above the island of Hawaii, the authorities said. The eruption was the most forceful new explosion so far at Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes. Kilauea has already been triggering small earthquakes, creating gas-emitting fissures and releasing flows of lava that have destroyed dozens of homes this month. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory issued a "code red" warning that additional activity could be expected. "At any time, activity may again become more explosive, increasing the intensity of ash production and producing ballistic projectiles near the vent," the observatory said. But Dr. Michelle Coombs of the United States Geological Survey said that ash fall from the eruption, which occurred shortly after 4 a.m., was "pretty limited" to the area around Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. She emphasized that the new eruption wasn't the "big one" that some are fearing, drawing a contrast with the eruption in 1980 of Mount St. Helens in Washington State that killed 57 people.
Now is this East or West of Java? (Score:1)
So to avoid in my travels of the South Pacific. And please get it right!
Re: Now is this East or West of Java? (Score:2, Funny)
It's both. We live on a sphere.
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but that basic bitch
Could just as easily be poorly translated Chinese.
Re:Now is this East or West of Java? (Score:4, Informative)
It is a non-issue for your travels.
It also has been erupting for 35 years with significant outflow of lava and sulfur dioxide in the East Rift zone for the last 3 weeks. The lava lake in the Halema'uma'u crater fell (likely feeding the tubes undernath the Easter Rift Zone, although the lava there is still chemically different). As a result of the falling level of the lake, there is nothing pressing outwards on the walls of the crater and rocks are falling in causing periodic burts of ash rising up to 30000 feet this morning. Geologists still expect a steam explosion, similiar to one in 1924, when the lake level falls below that of groundwater and with increasing rock falls likely closing the crater, allowing pressure to build.
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Hawaii is west of Java per navigational standards. You measure longitude to Hawaii West from the Greenwich Meridian and East to Java.
The Big One? (Score:2)
I've been seeing that still frame on all the news services (see TFA). Looks like globs of stuff raining down in front of the camera. The evening news just showed the video from that cam. It's just splatter on the lens/window. Crater is steaming away in the background and the globs aren't moving.
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As long as it doesn't go off like Krakatoa did in 1883. That pretty much obliterated the entire Island killing many miles away. Some of the pyroclastic flows reached the Sumatran coast 25 miles away, having apparently moved across the water on a cushion of superheated steam. That would be "the big one."
Re:The Big One? (Score:5, Informative)
A much better (i.e. much bigger) example is Mt Tambora, 1815, and also in Indonesia (like Krakatoa.)
However the Hawaiian volcanos are the wrong type make a Krakatoa sized bang. If Hawaii wants to create a epic disaster, it would do it by an under sea landslide triggering a tsunami.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Note Hawaii does not feature on this second map, although it is for VEI 7 and 8 volcanos, while Krakatoa was smaller at merely VEI 6.
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Technically, the 500 meter (about a third of a mile to USians) tall waves that wash over Hawaii every half million or so years aren't Tsunamis. Tsunamis are caused by shockwaves from earthquakes and the actual wave builds up in the shallows near shore. The Hawaii waves you're talking about are caused, as you say, by underwater landslides. Basically, sediment builds up and builds up on a huge underwater slope until it exceeds the angle of repose by too much and becomes unstable, then something (which admitte
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Basically, sediment builds up and builds up on a huge ... slope until it exceeds the angle of repose by too much and becomes unstable, then something (which admittedly could be an earthquake), causes a massive slippage. This sucks the water down above it and basically creates a massive depression in the water, which then rebounds and creates a truly massive wave. It apparently makes even a big Tsunami look like a little bit of flooding at the seashore.
What tsunami wasn't created that way?
Re: The Big One? (Score:2)
Thatâ(TM)s not the worst. La Garita was the worst. I donâ(TM)t even know how they know that Colorado super volcano exists I canâ(TM)t see it in satellite images.
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The eruption of Mount Tambora in early April 1815 resulted in 1816 being the “year without summer”.
The ash blocked sunlight that, even though 1816 was not the coldest year on record, the cold occurred during the growing season. This led to food shortages in Europe and in some parts of the U.S.
One interesting result of the “year without summer” was that a bunch of writers gathered in gloomy Switzerland and challenged each other to produce dark tales inspired by the gloomy and chilly
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There's plenty of evidence that volcanoes are dangerous. If you hang around one while it's erupting, it's all on you. Regardless of political affiliation.
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The earth has had just about enough of us parasites and it doing something about it.
No, Mother Gaia will not allow harm to come to a blue state. The evangelical God might, however.
Oh oh (Score:5, Funny)
We slashdot virgins get nervous when volcanos open up.
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Orange into orange? Can't be good.
Hilina Slump (Score:5, Interesting)
One of the areas I'm interested in on this island is Hilina Slump [wikipedia.org]. It shears of a block of land into the ocean quite regularly (about every two years) and is generally expected, however it is overdue for such an event as of now.
Apparently geological evidence has been found suggesting it has been responsible for mega-tsunamis big enough to reach the east coast of Australia. So considering it's proximity to this volcano it is worthy of our attention.
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It is dangerous to live in that place (Score:2)
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It's dangerous for the people who built their houses on a lava field... Not so dangerous for where most of the people live (for now anyway).
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and have never been allowed a vacation unlike their kind
You're responding to a foreign shill rather than an actual "down and out native Hawaiian."
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Almost everywhere in the world has danger of natural disaster, but we tend to become accustomed to the threats where we live, and alarmed by threats that we do not face, in other places.
Having said that, living close to Kilauea is probably more dangerous than most places, but Kilauea is high threat to property, comparatively low threat to life, as volcanos generally give you enough warning to be somewhere else (at least with modern technology they do.)
Over 23 million people live in Taiwan, with close to the
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Well. the sorts of volcanos in Hawaii are like that, tending to flow thin and gas-poor lava for a long time, which is pretty slow-moving and easy to avoid. Other types of volcanos (like the subduction-drivin types those in the Pacific Northwe
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Where is not dangerous?
So what about my CO2 spewing SUV? (Score:1)
(Just kidding, I drive a hybrid and only have the suv on weekends.)
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(Just kidding, I drive a hybrid and only have the suv on weekends.)
It's a sad day on Slashdot when folks have to justify what cars they drive. It should be perfectly acceptable to us that you can drive your SUV whenever you want.
Getting back on topic, I blame the volcano eruption on Slashdotters who live within driving distance of the volcano. They should have been tossing more virgins into the volcano to appease the Gods down inside.
Of course, Steve McGarrett and his pals might get into a huff about tossing virgins into volcanos, but that's just typical of the police.
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They should have been tossing more virgins
If you want Pele to spit (violently) rather than swallow, then sure; toss in a Slashdot virgin.
Re:So what about my CO2 spewing SUV? (Score:4, Funny)
toss in a Slashdot virgin.
Modifier: -1, redundant
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It's a sad day on Slashdot when folks have to justify what cars they drive. It should be perfectly acceptable to us that you can drive your SUV whenever you want.
Yes, it is perfectly acceptable to release CFC, shooting people that look to you or smoking in a a nursery ... How is this different? Just because it was acceptable years ago to produce CFC, now we know that it destroys the Ozone layer, that protect us all... in the wild west it was "ok" to shot other people for whatever reason, until the sheriffs
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This is just another version of "might makes right".
The reputation of shoot-out at the OK Corral is not justified. You were far more likely to be killed by Indians than "outlaws". And that was well earned, honestly, considering how horribly the government treated the Natives.
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It goes both sides... on one hand the CO2 release level increase and causing global warming, but on the other hand the volcano release ash and sulfur, that block sun light and reduce the global warming. The end result depend of the type or eruption and how long it last. Whatever the result is, your SUV is still shit, we can not control volcanoes, but we can control vehicles emissions, so we must act where we can. Ignoring a problem just because there is another one is the same as keep playing Russian roulet
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+1 to that! :)