26 Volcanoes - A Happening Week

The USGS volcano list is a who's who of world wide volcanoes with most of the Ring of Fire involved and some other frequent visitors and even a couple of less frequent but still quite active volcanoes. In the eastern ring, from Peru up to Popo in Mexico there is action (the US northwest appears quiet) and the Aleutians, Kamchatka, the Kurils, Japan, Mariana and Indonesia have the top and western edge of the ring belching and shaking with activity.  Etna and Stromboli are both fired up on their respective Italian islands (perhaps bummed by their football team's poor showing in the world cup) and even the Indian ocean makes the list with Reunion off the east coast of Madagascar.  Of course, Kilauea is erupting (since '83).
I'll get back with more details...26 volcanoes on the list...it's a wild, hot planet, be careful out there, Today on Earth.

Sinabung & Kelud Blast Indonesia

The volcanic archipelago of Indonesia now has two violently erupting volcanoes: Sinabung continues on Sumatra, and Kelud fires off a valentine blast on Java. Sinabung has been spewing ash, rolling out lava and tumbling pyroclastic flows down its flanks since early in the new year. Thousands have been evacuated and more than a dozen killed as Indonesia's western island, Sumatra, has dealt with the ongoing eruptions.
The island of Java got into the action yesterday as Kelud blasted into action sending ash into the stratosphere, and noise of the eruptions more than 100 miles into the countryside. At least 2 (from a quick glance on-line) have been killed but thousands are fleeing the area, scrambling to evacuation centers hastily set up outside the eruption zone. As a nation of volcanoes, my guess would be that there are plans in place at all government levels as well as for families and individuals to get out of town when the big mountain in the backyard gets wild. Photos from both volcanoes are both spectacular and scary; easy to look on in wonder and awe from a safe, quiet post in central Virginia but knowing that Indonesians fleeing the scenes are likely finding little wonder or beauty in the violent side of Earth.
The USGS site will not show the current list of active volcanoes (but it hasn't changed since I checked Thursday) and while there are other volcanoes spewing and oozing all eyes are on Indonesia.  The equatorial climate and rich volcanic soil of the island nation are wonderful in quiet times but... when the source of that rich soil fires up, it's time to get out of town and hang on, today on Earth!

Ring of Fire: Eastern Rumbles

The Ring of Fire is still where most of the action is on the big, erupting planet but the eastern portion takes over the list (the list was only "gone" for a day or so)this week. Kamchatka rules again with 5 volcanoes belching and spewing in various degrees with two neighbors erupting just south of there in the Kuril Islands. A little further south and Japan shows 3 on the list - the new island that formed off the SE coast is now bigger than the original island. Two Indonesian eruption are on the list with evacuations happening around Sinabung.  At the bottom of the ring, New Zealand's White Island has stirred back up.
Off the ring and on THE hot spot, Hawaii; Kilauea is spewing and burning nearby forests, not at all unusual for the worlds most active volcano. Etna's current eruption continues with lava and ash ejections on Sicily.  The western side of the ring only shows two eruptions this week: Santa Maria is oozing lava and raining ash on nearby villages in Guatemala and Reventador is back on the list after ash emissions in Ecuador.
Hope you're in a safe spot, far enough away from the action on the tectonic-ing planet, today on Earth.

No Volcanoes???

Perhaps the same folks responsible for the hard to use, ultra touchy, click, click, click, click, click to get the simplest info, impossible to zero in, USGS earthquake site have now taken over the volcano site. It would appear there is only one volcano active on Earth this week and that's in Spain. Spain???
I'm not buying that...but, perhaps the cold weather and snow in DeeCee have shut things down, the volcano website has some lovely pictures but no useful information, even on the one volcano that seems to be erupting in Spain.
We'll check back after the spring thaw.

Early '14 Volcano Stories

2013 wound down with the formation of a new island southeast of Japan (it has now issued enough new Earth to have joined into one with its neighboring island) and mostly the usual Ring of Fire suspects on the list. The new year brings no real surprises to the list; perhaps only 3 on the active list on the Kamchatka peninsula is a bit of a surprise. 3 in Indonesia's no real surprise although the newly stirring mountains have been off the list for some time.
Japan, the US and Central America all have two on the list, with PNG and South America also noted. Etna  and Kilauea remain the non-Ring exceptions but hardly surprising, both keep their  neighborhoods on alert/notice on an almost daily basis.
For those of us in non-explosive zones the days pass with little thought of mountains spewing ash and gas and molten rock. I, myself, like it that way although seeing one of those active spots on Earth remains on my "to do" list.
If you are in a position to check one out, go for it...but, be careful out there, today on Earth.

Ring O Fire Is!

The USGS new volcano site with world map sums it all up: the Ring of Fire is where the action is. Except for the always spewing big island of Hawaii, all of the activity is happening as the (mostly) Pacific plate is being subducted beneath the adjacent continents. The Kuril Islands and Kamchatka peninsula rumble on in the northwest Pacific, the Indonesia/New Guinea archipelago have several on the list and Popo outside Mexico City continues its current eruption cycle. The rest of the list are frequent visitors to the active list.
If your journeys take you to the Pacific rim, check out your planet in action. The active rock cycle and constant change of the largest of the terrestrial planet is likely a large part of why we are here. But, there is nothing but change so stay mindful of the fact that Earth is still very much in charge.

Kamchatka Rumblings

The Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia and the nearby Kuril Islands dominate this week's volcano list. 3 on the peninsula itself and Alaid in the Kurils are all smoking and spitting. The rest of the list has no real surprises: other than a new one in Indonesia, Raung (and it's really not new), Sakura-Jima in southern Japan, Pagan in the Mariana Islands, Little Sitkin and Kilauea in the US, Popo outside Mexico City, Fuego in Guatemala and Galeras in Colombia have all been erupting off and on for much of this year.  A new list late tomorrow is unlikely to look much different. Ring of Fire!!
Stay away from them and you'll be fine, today on Earth.