Indonesian volcano erupts for first time
in 400 years

29 Aug 10 - (Excerpts) - At least two people died and thousands were evacuated Sunday after a volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra erupted for the first time in 400 years, shooting black smoke and ash as high as 1,500 metres into the sky.

Mount Sinabung northwest of Jakarta thundered to life shortly after midnight, spewing lava and other volcanic materials. Local media reported volcanic dust reached as far as the provincial capital of Medan.

More than 18,000 residents living in the danger areas were evacuated by Sunday afternoon, said Tarigan, an official from the local disaster management centre.  

The Directorate of Vulcanology said Sinabung's eruption was the first recorded since 1600.

Indonesia has the highest density of volcanoes in the world with about 500 in the 'Belt of Fire' in the 5,000-km-long archipelago nation. Nearly 130 are active and 68 are listed as dangerous.

See entire article:
http://sify.com/news/two-dead-thousands-flee-as-volcano-erupts-in-indonesia-news-international-ki3tuddebhf.html
Thanks to Tom Loher, Bill Sellers, Erwin Chvojan and Vern Peterman for this link

          "What's happening?" says Bill. "Third volcano in Sumatra."

See also:

Could Sinabung eruption be start of more? 30 Aug 10 - Indonesian volcano lies only 30 km from Toba."My hunch is that this explosion might be the start of more," says geologist Dr. Erik Klemetti, who "spends most of his professional time thinking about magma." Could Sinabung eruption be start of more?

link.

Cold kills millions of fish in the Amazon

27 Aug 10 - During the Southern Hemisphere's recent winter, unusually low temperatures in part of Bolivia's tropical region killed an estimated 6 million fish and thousands of alligators, turtles and river dolphins, says this article in Nature magazine.

Scientists say it's "the biggest ecological disaster Bolivia has known," says author Anna Petherick. As an example of a sudden climatic change wreaking havoc on wildlife, "it is unprecedented in recorded history."

"So, global warming (strategically renamed "climate change" but effectively still "global warming") has caused this tragic event involving extremely cold weather?" posts Nature magazine reader Jesper Berg. "Would you care to elaborate?"

"There's just a huge number of dead fish." says Michel Jégu, a researcher at the Noel Kempff Mercado Natural History Museum in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. "In the rivers near Santa Cruz there's about 1,000 dead fish for every 100 metres of river."

"With such extreme climatic events potentially becoming more common due to climate change," says Petherick, "scientists are hurrying to coordinate research into the impact, and how quickly the ecosystem is likely to recover."

How sad that Nature is continuing down the path of political/policy fishwrap rather than science journal," posts Nature reader Pete H.

"The extraordinary quantity of decomposing fish flesh has polluted the waters of the Grande, Pirai and Ichilo rivers to the extent that local authorities have had to provide alternative sources of drinking water for towns along the rivers' banks."

"The blame lies, at least indirectly, with a mass of Antarctic air that settled over the Southern Cone of South America for most of July," says Petherick. (How could anyone call this an "indirect" cause?) "The prolonged cold snap has also been linked to the deaths of at least 550 penguins along the coasts of Brazil and thousands of cattle in Paraguay and Brazil, as well as hundreds of people in the region."

"Such freak climatic events may become more common in the future," Petherick continues, as she tries ever so subtly to pin the blame on humans. "Fish in temperate rivers often die when a power station pumping warm water into a river suddenly shuts down." Or perhaps the burning of farmland around Santa Cruz might have been a contributing factor "because the smoke added to river pollution."

See entire article (have fun reading the posts following the article):
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100827/full/news.2010.437.html
Thanks to Steven Woodcock, Benjamin Napier and Laurel for this link

"Climate Change is the rubber band of explanations," posts Nature reader Hal Combs. "It is stretched to fit any and all occurrences. Last year it meant Global Warming and unprecedented hurricanes. When that didn't happen it now means unusual cold snaps. We need to get over it. The climate has always changed, it will always change. The earth's climate has been inhospitably cold for the majority of the last few billion years. We are lucky to live in a warm interglacial period. We should be worrying about how to survive when the ice returns." I (Robert) am heartened to see that Nature magazine's readers aren't being hoodwinked by this blatantly agenda-driven article.

See also:

6 million dead fish, alligators, turtles and dolphins
floating down Bolivian rivers
3 Aug 10 - More than six million fish and thousands of alligators,
turtles, dolphins and other river wildlife are floating dead in Bolivian
rivers, the cruel aftermath of the extreme cold in South America.
Includes video link.
See 6 million dead fish floating down Bolivian rivers
 

Millions of Fish Dead in Bolivian Rivers
Authorities Explain What Really Happened
10 Aug 10 - This ecological disaster garnered international attention
and  brought accusations of possible chemical spills. Today I received
 this email from the webmaster that broke the story, explaining what
really happened.
See Millions of Dead Fish in Bolivian Rivers - Authorities explain

 link 

Doubleheader day for volcanic eruptions Italy's Etna volcano and Colombia's Galeros

25 Aug 10 - Eight thousand people living near Colombia's Galeros volcano were evacuated as INGEOMINAS moved the alert status at the volcano to "Red".  Some of the latest reports from Colombia (Spanish) indicate that the eruption is "ongoing" but "under control," and areas around the volcano are experiencing some ash fall.

Another eruption imminent

Diego Gomez from the Pasto Observatory of Vulcanology and Seismology said that due to the atypical, non-explosive eruption, another eruption is imminent. If that happens, you can watch it here. Galeros webcam.
 

Etna - 25 Aug 2010

Italy's Etna also erupted yesterday, less than a week after Boris Behncke's great series on the volcano. The Istituto Nazionale di Geosifica e Vulcanologia (INGV) has a great post on the event (italian and english) on their website with pictures and thermal images of the ash-rich explosion that produced the 1-km tall plume. This is the largest explosive event this summer from the Bocca Nuova ("New Mouth?") vent. Luckily there is an Etna webcam as well.

See:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/08/a_busy_day_for_etna_and_galera.php

See also:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/2010/08/galeras_erupts.php

Thanks to Eddie Mertin for these links

"These are two big bad boys we could do without," says Eddie. "Weather patterns are perturbed enough by volcanic aerosols."

link