Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 4:05 pm Post subject: Fiery images as killer volcano stirs once more
Fiery images as killer volcano that claimed 36,000 lives stirs once more
An amateur photographer has captured new images of the re-awakening of the world's most famous volcano. In a breathtaking series Marco Fulle, who specialises in shots of comets, has photographed the Anak Krakatoa against a backdrop of constellations such as the Big Dipper. These stunning pictures show the latest activity during the rebirth of the infamous volcano which holds a long-standing record for causing the highest number of human deaths ever - a staggering 36,000 in 1883.
Back from the dead: The volcano has been growing out of its predecessor's remains since 1927
Risk: The smoking time-bomb is located on the Sunda Strait, between Java and Sumatra
Marco, 51, from Trieste, Italy, last month captured these images of the waking monster and even caught a violent storm passing over the new cone.
The ticking time-bomb can be seen spewing ash into the Indonesian sky between Java and Sumatra where it lies on the Sunda Strait.
Lava can also be seen trickling down the side of the new slopes that have quickly grown to a towering 360 metres. It now measures half of the size of the original mound that ended so many lives.
Marco said: 'These volcanos repeat explosions like that of 1883 many times during their life. The common opinion is that Krakatoa will become again really dangerous when it reaches the size it had been in 1883. It was two-times taller than now.'
Natural beauty: Photographer Marco Fuller captures a storm passing over the fiery cone
Dark times: Ominous clouds gather as rain lashes the region
Ticking timebomb: Islanders thought they had avoided another disaster after things went quiet last year
Simmering Anak Krakatoa - translated as 'Child of Krakatoa' - is the offspring of the original giant cone which snuffed out over 36,000 lives in a single super-eruption over 100 years ago.
In an ongoing saga Anak Krakatoa is a new volcano that is emerging from the remains of the former giant beast which blew itself apart.
The colossal 19th century disaster is so renowned it has featured in movies and is regarded by many as the most famous on earth.
The explosion was so devastating it equalled 13,000 times the power of Little Boy - the American A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in World War II.
Infamous: Anak Krakatoa caused 36,000 deaths after a fiery eruption in 1883 - the highest number of human deaths caused by a volcano ever
Now locals are fearing a repetition of the original eruption that not only killed thousands in fire, but also sparked a tsunami.
The huge wave took more lives and was caused by masses of rock falling into the water below as the volcano-island destroyed itself and collapsed into the ocean.
Many more perished suffering from the effects of falling hot ashes and poison gases which smothered the surrounding lands.
The reborn volcano, Anak, has been steadily growing out of its predecessor's remains since 1927.
Bombshell: The power of the original blast was equivalent to 13,000 times that of the atomic bomb, Little Boy, which was dropped on Hiroshima during WWII
The land around it is building up as cycles of activity force fresh molten rock to spew out of the crater at its centre, creating new layers of solid ground.
In November 2007 it started violently erupting again but islanders thought they had escaped another potential disaster when everything went quiet last year.
This spring, however, the new mountain started rumbling again. The eruptions have become so fierce they light up overhead clouds and draw in violent thunderstorms as the atmosphere changes.
Threat: Embers glow on the surface of the newly active cone, causing locals to worry that another eruption is on its way
Mount Etna's Fury As Volcano Spews Lava And Ash
April 13, 2012
Europe's tallest active volcano, Mount Etna, has been blasting flaming lava and ash into the air in its sixth eruption this year. The eruption is the 24th in a series that began in January 2011. Rock blew off the southeast side of the mountain, which is only 10 miles from the Zafferana Etnea village and 18 miles above the town of Catania of Italian island of Sicily.
Mount Etna Facts
:: 25% of Sicily's population live on Etna's slopes.
:: Height: 10,925ft (3,330m).
:: It has been growing for 500,000 years.
:: Longest eruption: 13 years in 1979.
:: Base: 93 miles (150 km) around.
Mount Etna sits on a faultline. Yet no warnings of danger have so far been issued by authorities and Catania International Airport has remained open. Eruptions from Etna, which reaches 11,000ft, have been caused by the African tectonic plate sliding below the Eurasian plate. The Eurasian plate is melting as it moves downwards and hot magma is being forced up to the surface.
Etna's most powerful recorded eruption was in 1669 when the mountain top was destroyed and lava ran in to the Mediterranean Sea. It is difficult to predict when the mountain will erupt next. But Dr John Murray estimates that between 2007 and 2015 Etna's output will be about half of what it was between 1987 and 1995.
A unique show is taking place on Kamchatka these days: Four separate but nearby volcanoes are erupting simultaneously on the Russian peninsula. A Moscow film crew has produced an awe-inspiring 360-degree video of the natural fireworks.
Volcanic eruptions are hardly a rarity. It seems that a new one goes off every few weeks or so somewhere in the world. But a string of four volcanoes erupting in close proximity to one another is virtually unheard of.
That, though, is what has taken place in recent weeks on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's far east. Four different cones and mountains, all within 180 kilometers (110 miles) of each other, have been active simultaneously since late November. Given that volcano experts don't believe that the four volcanoes are being fed from the same magma source, the parallel eruptions would seem to be the geological equivalent of winning the lottery.
And, as a photography team from the Moscow-based Airpano discovered, the phenomenon presented a fantastic opportunity to produce some awe-inspiring images and videos. Indeed, the quartet of lava and ash-spewing peaks are so close to one another -- they lie within 180 kilometers (110 miles) of each other -- that that the film crew recently visited all of them in a single day. (Use your mouse or arrow keys to change your viewpoint once you click in to the video below.)
That volcanoes erupt in Kamchatka is, of course, hardly news. The peninsula, which has a total land mass that is slightly larger than Germany, is one of the most active parts of the infamous "Ring of Fire," the zone of volcanic and seismic activity that encircles the Pacific Ocean. Three tectonic plates -- the North American Plate, the Okhotsk Plate and the Pacific Plate -- collide beneath Kamchatka, with the peninsula's coastal range boasting 30 active volcanoes.
All four of the volcanoes now erupting have shown significant activity in recent years. Most recently, Tobalchik began spewing lava on Nov. 27 of last year, creating the impressive lava flows visible in the 360 degree video taken by Airpano. Shiveluch, the northernmost of the four, prefers shooting columns of ash high into the air, which it has been doing on a regular basis during the last four years since a magma dome in its crater exploded. Besymjanny awoke with a bang in the 1950s following 1,000 years of dormancy and has been active since then, with huge clouds of ash rising on a regular basis. Finally, the southernmost of the quartet, Kisimen, has been erupting regularly since 2010, and there is concern that it could perform a repeat of the violent explosion which sheered off half of the mountain some 1,300 years ago.
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Hands up if you know of Kamchatka from playing Risk...
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