#Volcanologists

[bwabbitv3s]

The First Volcanologists Were Wild

Exploring Italy's erupting volcanoes- and the centuries of history, mythology, and science born from their slopes.

[xtruss]

A view of Cumbre Vieja Volcano from El Paso against a purple-blue sky. On the afternoon of September 19, the Cumbre Vieja volcano roared to life, spewing molten rock down its flanks and sending a column of ash billowing skyward. The Island's abundant Volcanoes are fed by a plume of hot rock that extends deep underground.

Dramatic Photos Show La Palma Volcano’s Ongoing Eruption

“I Never Dreamed About Being So Close To Something Like This,” Says Photographer Arturo Rodríguez. “It’s So Big, So Powerful.”

Photographer Arturo Rodríguez was taking a shower at his home in Tenerife, the largest of the Spanish Canary Islands, when he heard an alarmed voice blare from the TV in the next room. "It just erupted! It just erupted—I can't believe it!" the reporter yelled into the camera.

In the weeks leading up to that fateful September day, a swarm of earthquakes had rattled the neighboring Island of La Palma, hinting at the movement of magma under the surface. Rodríguez, who was born and raised in La Palma, was preparing for a trip to photograph scientists as they monitored the island's volcanoes, which had slumbered for the past 50 years. And then one roared awake.

Rodriguez rushed out of the shower to change his flight and made it to the island a few hours later. That night, he snapped photos as fountains of lava shot from the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge, casting an eerie glow over nearby towns. The volcano's roar filled his ears, like waves crashing on a cliff. Glassy shards of ash rained from the skies, and the scent of spoiled eggs permeated the air.

“I Never Dreamed About Being So Close To Something Like This,” He Says. “It’s So Big, So Powerful.”

So far, the ongoing eruption has destroyed more than 2,500 buildings and displaced thousands of people. Ash has fallen in thick layers, collapsing roofs and burying agricultural lands—and the lava has paved over everything in its path. "This monster erupted in the middle of the most populated area," Rodríguez says. "I can feel the pain of all the people here."

That pain became particularly acute when Rodríguez spotted his cousin among crowds of people he was photographing as they packed up to flee the encroaching lava. He put down his camera and rushed to help his cousin hastily pack belongings in boxes.

Now, two months after the first glowing lava emerged, the volcano continues its fiery blasts, and Rodríguez fears for his home island's future. The economy depends in large part on banana farming, but hundreds of acres of land once used to grow bananas have become entombed in lava. Many of the banana trees that have survived are covered in ash that mars the fruits' skin, which makes it impossible for farmers to export their crops.

Some people are now moving away, their homes and livelihoods buried in rock. The years ahead remain uncertain, Rodríguez says. "It's going to be rough for the island."

Over the course of the eruption, lava emerged from multiple points along a deep fracture in the volcanic ridge, sweeping across the island into nearby cities. Rodríguez arrived the day the eruption began, snapping the image on the bottom left during his first night. Photographs By Arturo Rodríguez

On September 28, nine days after the first blast, lava began flowing into the sea. The reaction between the sizzling hot rock and cold seawater generated laze—a noxious plume of steam laced with hydrochloric acid and shards of volcanic glass.

Scientists Have Collected Samples of Rock, monitored gasses, recorded earthquakes, and more to better understand the current eruption and the potential for more blasts. In this image, Sergeant Armando Salazar, who is part of an emergency response group with the Spanish military, wears a silver suit for protection against the volcano's scorching heat as he walks across the still-sizzling rocks.

Risking Their Lives For Science: Equipped like spacemen, in silver suits to protect them from lava and sizzling rocks, these researchers take measurements in the shadow of a still-erupting volcano.

Top: The ash that emerges from volcanoes is composed of shards of rock and glass. In some places on La Palma, the ash has built up so much that it's buried trees (shown above) and houses, some of which only have chimneys left poking through the volcanic blanket.

Bottom: Scientists from IGME and CSIC (the Spanish geological survey and National Research Council) are seeking any possible clues to better understand what's happening under the surface. A lava tube that formed in 1949 sits less than four miles away from Cumbre Vieja, so scientists placed gas sensors in the older tube to sniff out fractures that might connect to the ongoing eruption.

The night lava reached the ocean, scientists with the Spanish Institute of Oceanography studied the activity from the vessel Ramon Margalef. Since then, the eruption has built up a growing lava delta of jet-black rock.

The volcanic ash can build up so much that it causes roofs to collapse. Many people added extra support inside their houses, propping up their roofs with extra pillars of wood, Rodríguez says. Volunteers and public workers continue cleaning off roofs every day, but it's taxing and potentially dangerous work.

Top: Rodríguez ate breakfast each morning at a cafe near a banana plantation. One morning, he arrived to find volunteers helping move equipment from the restaurant to save whatever they could from the encroaching lava.

Bottom: Lava from Cumbre Vieja reached the village of La Laguna (above) at the end of October. In just a few hours, it had buried half the neighborhood. "There used to be a supermarket, a gas station," Rodríguez says. "Now there is nothing there. There's lava."

Locals and tourists watch the eruption from Tajuya Church, which is located almost two miles from the fiery peak. Meanwhile, a boy clears ash from the lines of a basketball court to play. "This is a relatively safe place to see the volcano," Rodríguez says.

Two months after the Cumbre Vieja volcano rumbled to life, molten rock continues to flow from the fiery peak. Scientists do not yet know when the eruption might come to an end.

[the-faultofdaedalus]

magic system where “dark magic” and “light magic” are literal terms - dark magic consumes photons, making an area around the spell visibly darker, sometimes to an Extreme extent, and light magic releases photons.

because of this most dark mages tend to work in very brightly-lit areas (either artificial light or outside in the daytime) to fuel their spells and wear and use lightly coloured clothes and tools so that they’re easier to see in the dimness their spells create, whereas light mages wear heavy, sometimes leaden robes (depending on the work being done) and the magical equivalent of welding masks to protect themselves from what can be an extreme amount of light, and sometimes other kinds of electromagnet radiation!

needless to say this is incredibly confusing for anyone unfamiliar with the culture

[homemadehorrors]

🔥🌋🪨

[void-of-unparalleled-chaos]

Every time Yellowstone does something funky I want to throw myself into an active volcano.

Not because of Yellowstone doing the funky thing, but because inevitably the media makes up fear mongering bullshit and everybody nods along screaming stuff about how Yellowstone is going to kill us and that the geologists don't know how to do their jobs and/or BIG SCIENCE/GOVERNMENT is lying to us about severity.

[blasphemousclaw]

you ever think about the geometry of Rykard's arena as far as like, where it is and what space it occupies below the manor? sometimes I'm hanging out in there and I'm like, where's the load-bearing supports. how is 50,000 tonnes of magma not instantly falling into here.

I’m no volcanologist but based on the two hours I just spent reading about volcanic eruptions it doesn’t seem like a volcano actively spewing lava would have a massive chamber underneath that isn’t 1. collapsed or 2. completely filled to the brim with magma. like come on those skinny pillars in Rykard’s boss room aren’t gonna support the weight of this

side note Altus is extremely lucky Mt. Gelmir decided to empty its lava into the sea instead of releasing a pyroclastic flow directly to the gates of Leyndell

ok but maybe this chamber is intact because there’s something special about it… what if it’s not just the place Rykard hangs out these days, but it was actually the historical lair of the great serpent… the place where Mt. Gelmir’s serpent cult of old offered up sacrifices to their serpent god… the chamber is practically built out of hundreds of carbonized bodies frozen in agony

gonna go with the hand-wavey ancient power of the great serpent as the reason why this chamber still stands. and also Rykard’s sheer force of will desperately trying to keep his girlboss empire from being swallowed up by magma

[arowizards]

reread a book last night that had stuck with me very intensely when i climbed my dad's bookshelf out of curiosity when i was seven and had the experience of looking down my life like a hallway and thinking with perfect clarity "hm. so this is where it started"

[juliannos]

my favorite ongoing joke with my friend in Washington state is that they send me beautiful pictures of volcanoes (which i have dubbed angry mountains) and i respond with various threats towards said volcanoes to not erupt

[avanii]

YO as a volcanologist, I just wanna say I love your volcano beast designs! They are so cool and they capture the different types of eruptions and volcanic features really well. Looking forward to seeing more in the future! Do you have a favorite volcano btw?

Hi! Thank you so much, this made my day :D I'm so glad you think they work well, I'm not a geologist myself but I do really try to research the topics best I can and incorporate it into my designs! It's all just so beautiful and fascinating, I can't get enough (great excuse for me to watch lava videos all evening lol). Lots more to come, though the painting process takes me a while. I'd like to dive into rock beasts as well but the lava keeps calling me back haha.

Oh boy a favourite? That's hard. The only one I've actually visited to date is Vesuvius and I do have a soft spot for it. Love a good looming mountain. But... I think the mafic lava flows and fountains are the most beautiful thing, so I may actually go for 2021 Fagradalsfjall in Iceland! I was really hoping to see the cone and lava fields in the coming weeks but with the current situation over there, I'm not keeping my hopes up :'') At least Thrihnukagigur isn't going anywhere.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

This is what an erupting volcano looks like from space.

📽: NASA Johnson

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A fortuitous orbit of the International Space Station allowed the astronauts this striking view of Sarychev Volcano (Kuril Islands, northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia) in an early stage of eruption on 12 June 2009.

Sarychev Peak is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Island chain, and it is located on the northwestern end of Matua Island.

Prior to June 12, the last explosive eruption occurred in 1989, with eruptions in 1986, 1976, 1954, and 1946 also producing lava flows.

Ash from the multi-day eruption has been detected 2,407 kilometers east-southeast and 926 kilometers west-northwest of the volcano.

Commercial airline flights are being diverted away from the region to minimize the danger of engine failures from ash intake.

This detailed astronaut photograph is exciting to volcanologists because it captures several phenomena that occur during the earliest stages of an explosive volcanic eruption.

The main column is one of a series of plumes that rose above Matua Island on June 12.

The plume appears to be a combination of brown ash and white steam. The vigorously rising plume gives the steam a bubble-like appearance.

In contrast, the smooth white cloud on top may be water condensation that resulted from rapid rising and cooling of the air mass above the ash column.

This cloud, which meteorologists call a pileus cloud, is probably a transient feature: the eruption plume is starting to punch through.

The structure also indicates that little to no shearing wind was present at the time to disrupt the plume.

(Satellite images acquired 2-3 days after the start of activity illustrate the effect of shearing winds on the spread of the ash plumes across the Pacific Ocean.)

By contrast, a cloud of denser, gray ash — probably a pyroclastic flow — appears to be hugging the ground, descending from the volcano summit.

The rising eruption plume casts a shadow to the northwest of the island.

Brown ash at a lower altitude of the atmosphere spreads out above the ground at image lower left.

Low-level stratus clouds approach Matua Island from the east, wrapping around the lower slopes of the volcano.

Only about 1.5 kilometers of the coastline of Matua Island are visible beneath the clouds and ash.

Credit: NASA Earth Observatory

[emiliosandozsequence]

when i was a kid i thought i wanted to be an archaeologist bc i was interested in pompeii, but then i realized it was just bc i like volcanoes

[geogonzo]

Hans, du hast mir mal geschrieben, …dem Vulkanfreak aus Passion.

Das war 1988. Das Leben hatte jedoch anderes mit mir vor.

Nun, 36 Jahre später, bist du von uns gegangen. …. Und jetzt schreibe ich:

Der Vulkanfreak aus Passion.

RIP Hans.

Du hast mein Leben bereichert. Danke dafür.

Gute Reise!

[oscartheghost]

harry dalton; sexy volcanologist: these are just precautionary measures. um, we don't want to start a panic..

the earth's core: oh fuck you bitches I'm starting a panic

[seismologically-silly]

never not thinking about how when the master decided to screw with volcanoes he started attacking seismologists for some reason

buddy wrong type of geoscientist. what are the seismologists going to do

[fellhellion]

Letterboxed reviewers calling Katia’s beautiful sentiment of wanting to always walk beside her husband when they studied active volcanoes so if anything ever went irreversibly wrong they’d be together “het nonsense” is going to be my joker moment

[mythgirlimagines]

Ultimate volcanologist Angie and ultimate poet Gundham?

Again, I only do one per post! So first one here

Her home island has a few volcanoes, and her family actually lived relatively close to one of them. Learning about it was what made Angie want to learn more about volcanoes as a whole.

Japan has some volcanoes, too, and Angie had never seen them before, so that was a plus for going to Hope’s Peak! Though she would have to find a way to get to them from the school…

She has a map hanging in her room that details all of the volcanoes at home. A few of them are active, which are colored specially! She’s very proud of having put it together.

Part of her research is to make sure her family, friends, everyone at home can be safe if any of the active volcanoes erupt. It shouldn’t be for a while longer, but it’s better to be safe than sorry!

Studying the chemicals in the rock samples and deposits was one of her favorite parts of her field. She has a folder of pictures she’d taken of every rock and deposit she’d ever tested.