Mount Agung 2017 Volcanic Eruption [PHOTOS]

[Meatpie]

About 100,000 people near Bali's Mount Agung have been ordered to evacuate as officials fear a major eruption.
Indonesian authorities have raised the state of alert to its highest level, and expanded the exclusion zone around the rumbling volcano.
The island's airport has now closed, leaving thousands stranded in the tourist hotspot.

Authorities say dark smoke and ash have been billowing up to 3,400m (11,150ft) above the mountain's summit.
Officials have warned residents to stay away from rock and debris flows known as lahars, which have been spotted flowing down from the mountain.

Mount Agung's volcanic tremors first began in September.

 

[alexonedeath]

From the photos, the volcano seems too far away to be a threat to those colorfully-dressed people, but that may be an illusion. I think, just to play it safe, they should all board a boat and head for New Zealand.

 

[deaddirty]

It depends on the size of the eruption. Pompeii was about 5 miles (8km) from the summit of Vesuvius, and that was near enough for its population to be gently cooked by a pyroclastic flow before being buried by up to 25m of volcanic ash.
Agung is the next big volcano west from Mount Samalas on Lombok (don't look for it on your map, it isn't there any more, instead there's a caldera 6-7km in diameter and up to 9000 ft deep - though you will find fragments of it in the Greenland icecap), whose eruption in 1257AD was the largest in the last 2000 years and may have caused mass deaths from famine in London the following year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1257_Samalas_eruption
And for the 'hard' science: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep34868
And the pretty pictures:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=M...=1743#imgrc=NbaA9ijyl00L_M:&spf=1511990274803

Hopefully Mount Agung isn't planning anything on that scale, but if it is New Zealand will be quite near enough!

 

[alexonedeath]

Oh dear...deaddirty, you are a walking encyclopedia, but you do cast such a pall. I think, as the islanders and I float off towards Auckland and our salvation, we shall sing a goodbye chorus dedicated to you: "Every party has a pooper, that's why we invited you, party pooper!"

 

[deaddirty]

If you think I cast a pall, try Mount Agung - I'm just not in that league, I don't remember every producing a really destructive pyroclastic flow.
But since you've challenged me to show my skills at party pooping - surprising how often New Zealand features in the lists of major eruptions, in fact it actually produced the most recent VEI 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_known_large_volcanic_eruptions

 

[alexonedeath]

...producing a really destructive pyroclastic flow...

I love when you talk dirty! I will check out the link you've provided, thank you, even though I know going in it's bound to be full of doom and gloom. Right now it is sunny and warm in beautiful Wellington, where I am enjoying the physical delights of some young Maori models.

 

[deaddirty]

Stick to those young Maori models, don't go near Mount/Lake Taupo ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taupo_Volcano ), and avoid ignimbrite at all costs.

 

[alexonedeath]

"Pyroclastic flows can travel hundreds of kilometres an hour." That's like 125 mph! You can't outrun that shit.

 

[deaddirty]

Ok, so you can't avoid ignimbrite - hey Alex, if your luck is out bigtime you could become a permanent part of the geology of New Zealand.

 

[deaddirty]

And if anyone's got worrytime going spare after Agung, Campo Flegri, Combre Vieja, Yellowstone - try worrying about Öræfajökul (pronounced: Mount Unpronouncable the Second):

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/03/terrawatch-iceland-volcano-oraefajokull-agung


Terrawatch: the reawakening of Öræfajökull

While the world watches Agung, thousands of kilometres away another volcano is quaking and geologists are beginning to feel jittery

Ice-capped Öraefajökull, Iceland’s largest volcano. Photograph: Dave McGarvie/Open University

Kate Ravilious

All eyes have been on Mount Agung for the past week, watching the mesmerising clouds of ash pouring out of this tempestuous Indonesian volcano. Right now, the question is whether it is building for a repeat of the devastating eruption in 1963, when lava and lahars (rivers of water and rock) flooded hectares of land in minutes, killing 1,100 people.

An image from the Sentinel-2B satellite shows an ice cauldron forming in the crater of Öræfajökul. Photograph: Antti Lipponen/Creative Commons

While the news bulletins focus on Agung, geologists are starting to feel jittery about another volcano, thousands of kilometres away in Iceland. The unpronounceable Öræfajökull last erupted in 1727, so we don’t have measurements to show how this volcano behaves in the lead-up to an eruption. The glaciated mountain, which is Iceland’s highest volcano, is teasing scientists by producing swarms of small earthquakes under its flanks. “Earthquakes are rare at Öræfajökull, so they may indicate a reawakening,” says Dave McGarvie, a volcanologist at the Open University.
Three people died during the relatively small eruption in 1727, when a meltwater flood swept their farm away. But the really scary eruption occurred in 1362, when sailors reported pumice “in such masses that ships could hardly make their way through it”. Thick volcanic deposits obliterated the rich farmland surrounding the volcano, and ash travelled as far as western Europe.
“It was Iceland’s largest explosive eruption since the island was settled, about 1,100 years ago,” says McGarvie. But the abandoned farmsteads reveal that this volcano produced many earthquakes before both previous eruptions, giving people time to evacuate. For now, Icelandic scientists have installed extra earthquake monitoring equipment and are listening intently to the rumblings below.

 

[alexonedeath]

Oh dear, when I read about the horrors people are going through in other places, I think maybe I shouldn't complain about whatever's bothering me at home...but I will anyway. Bitching is therapeutic, and, the fact is, Icelanders would be griping about their postman being late, etc. etc., if they didn't have the possibility of an imminent pyroclastic flow to occupy them. People enjoy whinging.

 

[deaddirty]

And, only six months late, Mount Agung is indeed seriously misbehaving!

And from a different source.

Bali volcano: Airport reopens after Mount Agung forced flight delays

Bani Sapra, CNN • Updated 29th June 2018

(CNN) — A change in wind direction has allowed Bali's international airport to reopen after it closed temporarily Friday because of volcanic ash and vapor from the Mount Agung volcano.

Several airlines delayed or cancelled flights to and from Denpasar's Ngurah Rai International Airport on the popular Indonesian tourist island after an increase in volcanic activity.
Volcanic ash can hamper visibility, damage flight controls and ultimately cause jet engines to fail.
Over 300 flights had been cancelled, according to airport authorities, affecting the travel plans of thousands of people. Flights are expected to resume this evening.
In an earlier statement, Australian airline Qantas acknowledged the inconvenience to passengers but said safety was its top priority. Passengers are advised to check rescheduled flight times.
The Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation has issued an orange level warning, signalling heightened unrest with the increased likelihood of eruption.
Officials predict the ash cloud will move west and southwest of the Island, adding that there may be an increase in earthquake tremors.
Indonesia is the world's most active volcanic region and lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent volcanic and seismic activities.
The last time the Denpasar Airport closed was November 2017, when the aftermath of a volcanic eruption forced more than 29,000 people to evacuate their homes.
Flights were cancelled for 24 hours and stranded 59,000 domestic and international passengers. Amidst the chaos, Bali's tourism plunged.
Volcanic activity had only subsided by February 2018, and the Bali Tourism office announced that the volcano alert had been downgraded from level four to level three.
However, there still remains a 4-kilometer no-go zone around Mount Agung's peak.

 

[deaddirty]

And now the Evil Sorceress awakes!

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world...-in-2010/ar-AAAxXfI?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=DELLDHP17
"Roar of the ‘evil sorceress': Colossal Icelandic volcano threatens to wreak havoc on northern Europe in explosion which would dwarf ash cloud that grounded 100,000 flights in 2010."

Actually I think there's a bit of fearmongering in this (the Daily Mail is never knowingly calm and sensible) - it does sound as if all the warning signs of a imminent eruption are indeed there, but there is no positive reason to think it will be a huge one.

 

[alexonedeath]

If this eruption comes to pass, Reykiavik is going to be hell'a sooty.

 

[deaddirty]

Perhaps more acidic than sooty. The article briefly suggests the eruption might be more like the 1783-4 Laki eruption which was actually mainly a fissure eruption so didn't emit all that much ash by world standards but did emit phenomenal quantities of sulphur dioxide and hydrogen fluoride - and if you don't fancy breathing soot you really really don't want to be breathing a mixture of sulphurous acid and hydrofluoric acid - that stuff etches glass and it was killing people as far away as England and France and may even have contributed to the French Revolution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/15/iceland-volcano-weather-french-revolution

 

[alexonedeath]

"...hydrogen fluoride..."

FLUORIDE -- perhaps the silver lining to this disaster will be fewer cavities for the few who survive!

 

[deaddirty]

Um, can I unreassure you on this one?
"An estimated 20–25% of the population died in the famine and fluoride poisoning after the fissure eruptions ensued. Around 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle and 50% of horses died because of dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis from the 8 million tons of hydrogen fluoride that were released."

 

[alexonedeath]

Um, can I unreassure you on this one?
"An estimated 20–25% of the population died in the famine and fluoride poisoning after the fissure eruptions ensued. Around 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle and 50% of horses died because of dental fluorosis and skeletal fluorosis from the 8 million tons of hydrogen fluoride that were released."

When the European Federation of Periodontology says "More than 70 years of scientific research has consistently shown that an optimal level of fluoride in community water is safe and effective in preventing tooth decay by at least 25% in both children and adults," the public needs to understand that the word OPTIMAL is of critical importance, but has been intentionally underplayed by an unscrupulous medical cartel. I urge all Europeans to demand of their dentists an explanation for their devious skulduggery, as well as some clear guidelines for caries prevention in the face of an exploding Katla!

 

[deaddirty]

I think the answer to your last demand is simple - to prevent caries in the event of an exploding Katla, leave the Northern Hemisphere. No, I've got that wrong - to prevent caries in the event of an exploding Katla, remain in the Northern Hemisphere - death is the only surefire preventative of caries.