The 2023 Turkey–Syria Earthquake

A guest post by our very own media master, Nick Small: A historic earthquake in Anatolia As you will all know, an M7.8 earthquake caused massive devastation across Southern Turkiye and Northern Syria on Monday 6/2/23. It ruptured about 100km of the East Anatolian fault at a critically shallow depth of 17.9 km. It was…

Deception Island: the phoenix rises

Volcanoes can hide themselves in clear sight. We may see a rugged hill or a lake, but may not recognize the lurking danger. A volcano that lacks a conical shape can hide its nature from us. Volcanoes are deceptive by nature. That cone with the steam plume at the top may look friendly, but it…

The Hunga Tonga eruption of 2022

Volcanoes can be quite predictable, in a general sort of way. We know that Grimsvotn will erupt – just not when, although it is fairly likely to be within the next two years. Similarly, Mount Rainier will erupt some day, although this could be centuries or millennia off. Six years ago, we predicted that Mauna…

Hunting the supernova of 1181

One of my fondest memories of South Africa (apart from being shot at by police) is the bird of paradise. Not a bird: the birds of this name live in a different continent and a very different habitat. In South Africa, birds of paradise are plants with banana-like leaves growing a meter or more tall.…

The 2023 Kilauea eruption

After a runup of 4 months, or 10 hours, or 1.5 hours (depending on how you look at it), Kilauea sprung back to life, in its continuing quest to recreate the summit-wide lava lake of a century ago. There is still some way to go, but comparing this morning’s glowing lake to the Halemaumau lava…

The green, green lands of Australia

When a nanny descends from the sky hanging from an umbrella, you know Mary Poppins has arrived. It may be the second best movie to watch at Christmas. (The most popular one remains the Muppet Christmas Carol.) Mary Poppins comes to take care of the children but ends up changing the grown-ups more. Even the…

Lassen Peak

There is something about the west coast of the contiguous US. The region combines a wonderful climate with a high standard of living where the land is big, diverse and beautiful. It is a magnet for people, on par with Florida. But it has something which Florida lacks. Whilst Florida is a subtropical Caribbean paradise,…

The Mauna Loa eruption of 2022

It is a narrow but passable road, or at least it used to be. It begins at the Saddle Road which crosses Hawai’i between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. Both mountains have observatories at or near the summit, but while Mauna Kea is busy day and night, the Mauna Loa observatory is a much quieter…

The drop dead gorgeous Lake Taupo inside the Oruanui Caldera of Taupo Volcano. Photograph by Bo-deh.

Taupo Tapping Away

Taupo is one of those volcanoes I do not like to write about in Volcanocafé. It is one thing to write a historical retrospect of what it has done in yon olden days, and something completely different when it is doing something interesting. The reason is simple, Taupo is one of those volcanoes that have…