Volcán de Fuego erupting stars. Photograph by NASA.
“When in doubt, data shall provide the answer!”
In the beginning
A decade ago to the day, the first article was published here at Volcanocafé. It was not one of the memorable ones that I remember without checking, but from humble starts came many memorable articles over the years.
Starting Volcanocafé was quite unexpected to me, it was never my intention, and never what I wanted. So, how did Volcanocafé come about? As with all great things it involved a sheep and nagging elderly English ladies.
The embryo was seeded one stormy night in Iceland during the easy to pronounce Eyjafjallajökull eruption. As we were sitting chatting and gawking at the eruption on one of the webcams a sheep came flying past the camera and passed out over the cliffside.
This image stuck with us, and we became sort of the club of the flying sheep. At the same time many of us was dissatisfied with the early volcanic blogs, mainly with the commenting sections. And during the aftermath of the eruption the elderly English ladies decided that enough was enough and elected me as the person who should write all the articles.
At this point I got the idea that I could get away from this daunting responsibility by refusing to do it alone, so I said that I would do it only if Lurking tagged along, to my utter horror he accepted to do so.
I then tried to get away by stating that I knew nothing about setting up and maintaining a forum like this, but one of the ladies then unfolded her wings and came out as a fully-fledged forum-coding-demon.
After that I was told in no uncertain terms that I had to write an article. The rest is sort of history now.
I will though say that I completely by accident got my comeback against the dear old English ladies a few years later. As most know I am not a native English writer, and sometimes upon a blue moon I miss entirely the cultural connotations of an English word.
I just never expected that canines would be one of those words fraught with peril. In an offhand sentence I wrote, “To doggedly dog where no dog has doggedly dogged before”. My intention was to point out general stubbornness, but from the shocked, giggling, and red-faced elderly ladies I kind of understood that there was something more to it.
So, I mercilessly questioned them about what it was that I had written that shocked them so much, and slowly the truth of the English national weekend pastime of “Dogging” came out into the open. In the end I just had to ask them how on earth they knew what this was… innocently asked of course.
Oh, the sheep you ask? Well, it is rather memorable to watch a flying sheep, so we made it into the Patron Sheep of Volcanocafé. Having a Patron Sheep sort of made certain that we would never take ourselves to seriously, even though we obviously took the science part seriously.
However, we never expected to see the sheep again. So, it was with utter horror we watched as Bear Grylls found the sheep in an episode of his tv-series. He then ate the rotting carcass, made a sleeping bag out of it, and then profusely vomited sheep all over.
After that the flying sheep was elevated to Martyr Patron Sheep, and nobody watched Bear Grylls again (at least I hope so).
The four foundations
The Flying Sheep of Iceland. Photograph by Helgastina.
From the beginning there were four things that was important to set into place. The first was that we would not enforce any out of topic rule for the comment section, as long as it was about science, we let it slide.
The reason for this is that there can be years in between interesting eruptions, and we wanted people to hang on, read articles, and generally be friends. After all, we who founded the place wanted it to be our living-room where we could discuss all sorts of topics as we pleased.
It worked as a charm. As soon as a volcano came around of importance everyone set aside the conversations and started to discuss the topic at hand.
Then we needed a rule to moderate with. We came up with a rule that both explained itself and had enough wriggle room to be useful in pretty much any circumstance, “Be Nice!”. On the few occasions that we have had to use it, we voted before banning repeat offenders.
In a world of trolls and argumentative people it is remarkable that we are still below 10 people that have been banned. This is not due to a lack of arguments, but in general people remember to argue themselves blue in an ever so polite way. We do have the best readers in so many ways (thank you).
The third thing was science above else. What we wrote should be factual and based on science and follow the data at hand. The reason back then was that we were stunned at some of the early volcano blogs playing loose with science and facts when talking about volcanoes. We wanted to be the opposing force of that.
Later came the clickbait youtubers bleating out ever weirder prophecies about ginormous volcanic eruptions. Science and facts in this day and age turned out to become ever more important, and we do our best to do our part.
So, it is with quite a bit of joy that we find that we are referenced as people try to point out those who produce hogwash. Every time I see someone referencing us as a means of stopping nonsense my heart leaps with joy.
Do get me right, there are very good Youtubers out there doing fabulous work in letting the images do the talking for them. I will especially mention Roman over at GutnTog, we have all drooled over his fabulous drone footage of Fagradalsfjall and La Palma.
Just a little while ago he emailed us and told us that he was a fan of ours since we kept to science and facts and offered us to use his drone footage (something that we will most assuredly do) and asked if we had any volcanoes in Iceland that we wanted droned to oblivion. Oh boy, do we want that!
So, hopefully there will be a bit of collaboration with Roman in the not-so-distant future with his wonderful videos, and us doing the best we can to explain what we see and how it came to be. Finally, we might have answers to our biggest riddle, Herdubreid.
And here we come to the most important thing. Nobody can do it alone. From the moment of inception I knew that I could not do it alone. We needed to be more writers than one. First of all, we all have working lives, families and so on.
Secondly, one voice will not be able to create a discussion and a foundation for scientific debate. Opposing views are important. It also forces us to do better, at least it forces me to be better.
Over the years we have had many guest writers, recurring guest writers, specialists writing about their volcanoes, and in the end a small group of staff-writers that uphold the bulk of the writing.
Let me talk about one of them. I do have a more than passing interest in the field of astrophysics, and I read a lot about astrophysics. And I noticed that a certain (back then) commenter wrote really astounding comments about volcanoes and now and then about astrophysics.
And since I am a curious person, I looked at the registration email and noticed a name out of the stary sky of astrophysics that I knew about quite well, as it happened, I had just read one of his papers.
I mentioned this to Henrik Lovén, and he had for quite some time wanted to write about exo-volcanology, so he contacted our dear Albert, and history was made. In his very unassuming and kind way Albert lifted the bar for factual correctness and showed us what a true popular science article could be.
Due to Albert, I found that I had about one week to become a far better writer than I had ever been. And I better had to have all my reasoning and facts straight, otherwise I would receive a polite professorial thumping in our backchannel.
There are also the unsung heroes who perform our daily technical maintenance, Gaz Dale, Tommy Wallace and Ingrid van der Voort. Without them the place would fall to pieces in a heartbeat, you guys are the best.
The New Decade Volcano Program
Out of the trio of Albert, Henrik, and I, came our claim for fame during a session of having beers together. We somehow got it into our heads that the Decade Volcano Program needed an update since it had been running for a decade.
We also felt that the volcanoes did not truly fulfil the original requirements for the decade volcano program. On top of that we wanted to update those requirements a bit.
Out of this came a monster-set of articles. To our surprise the series got wings and flew out over the world, and in many ways, it influenced how decadal volcano programs are used today.
My two favourite articles
Okay, who of you invented this? It gotta be one of our readers. Spike, this be you?
Even though I am happy about how the NDVP turned out, I have two other articles as my personal favourites. The second one on my list of best articles is one I wrote myself (modesty be my middle…).
It is the one about Aniakchak. It is the only time I have read everything written about a volcano to be able to write an article. But it did not end there. I also had to read a substantial amount of everything that was written about a completely different volcano to be able to write the article. And then almost everything ever written about dendrochronology during that time period.
It is probably the only article I have written that changed how we look about one of the worlds most famous eruptions. It turned out that I could link Aniakchak’s eruption to the same year as the more famous eruption of Thera.
And as I studied the ice-core data I found out that the eruption over at Aniakchak was the far larger one, and that the Minoan civilization was hit by a double-whammy-eruption.
To my sadness that article never really took off, due to its historic implications it deserved that, I guess it is a case of parents and their favourite child.
Now over to my personal favourite article of all time. One of those ideas that had turned into “truth” was that the moon and the tide causes earthquakes, eruptions, and dandruff. Almost everybody used to believe it back then.
I argued against this but did not have any hard facts to back my opinion with. Lurking decided to just go and ask the data itself a few hard questions. Without any bias he started to pound the entire dataset that he had on earthquakes to see what would drop out.
It turned into a tour-de-force of scientific “Question-data-answer”. Even the USGS nowadays link ever so often to The Moon and the Moonies-article. It has also been used by Nature as a tool for vetting an article prior to publication.
Our fallen comrades
I would here like to mention two people who formed Volcanocafé. The first one was one of the English Ladies. Well, except that Sissel Skramstad was Norwegian and lived in Holland. She was one of the two that set the place up from a technical standpoint and helped to run the place.
Sadly after a few years we suddenly lost her, and I lost a dear friend who I had chatted with late nights when neither of us could sleep. Without Sissel there would have been no Volcanocafé to begin with.
Then we come to irascible artillery major and world-class anglophile Henrik Lovén. If there was ever anyone who could give me a run for the money on having had a career with many twists and turns it was Henrik.
Besides a long and illustrious military career, he also did a stint as the CEO of a major league bandy club, proprietor of a gem store, and an assortment of other ventures. In the end he fought a very long and painful fight with cancer. He knew from onset that he would not stand a chance and was given 3 months to live. But he went at it like the soldier he literally was and fought back with gusto and got 3 years before the end.
He was through his life a man of grand ideas, so it should come as no surprise that he was the champion of our grandest project, the NDVP. From day one Henrik wanted to pen the final piece himself. In many ways it was his own Eulogy that he penned, it was truly glorious and true to form it was larger than life.
No jubilee would be complete without upholding the memory of our fallen comrades.
In memory of Sissel Skramstad | VolcanoCafe
Henrik Lovén 1958-2019 | VolcanoCafe
The future
The future of Volcanocafé is both complex and simple at the same time. All I will say is that we will not change one bit in how we strive to uphold science and data above all else. The format and the writers will change over time, and there will be changes in technology.
But I am not the one to present that. I leave the technology to one of our technology wizards in an upcoming article.
I leave the changes in content up to you dear readers. Both in regards of what we write, but I would at the same time kindly ask that you also help with content and writing, the more we are, the more fun we will all have.
After all, it is not my place, it is your place dear readers and writers. I am but the custodian of the place until it is my time to have beer again with Sissel and Henrik.
Until then, here’s for many more years of Doggedly dogging like no dog has doggedly dogged in the sulphur mines of science.
CARL REHNBERG
Happy Birthday to Us!
It has been a fun 10 years, here’s to many more.
Beautiful essay, beautiful pictures and for me who read a lot by Henrik who, for the time being, is having beers with Sissel watching you and the volcanoes of the world, it’s also great to get to know Sissel here. Great that Albert found you and then joined, Albert the astrophysicist who understands plate tectonics.
Happy Birthday to VC!
Great pieces. Thank you also for taking the time for pieces and for us.
I might be the first one. England: Half asleep, America sound asleep, Australia? We’ll see.
I usually think about Albert as an exovolcanologist these day.
I have though not asked Albert about what he thinks about that title. 😉
I don’t want to annoy you on VC’s birthday, Carl, and never, but yet: I am reading GF’s book pl vs pl. And you and VC are exactly what she wants: She wants interdisciplinary talk and teamwork and said then there isn’t enough of it. She said geopysicists, astrophysicists, biologists, paleontologists, petrochemsts and so on working for themselves in some overlapping matters don’t make sense. Besides she is, like VC, very focussed on evidence.
So, basically you live on precisely the same planet as GF and Andersson. On the planet of interdisciplinary team work, debate and evidence. With some salt and pepper added here: History and Humour.
😉
Who is GF? sounds interesting 🙂
Very Sweet, Carl!
Hmmm….
I would like to add something, but sadly all points covered.
Happy birthday and thank you dragons for all the (very considerable) work you put in to this group.
Indeed Happy birthday to ewe
I’m letting my self out
hahahhaha… i think this is Your coat?
Happy Birthday to Volcanocafe!
Thats the only webbsite that Im really comfortable to say stuff in too 🙂
Im working on my own article, just busy
I hopes many more writers can also be attracted to VC. My friend Hector is a very good addition, he too makes some badass articles.
As celebration lets hope a CAMP pops up or a Big Asteorid crash somewhere.. I needs a show really. The world is too silent today, expect for all human activity … I will still hope on my
Mega Flood Basalt to happen one day. 🙂 Yes yes Im sooo bad with my volcanoes.
Today its also 11 years since I made the first boat trip on Kilaūea and watched the angry lava crash Into the pacific ocean, the boat tour was accomplished with dolphins and lava scared octopuses. Water was quite hot to the toutch at the ocean entry. Today the boats been solid off due to coast being inactive : ( Kamokuna and Kapoho was the most recent ocean entries in Hawaii
They sold off the boats as correction
Lack of coast activity.. daaaaammm I miss these boat tours!
And Carl have not even been in one
And due to the ongoing Cthulhu World Hysteria I will never look at these octopuses the same again either .. 🤣
I do wonder what I acually saw ..in the waters on these volcano boat tours… in Hawaii .. lol
But Thats a discussion for another place
have a look at this book if you get a chance – rather good – Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness
Cthulhu 🤣 ?
Happy Birthday to VC and lots of thanks to you, Carl and the dragons who keep it going. I remember in the beginning before the beginning. It was like the wild west out there in Volcanoblogland, uncharted and unmapped but some very good work nonetheless but since then far surpassed by that of her sheepy royalness, VC. 😂
Happy birthday to one of the nicest, best-run, most interesting & solidly-reliable places on the WWW, and thank you to you all for making & keeping it that way!
Happy birthday – been a fan since the Holuhraun days. Great site. And thank you for the tributes to Sissel and Henrik, about whom I was totally ignorant, as I am of many other things.
“Opposing views are important. It also forces us to do better”
Amen to that. People should (IMHO) be able to advance any theory, as long as they can put forward evidence to support it. Debate, contention, argument is how science/knowledge advances.
Here’s to the next ten!
Happy Birthday. I love this site and whilst I have no in depth knowledge, I do have more than a passing interest in tectonics and volcanos. The fantastic articles and knowledgeable commentators plus some of the weird tangential items make this a go-to website that helps expand that interest and sends me off into rabbit holes.
The fact that the nonsense is filtered out whilst genuine questions or sometimes left field ideas are addressed in a polite way makes it one of the few places on the web that doesn’t make you cry about the state of the human race!
Thanks to all the hard work and obvious love of the subject from the contributors.
Let the sheep fly for years to come!
Albert
btw, I hope you are fine and more than fine and better than last week or the week before. It’s a ladder. The toddler falls down and gets up again. Man got up in the African Rift. Man took to the moon and then to the other planets and their moons. It’s always upwards, but sometimes harder.
For VC’s birthday I have to tell you what you did to me. I was studying my books, mostly for students, about plate tectonics and staring at maps. Then I found Albert. Plates sprang to life, they were suddenly living beings including their extension zones and faults. They started dancing (The Dancing Earth). You gave it a third dimension. And some humour. That’s what an astrophysicist can do. Thank you for that.
Best for reconvalescence: Sleep. More than in normal times.
Happy birthday!
Man 10 years already since I started reading this, with the previous canary erption “Bob” in el Hierro, time flies.
This place has become a great haven for volcanophiles to get our fix haha
Happy Birthday !
Happy birthday to us all! Some things are worth a decade – or more. In my opinion, science belongs to everyone and scientific discussion should bring together the trained scientists and the public. I have learned much from VC. Carl and the others, thanks for building this place! And thanks for all our readers and commenters who made it worthwhile with their interest and contributions. And for the best volcano bar in the known Universe – bar none. Cheers!
Thank you Albert!
For the beers, and for keeping us on the straight and narrow in regards of science.
You really made the place better, and remember that it is your place!
Nice bit of activity around Vatnafjöll at the moment…
Maybe just me but this seems a lot like the runup to Fagradalshraun. Vatnafjoll is not identical but in general should be simialr, erupting from the mantle directly. So unlike Hekla an eruption here is probably goign to be long in the making and very obvious. This is looking promising though.
There are two things going on at the same time at Vatnafjöll and at Hekla.
It is at this point more likely that the activity at Vatnafjöll is aftershocks from the main earthquake. The main activity is still running between 7 and 10km with 10km being infered as where the crust encounters a deep magma reservoir.
If we start to see brittle earthquakes above 7km, or we see a conduit forming upwards from 7km, then it is time to start talking about the possibility for a future eruption.
And you guys are correct, it would be noisy indeed since it has not erupted in cirka 1200 years.
It is also obvious by now that Hekla did not enjoy having a large earthquake going of at such a relative proximity. The current small earthquake swarm that solidly belong to Hekla proper is a bit of a worry, and I am certain that IMO is following that closely.
If the activity abates it means that Hekla have found a new equilibrium, if it continues it is more than likely that Hekla will blow.
Let us just say that there is not enough money on the planet to make me go to the top of Hekla at this point in time, not even with a helicopter on standby with spinning blades…
The eruptions in 1913,1878 were not from Vatnafjoll?
1725 eruption was along a fissure that partly even went on the side of Hekla, but was basalt so not just a flank eruption. Maybe the evolved magma body for Hekla is very narrow and long, narrower even that the mountain itself but going north and south well beyond it at depth.
The evolved resovair in Hekla is shaped like a narrow canoe boat hull
And its too deep to go caldera
The deep reservoir is non-evolved basalt, and the highly evolved comes from an upper magma reservoir. Flank eruptions and distal eruptions of the fissure is unevolved only from the deep reservoir.
It is a highly technical discussion ongoing if the 1913, 1878 and 1725 eruptions are Hekla-proper eruptions, or should be classified separately. In this regard I agree with Professor Erik Sturkells judgement of de-classifying them from the official Hekla list.
That being said, those eruptions are no related to Vatnafjöll.
Yes Hekla is scary as hell
Its eruptions are real
”flood andesites” erupting hot evolved andesite as ridicolus rates. On the summit you woud not be able to outrunn the lava flows, even if They are viscous. You woud also be killed by pyroclastic flows and huge stones flying
Heklas eruptions are similar to large fast Mauna Loa eruptions, But with much more viscous lavas.
Heklas sillica content depends how often it erupts
Its infrequent enough that the central volcano never erupts pure basalt in historical times. Year 2000 was a Basaltic Andesite. And the Big infrequent medeiveal eruptions even involved ryholite
Hekla must have a crazy gas content too as well as lots of heat under to heat an andesite chamber to almost 1100 C
A better description of being at the top of Hekla during the initial few seconds would be akin to standing next to a nuke that is going off.
You would be reconstituted to atoms, or at best “just” be turned into microscopic meat particles that are carbonized into vapour.
A whole new meaning to ‘carbon foot print’
Carbon Hekla Gangnam Style.
Flood Andesite is a good description of these eruptions near the vent
Hekla summit rift eruptions can only be described as ”Flood Andesites”
Erupting mobile andesite lava at INSANE rates like 1947.
Blocky Hekla flows can move 10 kilometers or more in a day and most of the volume maybe erupted in the first hours
Flying blocks are a huge danger from the vents ”Heklean Style” maybe a New world for violent fountain lava floods with more evolved lava
Only time where its safe to climb Hekla is the week after a really major eruption .., When Hekla is tired out ..
10 km in a day might be a bit much, that happened in 1980 but that was more mafic. I think in the big eruptions the lava flows took longer. Hekla has a fast and violent opening but most of its eruption is slow and effusive, it is a strange volcano for sure probably no other exact analogue, although I do notice a certain morphological similarity to Cumbre Vieja, and maybe also to Tarawera.
Broadly speaking, Hekla is on the other end of the SISZ from Reykjanes, and its first eruption in historic time was in 1104, during the same period as the Reykjanes fires, seems not a bad hypothesis they were related. Before that its eruptions were infrequent and massive scale, VEI 5+ followed possibly by flood lavas of equally large volume in a few cases. Maybe 1104 was when there was enough of a conduit formed that the tectonic movement couldnt close it off completely, so eruptions could happen outside of the tectonic cycle. Likewise maybe in 1947 that was just one eruption too far and the conduit was fully opened to within a few km of the surface. We are of course in a new cycle at Reykjanes now, maybe the higher 20th century activity at Hekla was not accidental. Apparently the fissure shape is not a fundamental feature, it goes down a few km but the conduit below that is cylindrical.
Also to note, if the last eruption at Vatnafjoll was 1200 years ago, that also is about in the right timeframe, and dates of these eruptions on GVP are very sketchy with error of centuries. Maybe there being this swarm now is not at all accidental, and the eruptions in prehistory were not so evenly placed but were highly episodic, as we see at Reykjanes.
1104 was probably transitional between the explosive only, to an explosive and effusive regimen that started the main edifice-building of Hekla.
The pre-1104 lava floods erupted out of Vatnafjöll and not Hekla, they just covered so large area that the pretty much surrounds Hekla.
I do not think that one should do to much out of any sequence of Hekla activity and Reykjanes, it is far to distal.
The temporal relation between cessation of Vatnafjöll and Hekla ramping up in frequency of eruptions is though interesting. I suspect there is some sort of mechanical interaction between them and I think that the current series of large tectonic earthquakes at Vatnafjöll might be the start of the end of the long repose at that particular volcano. How that will affect Hekla is the one million dollar question, at least if I am correct.
Another interesting part, as Vatnafjöll stopped erupting we have had 3 flood-basalt in the dead-zone from Katla, Grimsvötn and Bardarbunga, this is more than average. Previously a large number of those came out of Vatnafjöll.
Vatnafjöll is really the forgotten major volcano in Iceland, well capable of chucking out 5km3 and upwards.
So the big flows southwest of Hekla (‘keldnahraun’ on maps) that is basalt from Vatnafjoll not a deep dredge of Hekla following one of its big eruptions?
I have a feeling there is information on this that just isnt available in English or is at least very hard to find if you cant write Icelandic. Only thing I can find on Hekla basalt is that it is Fe-Ti basalt, so not tholeiitic and not a derivative of plume basalt, but it is also different to alkaline basalt. But what puzzles me is how the two volcanoes are not connected at that deep chamber, recent deformation this year around Hekla was a 30 km diameter area, which includes Vatnafjoll within that boundary.
The deep reservoirs look like upside down narrow sailing boat hulls. And they form along the line of the faultline/main fissure.
For Hekla and Vatnafjöll it means that they are side-by-side, separated by about 15km and are both trending NNE/SSW.
This means that they do not connect at depth, but that they draw the partially the same mantle/plume material.
Hekla draws on medium MORB, medium Katla-Vestmanna Alkali-Basalt and plume origin deep basalt.
Vatnafjöll is low MORB, high KVAB, with plume basalt intermixed.
This gives them a different isotop and Rare Earth Mineral-content, and ontop of that Hekla is believed to be far higher in Fluorine.
In short, it is these geochemical differences that makes it possible to state that they are separate volcanoes due to the different magma compositions.
Maybe the fluorine is a crustal source, or something to do with evolved magma. Icelandic basalt I would expect is low in fluorine and very high in sulfur, like Hawaii. Most problems in 1783 were from SO2 vog, same for Holuhraun, and also at Kilauea both in 2018 and more generally.
It is most likely crustal sourced fluorine. It is the most common way of dying from a Hekla eruption.
The second most common way is drowning, and the third is ballistic removal of the head.
Hekla has the world record in volcanic bomb hurling having removed the head of an Icelandic farmer 32 kilometres away. The bomb weighed 20kg. Even bigger bombs have been found out towards the 50 kilometer mark, but thankfully there are few farmers around to behead nowadays during eruptions.
Congratulations!
Do you have a link to the article connecting the moon, quakes and hair problems? Also: Where did you find a sheep with such a silly hat and how did you arrange to hang this sheep into the Sistine Chapel? Or is it just photoshopped?
https://www.volcanocafe.org/the-moon-and-the-moonie/
Thanks. So there is no correlation whatsoever when it comes to the sun and the moon. And still people claim a connection between daylight and La Palma’s eruption strenght. And no chance to convince them otherwise since during the night the volcano is so spectacular while during the day everything seems less viewy.
I have heard the same for a decade about Fuego… People wondering why it is so active and glowy during the night, and why it is so lazy and grey during the day. Same arguments about the sun and the moon there.
I wish people understood the basic concept of daylight versus night… Sigh!
Let us just say that we have friends in high places. 😉
Happy ‘standard number of digits on two hands’-iversarry 🙂
Those base 10 moments are satisfying aren’t they?
I can’t recall exactly when I first joined but have dipped in over the last couple of years or so and it’s been a perfect scientific counterfoil to the over-sensationalised nonsense you often see elsewhere. I’ve really enjoyed reading the articles and the chat. Sincere thanks to everyone who makes this possible.
What a lovely article Carl. Has it really been that long? 10 years?
This has been one of the few on-line communities that I participate in over the years. I’d like to thank all the article writers for their thoroughly interesting input, and fellow commenters for their (sometimes very funny) comments.
One thing that got left out: the Dalek. Our lonely pal sitting on a Burfell ridge forever staring at a quiescent Hekla. Many curious folks have passed through wondering about the “sheepy Dalek”.
And your vow, Carl, to eat your hat? I can’t recall who offered to replace it with a Cromwellian steel fishtail helmet. I think it was disagreement over which would go first: Hekla or Katla. Neither did, in the end.
And that Russian tank episode….
Many fun and fond memories. Thank you Carl, thank you everyone. 🙂
Yes, the Dalek got forgotten in the mist of writing. The Dalek is completely otherworldly on the Burféll Webcam.
The hat eating will be done when and if Katla erupts prior to Hekla.
It was indeed the ever “evil” Henrik who suggested the fishtail helmet, who else 🙂
I do though have a very nice plan for the eventual hat-eating. All will be revealed in due time if it happens.
I still think it was a mistake to not accept that Ukrainian tank, it would have made a nice addition to the collection. But, the paperwork to get it into Sweden was to cumbersome, and the customs fees would probably have been quite something.
For those who have missed this one. I was offered a fully operational T-72 tank as a bonus from a Ukrainian factory when I made an order… Instead I got a couple of extremely tasty Nemiroff Lex vodka bottles.
I seem to recall Diana being rather please at the idea of you dancing naked around the webcam/bonfire – or was that Geopersona 🙂
Both of them…
Thankfully my wife will veto all such things.
And if needs be she will rope in Mots Motsfo as an aid in stopping it.
For those who do not know Mots, Alaskan bears come to her to ask for permission to fish. And my wife is not a lot less imposing.
I should here mention my mother. She glares at mountains and they shuffle off to not offend her.
Haha Carl. I love the bit about your mother, and pray she is still around to glare at mountains. I was also around at the inception of Volcano Cafe and mightily pleased to find a volcano forum where I would not be allowed to be abused as I had been at the previous volcano blog some of us had frequented. In those days I went by a different first name and even contributed a small article about a relative who have been on Shackletons transantarctic expedition and seen for himself the power of Mount Erebus. Since then real life has got in my way and I have found the importance of privacy on the internet, hence my name change. However I have never lost my love of either volcanoes or even more, of Volcano cafe. So pleased many of the former followers on a certain Icelanders blog are still around today, although because of health problems of close relatives I can only infequently follow the doings of Volcano cafe and all who worked so hard at it’s inception. For all that hard work I absolutely thank you all from the bottom of my heart. It is so wonderful when life gives me to time to follow all the articles on here. So, very many thanks to all of you, too many to mention wh have contributed through the years. 10 years? Wow! I had thought it longer, as so much has changed in my life in that time but no matter what future changes happen I will always pop in here when I hear of yet another volcano erupting but my special love will always be with all Icelandic volcanoes. Thanks Again!
Happy birthday!
Thanks to all!
🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂
Excited to see what’s up in future…. the format.
Happy birthday 🙂 from 3 years ago I was review the page and always return, now the “cafe” has smash the door near here and I go more active :).
Return to the work:
La Palma, the South lava arm has reach the sea on the Charcon Beach, and continue extended to fill part of the old San Juan fajana. I put the eye to see if them continue to the south and reach the las Hoyas Lighthouse and La bombilla. A lava arm move over the old lava flows to intent reach the pass into the Todoque and la laguna montain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EsCiG82kVs&ab_channel=InstitutoGeol%C3%B3gicoyMinerodeEspa%C3%B1a
We live in quite quiet volcanic days today
There is NO Supercontinent today that can insulate and overheat the mantle, thats why we dont have mega volcanism today.
Today Earth haves many rifts, plates, and plate boundaries where the heat can escape without building up. The result is mostly small eruptions, If not a rouge Superplume should rise up.
But I think African Rift is going to some much larger than Laki lava flows pretty soon. Its the place where the next larger basalt flows haves chance to happen.
Also fun that Héctor Sacristán joined the VC Blogg he makes some pretty awsome articles!
Still Deccan Traps, and specialy the enormous Ontong Java Plateau .. where Superplume Flood Basalt events That happened well after the Pangea broke up. Cretaceous had many mantle plume LIP flare ups.
So its still a possibilty that it can happen again. But souch an angry plume woud also been seen by Mantle Tomography today.
Carl question, is the ”African Superplume”powerful enough for another Mega LIP in the future?
Im sourge that even the African one is peanuts compared to the CAMP plume that may itself almost have been as large as the moon Ganymede in the mantle
Agree, Hector’s articles are great!
Seconded! 🙂
Thank you Carl and the others who keep this place running.
Hard to believe it has been ten years. I think I started lurking about eight years ago.
Articles are always fascinating and was not very interested in volcanology prior to finding this site.
Wow Happy Birthday VolcanoCafe!
Thank you for featuring our Philippine Volcanoes (not the national rugby team, in case you don’t know hahaha)
I’m just a passing enthusiast, but really picked up a lot of things from this group. Looking forward to the next 10 years!
PS. Taal is a bitch hahaha
And thank you for keeping track of Taal from a local perspective 🙂
I come from a frozen part of the world without rugby, all I know about it is that the Americans have a soft version of it… 😉
Congratulations VolcanoCafe in your 10th blogiversary! Your site is amazing and, beyond the excellent content, there is a wonderful community feedback.
I totally understand you since I also started a science blog about 8 years ago and I slowly learned how to communicate different topics, mainly EQs and volcanoes. My inspirations were Ralph Harrington and Erik Klemetti, 2 great early volcanic bloggers.
Sadly now my site is on a hiatus due mainly to plagiarism and even “experts” that steal pictures without crediting anything publishing them on newspapers articles.
Again, Congratulations VolcanoCafe!!
Sadly that happens all time. It’s spiritual pauperism. You can only feel pity for them when they need that.
sad to hear – please scribble something about EQs and volcanoes for this blog if you’ve a mind to – I’m sure the dragons would be happy to have a guest author 🙂
Dear Lord Yes!
Thanks for the kind words. My focus was mainly on Chile. Now I’m a bit “out of business” but if someday you are interested on a topic or looking help, feel free to contact me thru this form.
https://aficientifico.wordpress.com/contacto/
Thanks to all those who have created this for us! I have not been here from the beginning, but been around a while. I found this site while looking for information on Kilauea for a family vacation there. We ended up going for 3 summers we liked the Big Island so much. I keep Volcanocafe open in a tab on my browser every day.
Thanks
Larry
Seems I am late to the party but as I remember well the Dalek sitting vigil and I visit the chat often I wish to add my Happy Birthday wishes too. I Am not knowledgeable enough to comment often but rely on my friends here to keep be up to date on what’s happening. Thanks to all at the Volcano Cafe !
Some Involcan post over la palma.
https://twitter.com/involcan/status/1460273472735780868?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
vulcano activity raising, Involcan tal about them has aproached to Vei 3.
A panoramic from the fajana to the lava flows
https://twitter.com/involcan/status/1460277559292272650
So, God made it and blessed it? That’s then why we have to be nice. If not:
Giovanni di Paolo, 1403-1482, Sienese School
Happy Birthday all of you!
For it just being ten years, this blog sure seems to have quite a history.
Some funny, but also some serious ones.
Ash drevil on volcano area today…
https://twitter.com/rubenlodi/status/1460305066154467331
As a “native son” of VC, it is impossible to quantify the amount of knowledge and pure child-like amazement of what I’ve learned here in the last decade.
In my past, I’ve had several teachers who helped shaped my persona and fuel my curiosity for the natural sciences…but it is with regret that, now in my later years, I never got a chance to say “Thank You” properly.
So, with that being said, may I express to everyone who has made this blog what it has become, my heartfelt appreciation for taking the time to share and develop new knowledge solely for our cumulative benefit.
Thanks all of you who created and maintain the The VC! So much interesting, exciting and fun reading! Best scienceblog ever!!!
Thank you, Carl and VC, for all that you do, and happy anniversary!
Also, thank you for answering (in the article and title) a question I’ve long been curious about; where VC’s moto of “because Volcanoes are ewesome” came from. I’d always wondered about the connection between volcanoes and sheep, and now I know – flying sheep!
And as an aside to anyone who might happen to know; I’m registered here at VC with a now-dead email address (My ISP pulled the plug on my (and everyone else’s) free account there with no notice,). Do I just enter my new email address when making a post, or will that be seen as a duplicate account?
It should work, if not and there is a problem email us on the email link up there to the right and we will sort things out on our end.
Thanks Carl! I’ll give it a try with this.
Hello CJ!
Found you in the Dungeon hanging with an entire bunch of people.
Now that you have been set free it should work just fine, otherwise email us and we arrange things on our end. 🙂
Ngorongoro crater, twice as Big as Crater Lake
Is probaly the largest caldera that have formed by a violent collapse of a single stratovolcano. Defentivly Impressive, the eruption ejected many 100 s of cubic kilometers of ash and pyroclastic flows raged over the whole region.
Around 500 km3 of pyroclastic materials where probaly ejected. The volcano likley vent stale for tens of thousands of years before it destroyed itself. The original volcano have not been able to build up itself after this event.
When browsing with Görkl-Earth I also found Okmok’s caldera impressive. Obviously the name should be “Komko”, but somebody read it backwards and then it couldn’t be changed.
Mount Kenya Grew into a behemoth before it was eroded by the Pleistocene Ice Ages. Mount Kenya grew to over 7000 meters tall in its haydays, and absolutle behemoth. But Mt Kenya never suffered a gigantic eruption and never vent caldera. You woud have needed oxygen to climb Mount Kenya as it was in the haydays..
These African Rift Stratovolcanoes are the very largest Stratovolcanoes on Land. They can reach 100 kilometers wide and possible 8 kilometers tall.
They haves a slow magma supply, But they also sit on a very slow plate, and grow large over long time – spanns.
Only Kilimanjaro is left now .. as a Grand Peak among them.
But Hawaiis deep sea shields can grow to over 300 km wide like Pūhāhonu and 20 kilometers tall from their pressed down bases in Only
500 000 years, totaly dwarfing the African land giants in magma production
This or Yellowstone. Next – I think – Toba.
Yeah, East Africa really worries me as a dark horse candidate for the next truely giant eruption. Just take Kilimanjaro, which supposedly hasn’t erupted in 170k years, but as Carl notes, that can reasonably be questioned: https://www.volcanocafe.org/the-gentle-giant-of-africa/ That is for one of the most famous ones, a more obscure might get away with a surprise vei 6. There are just so many calderas from northern Tanzania to Eritrea. On a quick google maps count, I found 14 calderas with a diameter exceeding 5 km and there are doubtlessly more.
Happy VC Birthday VC. Carl, have you ever thought about doing a video series on volcanology? GCSE sort of level that the public could digest? I am sure there are a few of us, including myself, on here with the skills to put stuff together.
It has been pondered upon time and again.
But, knowing and talking to a couple of people who do make high quality Youtube videos (in other areas), have made me aware of the almost insane amount of time that goes into editing and so on. Time that I sadly do not have at this point in life. 🙁
Editing does take a while… I usually spend about 6hrs editing for ~20mins of total recorded audio. I primarily record and edit worship music. I usually just lyrics slides with the words on for people to sing along, rather than compile video as well.
I suppose my question, albeit slightly leading; is to the community as a whole, would it be something worth doing. All you, for instance, would have to do is get your iPhone 13xxx pro; and record (as well as the lesson planning). Providing you don’t zoom in too much, the image quality is very good.
I am sure there are a few of us here on VC with the skills and time to do the editing.
I do have the equipment to do it.
But the problem is that I would prefer to do it well in case I did it.
And also I would need normal travelling to resume, because it would be so much better with me wheezing like Attenborough on top of the actual volcano…
In reality I just do not have the time to do that however much I would want to do it.
Especially since there will be another Youtube project later on in regards of Geothermal energy (which is my job) that will most likely involve some professionals doing the editing and production.
Me being me, I will do all the outreach and “science for the locals” parts myself. After all, I have a decades worth of experience now in doing it. 🙂
I will most likely post the parts that are more directly volcano related in here of that since it is volcanoes that we will drill into. Be warned though, this is some ways away, and I can’t talk about it in detail right now.
I’d quit. I have no time to see videos and also think they do not stick that well to memory.
I am strongly attached to the writing talents of Carl and Albert and also late Henrik, well spiced with humour, sometimes poetry and a good deal of fine British irony in the case of Albert. I also like the straightforward writing style of Hectór, Chad, and Tallis. Geolurking can tell great stories from his times in the marine. I basically like the different styles. It would all be lost.
And btw, not exactly knowing what the dragons are, I say thank you anyway as I got at least that a lot of work is involved.
Yes
Just a short note here, it is fine Dutch irony in the case of Albert. 🙂
Concerning humour I learned some in America, England and in France and from Jewish writers. I believe that’s s.th. we aren’t born with.
Rest assured, the writing will stay.
But, there will probably be a bit video-content in the future through collaborations where we do the science explaining part to videos.
We will see exactly how that will be done. 🙂
David Attenborough is still alive : D and seems to be healthy too, always enjoys his films!
1995 s Life in the Freezer is almost the best.. When Sir Attenborough is almost crushed by mean house sized Sourthen elephant seals in South Georgia .. basicaly the most blubbery and mean wildlife on the planet! 🙂 Sourthen Elephant Seals are insane beasts 😧😃
Elephant seals aren’t mean, but the males are very territorial.
We have them in California. They mostly swim, fish, haul out on beaches.
They get really huge. I think the antarctic species is bigger.
Carl, Kilimanjaro is still very alive..
There is very hot sulfurious fumaroles on the summit crater interior, suggesting there is an active magma chamber shallow below the edifice. The inner ash pit ( No photo here )
Looks very very very Young.. perhaps formed in the last 500 years.
I remeber before when you totaly slopply laughed at me and was certain it was stone dead. Instead Kilimanjaro is probaly very alive
But I fear lt will go the same fate as Mount Kenya .. being eroded away as it dies away
I guess it wont erupt anywhere soon
Basicaly is a Big land version of Teide perhaps .. very similar Igenous chemistry .. But teide is faller under the sea.
Kibo:
“Problem seems to be the monogenetic part. Locals usually try to point out to any volcanologist that ambles by that it erupted 200 years ago, and that a village containing 2 000 people was wiped out in that eruption.
A couple of decades ago a volcanologist did indeed amble out there, looked at the typical Tanzanian greenery and said, I do not see it, and wrote it off. Same with a couple of itinerant archaeologists that could not find the village.” Carl
Who do you believe? I believe the locals. They have tremendous memories esp. for trauma.
So you might be right, Jesper.
https://www.volcanocafe.org/the-gentle-giant-of-africa/
I would never ever watch a video again to pick this out.
Denaliwatch
Yes the inner summit crater looks very very very young ..for soure. Must be a very recent formation. Formed by vulcanian style blasts
https://www.summitpost.org/kilimanjaro-crater/194794
This arrogance, Jesper, of Westerners who think they know it all because of equipment honestly p****s me off.
It took them Japanese lessons and studies of Japanese documents to find out that there had been a huge tsunami in Japan about 300 years ago. Only then it occurred to them to ask the American First People again about the Dead Forest in Oregon. And they said:
Oh yes, there is this story preserved among us that one night many tribes just drowned. Cascadia earthquakes.
It is necessary to listen to them. To realize that they don’t have our equipment, but also intelligence and memory, to take them seriously.
There is a problem with many scientists that says ‘if its not proven right its wrong’. This is a bad fallacy, particularly the tendency when there is significant evidence that something is so, but inadequate definite proof of same, to assume the hypothesis is wrong.
The best example I know is of plate tectonics where even old books I read in the 1950’s showed the continents connected and that mineralogy across the suture fitted beautifully. This was totally rejected (particularly in america) by many for want of a mechanism.
It has also happened in covid.
The other problem is many scientists tend to follow the status quo (even when actually unsupported by much evidence) and reject evidence to the contrary until its virtually beaten into them by reams of evidence. For meny scientists special (let alone general) relativity was considered an illusion (ie not physically real) into the mid 20C.
I rather suspect dark matter and dark energy are similar constructs, using old theories to make faults in observation ‘fit the facts’ by adding invisible things.
As for oral histories, well, they must all be totally wrong, surely, even if repeated over vast areas…(quite a few are wrong, mind).
I do not agree here.
Science is indeed slow and plodding, and requires heaps of evidence for the acceptance of a theory.
There is obviously also the foibles of some researchers, and the general inertia of the system.
But, in general it is the best, if not the only, system of knowledge gathering and development that we have. To the critics I generally state, invent something better.
And I do not agree that we should take anything at face value that is said by locals, but it is most often a good idea to check up on it.
Checking local stories against reliable data and you get the science. Often it turns out that the story was true, but not in exactly the way it was told.
Science is a multi-millennium-project to find out that the answer is 42.
What you are saying is that science works slowly. New theories do not appear instantly, but are based on decades of work showing discrepancies with existing explanations. Special relativity build on work done in the 1850’s. General relativity was a big jump but it took Einstein 10 years to get it right. Kepler’s laws of orbital motion took almost a century before being accepted: it needed extensive new data for verification. Plate tectonics also was a 50 year discussion. The books may have presented the old models, there was in fact a vigorous discussion going on. Once the evidence for ocean floor spreading was found, everything fell into place. Global warming took 20 years to become accepted science, between the 1980’s and the 2000’s. All that time was spend finding the evidence that the world really was warming up. It is the way science works. And yes, within the discussions older people tend to argue for the status-quo and younger ones for new theories. But it doesn’t matter who takes which side. In the end, it is the data that will show which theories pass and which ones fail.
Did I just prephrase Albert in the article? 🙂
“When in doubt, data shall provide the answer!”
Carl:
1) Science is the best way to learn and progress, however many scientists do not actually follow the evidence. I gave several examples where denying something was true, was defended as there being less that some (often arbitrary) level of evidence. That is, postulates that explain reality better than the alternatives should be considered as viable alternatives, let alone when they provide a better explanation.
2) Theories (in the proper sense of the word) have never been demolished by experiments within their sphere of applicability, we all know that.
3) Definitely do not take anything at face value until you have checked there is sensible evidence, after all the world is full of imagined stories!
Albert:
1) I use the scientific usage, a theory is one with overwhelming evidence in its applicable area. There are very, very few of these.
2) You ably illustrate my point. All your examples show an existing postulate with flawed, indeed basically absent, evidence continuing as mainstream for a generation (or more). Special relativity is NOT Lorenz, even though the frame transformations are the same, and as late as 1950 many scientists really thought spacetime in different farmed ‘just appeared’ to be contracted. Keplers laws, by occhams razor, should have been accepted as a better and simpler explanation but for religion. The contorted arguments of the non-continents move brigade were never convincing once the geology was clear, the only obstacle was a mechanism and the only thing going for the opposing views was er, no mechanism for them NOT to move. Global warming has been going on since the little ice age and as a kid in the 1950’s reading old encyclopaedias the retreat of glaciers and lengthening of the northern shipping season was already known and photographically documented.
So to carry on following the current long-standing paradigm when it has less evidence to support it that alternative postulates is following in the same old fashioned footsteps. You should follow the postulate that best fits the known facts, not one that has simply been about for a long time.
Farmeroz, those old books in Pl-Tect were not advanced because of the what we sometimes also call second 30-Year War 1914-1945, and also immediately afterwards things weren’t easy.
Alfred Wegener was ridiculed, but he stuck to the theory and collected proof, mainly in Paleontology. Unfortunetely he died relatively young during a rescue mission in Greenland. I sometimes think this might have been good as he might have been entangled with the later German Regime considering his work. So this way, we are free to remember his achievements, also with ice cores and the Polar Air Currents.
He needed to fight for the theory and might have found proof though. With a theory you need proof.
Concerning local stories I take them for what they are: A tale with a nucleus of truth when there is no writing. While sitting around a fire at night the nucleus might get some ornaments, but I still think the origin is right. So, as Carl says you need proof. And finding proof has to be funded.
When economy had recovered after the war research ships could be funded, and the MOR’s looked at. To fund research around Kibo doen’t seem so important right now although it basically is.
But the tales, also in the Bible, are fundamental, and I’m more than glad about archeology. And more than overglad about scientists who stick to modesty which is not so easy when they are admired by the media, and scientists who know that they are very dependant on team work and all kind of information and exchange.
And basically: I don’t know what they speak there, but maybe Swaheli. Some basic knowledge of their language never hurts. Says somebody who went to Greece for six weeks as a student and learned 1000 words of Greek and some grammar and got quite well along. Forgotten by now.
Let’s not talk about C19. That’s political. Best man I think: Professor John P.A. Ioannidis, Stanford. Worth reading.
Chyulu Hills=another rift volcano
With 100 s of cinder cones there.
sounds like Cthulhu Hills!
Would not surprise me if that’s where old HPL got the name 🤣
Maybe I will visit one day
Everyone is gangsta until the
land squids starts flying ..
You could also go with Carl to the summit of Kibo (very slowly) and get some samples in the crater there 😉
Yeess I woud like to do that with him
Carl have the summit crater deposits ever been dated??
The vent, no. That is why I enlisted a world class alpinist to take a sample.
And that failed.
Carl.. What if We try ourselves?? then.. souch an expedition coud be Done gentle in many days. This is not Everest ..
But at almost 6000 meters
I guess we will both have problems anyway ..
If one of the worlds best free climbers and alpinists can’t do it, a fat middle-aged dude like me can’t do it. And even though you are younger than me, I do not think you are a ravenous athlete galumphing about mountains.
I knew one better climber, but he is dead.
Highest flying helicopter flight was at 12 000 meters
Quite Impressive 1972
Latest record was set with an Airbus H125, 12954 meters made in 2002 by Fred North.
Helicopter that falls into a volcano is called ..
Helitoaster..
or Hell-itoaster
Oh my… I just laughed out my spleen. 🙂
I never said it was stone dead.
I did say that it is unlikely to erupt sometime soon.
Problem with Kilimanjaro is the lack of dating from samples inside the crater.
I tried to get a mountaineer to climb down there, but not even a world class alpinist had the stamina to get up to the top, scale the larger crater wall, then trekk across the crater floor, and then scale down the vent in it, then go back up both walls by rope, and then climb down.
He claimed that it would be easier to do K2 (he has done both K2 and Everest). Kilimanjaro turned out to be harder in the respect of all the extra climbing.
The air pressure at well over 4000 meters was already a problem for me at Mauna Loa .. Absoutley dizzy
At Kilimanjaro you can get sick from the low air pressure, If you are not acclimatized.
And Mount Everest is much worse but global warming will expand the atmosphere a bit and make Everest more breathable in the future..
If Everest was located in the tightly compacted Antartican Atmosphere, it woud be totaly Impossible to go up without oxygen, atmosphere is lower at the poles
I’ve noticed that I get out of breath easily (like after a short hike uphill) at anything over 14,000 feet. (4267m). Above 15000, and I can feel the thinness of the air even sitting down. I had to change a tire at the summit of Pike’s peak (Colorado, 14,000ft) and just jacking up a car left me breathing hard. Hiking to the top of Kilimanjaro? To be honest, I’d be scared to try it, as the highest pressure altitude I’ve ever been at was 17,000 ft, and that was sitting down (inside an unpressurized small plane).
Mauna Loa? I envy you. I’ve never done it, but I want to; it looks like an awesome hike (and as I recall, that’s the only way to get there).
I suppose going part of the way by helicopter (even allowing the height) would be cheating/expensive? Starting on the crater would surely be less effort?
I am all for cheating, and it will probably end up with having to do something like that.
Albeit, helicopters in Africa tend to be very expensive. If they are available.
Best way: Write a letter to Elon Musk and get him interested. He is the only rich person in the world who is crazy anough to fund you a plane and equipment to get the rocks out you need. And basically the only one I like as he is a bit of a nutter.
When that alpinist got up Everest and K2 with some speed he might be too fast for Kibo. Basically it’s all a question of money and time. Most people who work don’t have enough time. The other way is to give local guides the training to collect. They are better adapted. Caveat: The equipment might be gone.
Not sure helicopters can get that high. And you still need to acclamatize: it is dangerous to go too fast from sea level even to 4 km height
I have done that a few times, it is uncomfortable…
You would most likely not be able to fly the entire way, but it would save a lot of time, especially since you would need to carry almost insane amounts of climbing gear and ropes.
You can walk to the top of Kilimanjaro, but you would need to repell down into the crater, walk some distance, and then repell again down the vent. Then reverse order it to get out.
I repeat, one of the top alpinists and freeclimbers in the world had to ditch the attempt due to fatigue. And that is someone who has galumphed up both K2 and Everest at ungodly speeds.
There is a very good reason that there are no samples from the crater floor, nor from the vent bottom.
Edit: He got to the crater floor, but by then he was so tired that he did not even want to risk bringing a single little piece of rock. He almost succumbed climbing back up the wall. It was a good call to abort.
There are 2 helicopters in the world that can do it.
But finding an Airbus H125 or a Mil-MI8 in Tanzania would probably be hard.
Someone actually landed an Airbus H125 on Mount Everest.
Google he say:
Emergency procedure on Kilimanjaro
The heli will only fly to around the height of the last camp Barafu, 4600 metres. It cannot land on the summit, so an injured person would still need to be carried down to the lower level before being taken off.
https://altezza.travel/en/day-trips/tanzania/helicopter-kilimanjaro
May be russian run, MIL Mi-8 good to 30,000ft apparently.
$3600
Helicopter flight above the crater of Kilimanjaro (as this is prohibited by the rules of the Kilimanjaro National Park).
So you would need special authority.
I do not think I would have any problem with getting that permit.
Problem is finding the helicopter to do it with.
You could try that tank instead
It would probably work on the way to the top, but not down to the vent. 😉
Also, it would produce a quite horrendous scar on the side of the volcano.
Carl, I did give a URL for people flying (probably russian) helicopters over Kilimanjaro. Check their website out.
https://altezza.travel/en/day-trips/tanzania/helicopter-kilimanjaro
sightseeing trip (up to 3 people) over Kilimanjaro and surrounding, $3600.
Yes They landed a Helicopter on Mount Everests summit. The rotor blades can generate lift by spinning faster
The record for the highest altitude flight in a helicopter is 40,820 feet. It was set in 1972 by French aviator Jean Boulet while piloting an SA 315 Lama, Helicopter at over 12 000 meters
The highest unpressurized aircraft flights with oxygen masks was at 15 000 meters
Thats the perhaps the limit without space suits. They did that in WW2 in some plane flights
Above 18 000 meters is the Armstrong Limit and you needs a space – suit to surivive. But the teneus atmosphere goes up to 120 kilometers
Yes in WW2 They flyed up to around 15 000 meters unpressurized in some flights! Very dangerous and near black skies above. Oxygen Masks keept them alive
I know that some Tropical Cumulunimbus can go up to almost 22 km, souch clouds haves – 102 C temperatures
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zgvgc-MvUDQ&list=PL6xPxnYMQpquNuaEffJzjGjMsr6VktCYl&index=10
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aeSng_Us9dg&list=PL6xPxnYMQpquNuaEffJzjGjMsr6VktCYl&index=11
Latest Episides of Alien Biospheres is up
On the planet TIRA 292b. An incredibley project of speculative Alien evolution on a planet.
The life forms are very well tought out, and well made .
Part 12 will be posted later by the channel
Its a massive project, I recomend to see all 11 videos..
Happy birthday VolcanoCafé! This is a really nice place.
It is and you writes some excellent articles! Is next one on some more Marsian Stuff? or Venusian?
I heard that Kaisei valleys on Mars maybe a flood lava product .. : )
Thanks Jesper! I share the same fascination for flood basalt eruptions that you have. I’m planning more stuff on Mars and also Io, but I think it’s about time to finish Kilauea part three, so that will probably be the next article to get published from me.
Kasei Valles is among the greatest flood basalts of Mars an eruption that probably was over 5,000,000 km3, and may have been contemporaneous with the formation of Valles Marineris. It took place about 1 billion years ago. At some point I will probably talk about that one.
Yesss finally Kilauea part 3 🙂
I don’t know much of the other planets, but I also think your pieces are excellent and I will learn some.
I share you and Chads fascination for Kilaūea too
Hawaiian Volcanoes are my favorites at least on Earth
I been to Kilaūea many many times
Kasei Valles Flood is probaly a product of the low magmatic bouyancy on Mars .. magma chambers haves to be enormous to erupt on Mars .. that haves 1/3 th of Earths gravity
Happy birthday! Let’s celebrate this with a huge VEI 8 eruption and the death of society!
There are also pyroclastic eruptions much much much much bigger than that
Some Arabian Miocene igmigbrite tuff blowouts ( if I remebers correct )
coud have Had up to 20 000 km3 althrough debated But possible
Thats VEI 9 🙂 right in Tallis territory
Perhaps a VEI 10 coud be possible, althrough you needs a very big magma chamber and it needs to be shallow enough for the gases to nucleate out of the melt that drives the eruption. A 100 000 km3 chamber woud have to be in a very thick crust.
But perhaps possible.. That woud Leave a Chicxulub sized depression in the ground after blowouts. But most eruptible chambers blow way before even a VEI 7
I knows that you only wants killer eruptions .. : O lol
Let’s not
While watching a VEI 8 eruption would certainly be ‘informative’ and include many teachable moments, it would also mean the end of VC (no electricity, no internet, no civilization, etc.). Hence, I second Albert’s “Let’s not”!
Happy Birthday VC. The hours of reading your articles when I should be learning French! So appreciated . 🙂
Happy anniversary Volcanocafe and congratulations and hearty thanks to everyone who has written the wonderful articles, and to the fabulous and knowledgable commentariat too! I found VC during the early days of Bob at El Hierro and have lurked ever since. Commented occasionally under a variety of names as I could never save them/remember them … drivel usually anyhow. I love the spirit of community and the joy in learning here. It really is very special indeed. Here’s a raised glass of Shiraz in the sheepy dalek bar to the next ten!
Ps please bring back the quiz!
Well, I do think it was initially Talla Hopper?
Anyways, I will continue to make English ladies redfaced 😉
English lady, often redfaced, but not Talla Hopper. I remembered her too late when I chose the username for my favourite bug, and so had an ‘oh bollocks’ moment. Hey ho. Didn’t she move back to Malawi?
Also – did you get back the ‘lost’ articles after the kerfuffle about the blog ownership? I do hope so.
Some we got back, but not all.
Yes, I do think she moved back.
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Here’s to the decade anniversary and many more decades to come!
Favourite bits were the times when eq’s were plotted in 3D (was that Thomas?) and all the times no-one would say what Upptyppingar means. And I remember an article where I laughed out loud because of a mention on Icelandic house or dancemusic (I regrettely forgot the details). Also nice to see Carl’s back to writing articles. I hope he will – one day – complete his Icelandic catalogue
Happy Birthday! I have been lurking for at least nine of those ten years. I never felt that I was knowledgeable enough to post or even to join but I will say that I have learned a great deal over the years. I am a firm believer in science and this blog has been a great blog to learn about all things volcanic. Thank you!
Thank you Carl, and everyone else who have given this place such an interesting life, those who are here, and those who have left us… VC is one of my favorite places. I have learned so much over the years! Here in Northern California where I live volcanos (and former volcanos) are everywhere, and you have helped me know where to look… I started reading during Holuhraun, and never left. I hope this place can continue, and grow! Thank you!
Happy Birthday to VC! Truly enjoy the information and whatnot here!
Good morning everyone!
I noticed that many had gotten stuck when commenting.
After having been set free there should be no problems commenting in the future, but if it is a recurring problem contact us on our email that you found upwards on the righthand side.
And thank you to all the Lurkers who have written!
It is awesome to get to know more of our readers. We see that you read, but it is so nice to hear from you 🙂
As a long time Lurker since Eyia i have greatly enjoyed the many informative posts. I have just sat quiet and not commented as its only an interest of mine and only have basic understanding of Geology and Volcanism. Since I was at school and learnt about Krakatoa., yes I’m an oldie, it grabbed my imagination and want to thank you guys for the continued high standards of your forum and look forward to the next 10 years
La Palma the volcano has been erupting all night and its still ongoing now. The plume has been very high like a jet stream and glowing lighter in the middle. Two smaller vents have also been active. There is talk that the eruption is slowing down and could stop in 14 days. How can this be when the volcano is so active once again.?
It will wax and vane for a while, but it is slowing down as a general trend.
Also, judging a volcano by how it looks during the night is quite hard. It looks much more impressive at night than it does during the day since you can more easily see the incandescence.
Caveat: Not a geologist so can’t write something scientific 😀
Obviously it enjoys vacation on La Palma.
It is doing its own thing and it seemingly wants to become 2 months old 🙂
SCNR
Still amazed.
Looks like Vatnafjoll is quiet again 🙁
Maybe Hekla will still erupt, or at least has got a better chance now than before. But an eruption from Vatnafjoll would be probably at least a little safer, not harmless of course but can be approached within 50 km radius at peak. Given the hilly terrain it might be possible to go quite close actually 🙂
Happy birthday! Horses brought me to this beautiful place. Yes, horses. Let me explain:
I never cared much for horses when I was younger, but that all changed when I met my wife. She was really into the Icelandic horse and somehow she got me hooked as well. Just as the horses had turned my attention towards Iceland for real, Holuhraun happened. One of my Icelandic friends told me they were waiting for a volcano to erupt. I checked around and found the enormous stream of real time data available. Fascinated by the intense earthquake swarm slowly making its way away from the caldera, I was nailed to the computer screen. Finally, the ground broke open, lava started to gush out and I was nailed to the screen for another 6 months. During this time, VC became part of the daily routine and it has been ever since. I have learned so much about volcanoes, geology and whatnot from this place and I want to give my warmest thank you to all who contribute with articles and comments!
Very nice. Tölt is unique to Iceland, so you’re wife must have been interested in Tölt. People say it is quiet and comfortable. I don’t know how it developped, but the uneven earth might have something to do with it.
Tölt is actually not so unique for the Icelandic horse as one might think, but it’s a large part of the culture surrounding the Icelandic horse. Tölt is an even 4-beat gait, with one hoof landing on the ground at a time. Comfort speed is around 15km/h, but many can keep the tölt up to around 30km/h. It’s a perfect gait for riding the distance between the farms, since you comfortably cover a lot of ground in a reasonably short time.
These days we know exactly what gene is responsible for the ability to tölt or pace. It’s a single mutation on the DMRT3-gene. The normal form of the gene (C) codes for a protein responsible for the signal transfer in coordinating the diagonal movement in trot. The mutated form (A) makes the protein shorter and allows the horse to move the legs more freely in relation to each other. Most Icelandic horses are 5-gaited (AA), meaning they can do walk, trot, tölt, gallop and pace. Some are 4-gaited (CA), they can tölt, but not pace.
Interestingly, the mutation also makes it possible for a horse to trot at high speed without breaking stride into a gallop, which is why almost all horses used for harness racing (standardbreds and alike) are homozygous for the mutation (AA). That means harness race horses also have the ability to pace or tölt, something that is often seen during warm up or when a standing start system with horses moving in circles is used.
There are other parts of the world where tölt is also a praised gait. Sometimes it’s just known by other names: single foot, rack, foxtrot, etc. There are small variations implied in the different names, but basically they are all four beat gaits with at most one or two hooves touching the ground at any time.
Here’s a really nice movie clip showing the different gaits the Icelandic horse can perform:
Thank you. Beautiful video and beautiful horse.
Lava keeps crashing into Kilauea.. at high speeds, real torrent of liquid lava.
We are back to the Ellis days, with giant rootless lava lakes at Kilaueas summit.
Perhaps We will get a shield after all in the caldera, but the filling rootless lake may get so heavy that it drains itself into the rift system
That picture is a few days old now, all of the back of the cone is flooded with new lava that is still active. The top of the cone also caved in to reveal a pond again with significant stombolian and spattering activity.
https://fb.watch/9j9j5zfDBt/
If that doesnt work it is EpicLava on facebook, live at Kilauea less than an hour ago at time of this comment 🙂
Yes EpicLava is great commented the post. They haves some seriously good updates and posts and John is a good tour guide