Conducting research inside a volcanic crater is a pretty amazing scientific opportunity, but calling that crater home for a week might just be a volcanologist’s dream come true, as Alexandra postdoctoral researcher at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg, describes in this week’s Imaggeo on Mondays. This picture was taken from inside the crater of Mount St Helens, a stratovolcano ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Lava highway in Kanaga Island
Lava highway in Kanaga Island (Western Aleutians, Alaska). Credit: Mattia Pistone (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).
On a rare sunny day, Mattia Pistone (a researcher at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC) was able to capture this spectacular shot of Kanaga, a stratovolcano in the remote Western Aleutians, which is usually veiled by thick cloud. The Western Aleutians form a chain of 14 large and 55 small volcanic islands, belonging to one of the most extended volcanic archipelagos on Earth (1900 km), s ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: A Bubbling Cauldron
Bubbling Cauldron . Credit: Jamie Farquharson (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)
Despite being a natural hazard which requires careful management, there is no doubt that there is something awe inspiring about volcanic eruptions. To see an erupting volcano up close, even fly through the plume, is the thing of dreams. That’s exactly what Jamie Farquharson, a researcher at Université de Strasbourg (France) managed to do during the eruption of the Icelandic volcano Bárðarbunga. R ...[Read More]
Volcanic darkness marked the dawn of the Dark Ages
Volcanic ash can spread far and wide. Credit: Taro Taylor via Flickr.
The dawn of the Dark Ages coincided with a volcanic double event – two large eruptions in quick succession. Combined, they had a stronger impact on the Earth’s climate than any other volcanic event – or sequence of events – in the last 1200 years. Historical reports reveal that a mysterious dust cloud dimmed the sun’s rays between in 536 and 537 CE, a time followed by global societal decline. Now, ...[Read More]