All articles tagged with #volcano
A UK-led study models a Yellowstone supereruption, detailing a cascading sequence from months of increased seismic activity to a cataclysmic blast that could eject ash across North America, cause massive fatalities (0.7–1.3 billion), disrupt infrastructure and food supplies, trigger a global recession, and usher in long-term societal changes — while emphasizing such an eruption is rare and inherently unpredictable.
A thought-experiment outlines how a VEI-8 Yellowstone eruption could unfold from weeks of unrest to years of disaster: rapid magma intrusion triggers phreatomagmatic blasts, a towering ash cloud and deadly pyroclastic flows devastate parts of North America, crippling electricity, water, and transport, while sulphate aerosols cool the climate for years, triggering widespread agricultural collapse, health crises and a global recession. Immediate deaths could reach around 1,000 with far broader impacts, and long-term effects include hundreds of millions to about a billion premature deaths and a slow, uneven recovery, ending with a speculative look at humanity’s distant future observed by an alien perspective a million years hence.
Scientists have uncovered a colossal ancient volcano buried beneath eastern England (Norfolk and Lincolnshire). The eruption, dating to about 454.4 million years ago, was thousands of times more powerful than Mount Etna and expelled ash as far as Scandinavia, forming the Kinnekulle tephra layer now found across Norway, Sweden, the Baltic region, Belarus and Poland. Zircon dating links the English volcano to the tephra, suggesting a vast caldera system spanning tens of kilometres and reshaping our view of England's deep geological past.
USGS HVO reports ongoing precursory, low-level lava activity at Kīlauea's summit in Halemaʻumaʻu with 29 north-vent overflows since Sept 7, fed by a 5–10 m dome fountain and forming two main flows that reached about 0.5 miles southwest and less than 0.5 miles northeast of the vent. Tremor persists, and summit reinflation has been unsteady since the Aug. 25 lava fountaining (episode 54), peaking Sept. 7 and then stalling. SO2 emissions run 1,000–5,000 t/day; trade winds are weak and the plume drifts southwest. Forecasters previously noted a Sept. 8–10 window for the start of Episode 55 high lava fountaining.
USGS webcams show precursory, low-level lava activity at Kīlauea's Halemaʻumaʻu summit starting Monday, with irregular inflation and brief dome fountains. The alert level was raised to WATCH and the Aviation Color Code to ORANGE in anticipation of a future high lava fountaining episode. By Tuesday morning, activity paused with summit deflation; ten overflows produced two lava lobes about a kilometer from the north vent. Reinflation remains irregular, and a September 8–10 forecast window for the next episode is likely if inflation resumes.
Flights to and from Jakarta have resumed after renewed activity at Anak Krakatau in the Sunda Strait. Authorities had kept people away from the crater and maintained high alert due to ongoing volcanic risk; the 2018 eruption of the same system triggered a deadly tsunami. Indonesia sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire with many active volcanoes, but travel is gradually returning to normal as conditions stabilize.
A volcanic eruption at Anak Krakatau forced Indonesian airports to stay closed and stranded more than 340,000 passengers, disrupting nearly 3,000 flights as ash clouds rose to about 6,000 m over Java and 15,000 m over Sumatra; authorities extended closures through Monday and warned of the potential for further eruptions, maintaining 3 km exclusion zones around the crater.
Eight Indonesian airports were closed and hundreds of flights canceled or delayed as Anak Krakatau erupted, sending ash across Java and Sumatra and affecting more than 170,000 travelers; Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta airport was shut, weather remained volatile, and airlines must inspect aircraft engines before resuming service.
Anak Krakatau's eruption sent a thick ash plume into Indonesian airspace, prompting the temporary closure of eight airports and delaying roughly 1,558 flights, leaving about 170,000 passengers stranded; disruptions mainly affected Singapore-bound routes along with other international flights, as authorities warned of respiratory risks from the ash, urged refunds, and confirmed no tsunami warning.
Indonesia grounded flights after the Anak Krakatau volcano erupted, sending ash clouds to altitudes of about 20,000–50,000 feet that drifted toward Jakarta, Banten, West Java and surrounding waters; travelers were urged to check airline status. The eruption, from Krakatau’s offspring, has left the island reduced to roughly a quarter of its former size and the region remains on high alert in the wake of a deadly 2018 tsunami linked to the volcanic system.
Volcanic activity at Krakatau continues with a VAAC advisory reporting an ash plume rising to flight level 450 (45,000 ft / 13,700 m) and moving west; further advisories are expected as monitoring continues (as of 16:30 UTC on Sep 4, 2026).
Scientists have discovered a buried 64-km supervolcano beneath England’s east coast, centered under The Wash. The eruption about 454 million years ago spewed ash as far as Belarus, Poland, and Scandinavia, equaling about a million atomic bombs. Reanalysis of 80-year-old rock samples from Norfolk and Lincolnshire showed they came from the same eruption, reshaping Britain’s deep geological past. Experts say the volcano is extinct and unlikely to erupt again.
British Geological Survey researchers report the remains of a vast supervolcano beneath England’s east coast, centered under The Wash and extending into Norfolk and Lincolnshire, at least 65 km wide, which erupted about 454 million years ago and expelled hundreds of cubic kilometers of material, with ash spread across northern Europe; the find reshapes understanding of England’s deep geological past and poses no current eruption risk.
Oxford-led researchers used earthquake data from 1996–2007 across 23 stations to construct a 3D map under the Soufrière Hills volcano, uncovering a 1–1.5 km-wide, ~2 km-deep zone of fluid-rich, metal-bearing brine that could mark the beginnings of a new ore deposit and a geothermal resource. While promising, there’s still uncertainty about exact composition and concentrations, and extracting metals from an active volcano would be challenging; the study demonstrates a non-invasive way to identify such targets, published in Geophysical Research Letters (2026).
Hundreds of flights were canceled as Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, erupted for more than a week, spewing ash and lava that shut Sicily’s Catania airport and disrupted air travel across Italy; the ash has reached Malta, and experts say deeper magma is driving more ash production.