Monday Musings, Part 2 (UPDATED)

Some more volcano news for the day …

UPDATE 10:40AM Eastern: It has been pointed out to me that both of these articles are old. They apparently made it into my Google News feed thanks to a glitch in the magic interweb tubes somewhere. Just goes to show that blogging before coffee on a Monday after traveling across the country = bad idea. Sorry for any confusion.

A summit dome at Kelud during the 2007 eruption.

• OLD NEWS ABOUT SARYCHEV PEAK IN JUNE 2009. An unnamed Russian volcano in Kamchatka is disrupting flights from Canada to Asia. No ID in the article on which volcano, and I couldn’t find anything on the KVERT website or much news on the VAAC. Based on the brief note from the Anchorage VAAC, my guess is it could be Shiveluch, but that is just guessing based on which volcanoes have been active this summer. I’ll post any new info as I see it (and feel free to do the same).
• REALLY OLD NEWS ABOUT KELUD FROM NOVEMBER 2007. HOWEVER, IT STILL ILLUSTRATES AN IMPORTANT POINT. Mt. Kelud (aka Kelut) is showing signs of a potential large eruption, but up to 25,000 settlers around the volcano in Indonesia refuse to leave. There has been concern seismic tremor at the volcano and a marked increase in the water temperature at the summit lake – all signs that magma is likely entering the main edifice. People living near the volcano (understandably) don’t want to leave their homes or farms, however it is disturbing to read reports of misguided folk remedies such as:
  

Some apparently believe a local myth, which says that if residents turn off all the lights and speak softly, then the mountain won’t erupt.

This is when it becomes plainly clear that the first step towards proper mitigation for a volcano disaster is educating the public. The 1990 eruption of Kelud was a VEI 4 and lead to evacuations and fatalities.