We are pleased that the first episodes (Hawai'i, Italy, Indonesia and Danakil) of the new HD TV documentary by Michael Dalton featuring VolcanoDiscovery on expedition is on air!

Current air times:
http://www.oasishd.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=433:volcanicodysseys&catid=25:catv&Itemid=3#

There are few forces on earth that equal the power and destructive force of a volcano. Their impact has helped shape this planet, altered climates, and laid waste to entire civilizations. That destructive power has terrified, awed and fascinated humans for centuries. However for those who understand them, they are beautiful spectacles of the earth’s inner mechanism at work. Out of the approximately 550 active volcanoes on the planet, few are ever destructive. They remain content to put on a spectacle for all those near, or increasing numbers of adventurers who dare to venture to remote locations to watch one of natures most incredible shows.

Where there is a demand, there is opportunity. A small German based company company founded by Volcanologist Tom Pfeiffer, together with his team of local experts, cater to the adventurous and volcano curious and take guests on exciting journeys around the world to the most eruptive volcanoes. From the notorious and deadly Krakatoa, to the remote and inhospitable heat of the Danakil Depression of Ethiopia, Volcano Discovery will follow Tom and his crew as they l take viewers into world of beauty and awe of this somewhat misunderstood spectacle.

After 7 years of closure, following the tragic accident of the roof collapse of the newly built shelter in 2005, the archeological site of Akrotiri on Santorini (Greece) is now open for visitors again.
The site shows a small part of an excavated city that flourished in the 17th century BC, but like Pompeii almost 2000 years alter, was buried by the ash of a large volcanic eruption on Santorini, the Minoan eruption at around 1613 BC. It is one of the most important archeological sites not only in Greece, but in whole SE Europe and in itself makes a visit to Santorini worthwhile.

If anyone is interested in a 5-7 days excursion to Santorini in February, please get in touch.
We plan to have a look at Nea Kameni, photograph the island in winter, and of course, look after local sources and information about the current seismicity and the questions related to a possible eruption in a near or medium future. Santorini merits a visit in winter anyway. It will probably be stormy, wet and cold, but perfect to appreciate its raw beauty without tourists.

One of our participants on the upcoming Ethiopia tour is looking for possible travel companions for a side tour to visit Lake Hyak, Kombolcha, Bati, Awash, and Harar from 10-17 February.
"I have organized a vehicle, driver, guide and accommodation to visit Lake Hyak, Kombolcha, Bati livestock market (Mondays: the largest in East Africa), & then drive to Awash, and onto Harar for a couple of nights there. Fly to Addis Ababa from Dire Dawa. Domestic flight is $74 USD. There would be a couple of seats available if someone from your trip wishes to do something similar. We could then share the costs."

If you are interested, please contact us.

If anyone is interested in joining a trip to Nicaragua to see Concepcion, Masaya (Night/Day), San Cristobal, Montotombo, Santa Clara, Telica, Cerro Negro, El Hoyo Volcanoes from 5th to 14th January 2012 please get in touch. Please note you need to be in good physical condition to do the tour as it is very active and not much rest time.

The Jakarta Post today reported "Anak Krakatau volcano, situated in the Sunda Strait, erupted 12 times on Sunday, spewing hot ash and debris into the atmosphere.

The head of the volcano monitoring post in Pasauran, Banten, Anton Tripambudi, said volcanic tremors from Anak Krakatau had reached 5.575 on the Richter scale on Saturday evening".

So there may still be hope yet for an Eruption Special visit on the 30th October!

If you are interested in a volcano special expedition to Krakatau, please let us know. If activity holds, the planned time would be around end of Oct / beginning of Nov, 4-5 days on and around Krakatau.

The new date for the photo expedition with photographer and science journalist Chris Hug Fleck to Iceland is now set: 4-18 August 2012
Limited spaces available (max 8 participants)
Price: ca. 3000 EUR
Info: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/photo-expeditions/iceland/colors.html

On September 13, 2011 at 09:29:28 AM a weak tremor of 2.6 magnitude occurred below the crater of Mt Rainier, the famous volcano in Washington near the city of Seattle.
from Earthquake Report:
"This does not mean that the volcano will erupt, but this tremor below the crater can at least be called unusual.
Todays tremor is by far the biggest one since many months.
Typically, up to five earthquakes are recorded monthly near the summit. Swarms of five to ten shallow earthquakes over two or three days take place from time to time, predominantly in the region of 4 km below the summit (near sea level), and are thought to be caused by the circulation of hot fluids beneath Mount Rainier.
Seismic swarms (not initiated with a mainshock) are common features at volcanoes, and are rarely associated with eruptive activity."
---
More at: Earthquake Report

Last night aboard OMBRE BLU luxury charter Catamaran we saw Stromboli eruptions, spectacular fire balls of rocks falling rapidy down to the sea. From the comfort of our luxury yacht we were able to enjoy this magnificent 'private' show!

You can view us on www.luxurychartergroup.com/yacht.php/ombre-blu-37/

and www.ombreblucharters.com

The airport of Milos is closed due to the illness of the only fireman. Our clients travelling to Milos are not affected.

There is a great opportunity to watch live the research of the submarine volcano Kolumbus:

http://www.nautiluslive.org/

An earthquake swarm has been occurring since 23 Aug in the Voigtland (the border area between Germany and the Czech Rep.) around the towns of Karlovy Vary, Lower Zandov and Birch. More than 1000 earthquakes have been recorded so far. Most quakes were small, but the largest reached magnitudes of up to 4.0 and could be felt.
The area is seismically particularly intense and similar swarms have been registered in 1901, 1903, 1908, 1929, 1936, 1962 and 1985-86. The reason of the seismic activity is not completely known and there is some speculation that there could be a magmatic origin.
Coverage of the swarm at: Earthquake-Report

Eruption reader Luis Miguel Godinho directed me to the following interesting article about crepuscular rays caused by volcanic aerosols in the stratosphere at sunset:
VOLCANIC SUNSETS:
Sky watchers in Europe should be alert for volcanic sunsets. “For the past week, we’ve seen unusual twilight rays probably caused by high-attitude aerosols from Nabro, a volcano which erupted in Eritrea on June 13th,” reports Petr Horalek from the Ondřejov Observatory of the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. This is how the sky looked on Aug. 23rd:

“Around 20 minutes after sunset these significant crepuscular rays appeared like shining fingers in the western sky,” he describes. “The rays were so strong, I could see them almost directly overhead; and in the south, they stretched across the horizon like great red and purple stripes.”

Purple is one of the telltale colors of a volcanic sunset. Fine volcanic aerosols in the stratosphere scatter blue light which, when mixed with ordinary sunset red.

Source: www.spaceweather.com
Image credit: Monika Landy-Gyebnar of Veszprem, Hungary

You can use the following HTML tags inside your texts:
- b for <b>bold</b> text
- i for italicized
- u to underline
- <link www.volcanodiscovery.com>link-text</link> to place a link to a website

When you post messages, please observe the following basic rules:

1) You certify that the material you post does not violate any copyright.
If you use other material, please quote your sources.

2) No offensive or obscene language, please!

We reserve the right to cancel posts or block users at any time if we find it appropriate.

Welcome to the new comment area and blog on our website. You are welcome to post questions, interesting news, reports, or other stuff that has to do with tours & travel, volcanoes or related subjects.

You can post new entries and replies even without being logged in - we try to prevent spamming in other ways for the time being, but we highly recommend you to create an account and post as registered user.

If you like to see Tavurvur erupt, you can come on Ulla's next expedition in October 2011: www.volcanodiscovery.com/expeditions/papua.html
If you need more information, please contact us!