Volatile Volcanoes Are Waking Up
A tiny fissure between Iceland's Askja and Bardarbunga volcanoes began ejecting lava on Sunday, 7 a.m.
The 3 m-thick stream began to swirl and flow for 3 kms in the northeast direction.
The University of Iceland says that the "highest fire fountains" exploded for 70 meters. But there is not too much ash, and it also did not melt the glacier or flood the area.
Initially, officials restricted the flight area around the area, but as the volcano did not become more serious, the restrictions were lifted.
Even last Friday, when Iceland just began to growl with the Bárđarbunga volcano, it scared everyone. It was capped by ice, called Vatnajokull. The threat was more volcanic than the region. Still, it continued to puff and smoke through ridges just above the Vatnajokull glacier.
It created a lot of anxiety, but the eruption did not take place.
At another end of the world, in Mount Tavurvur, eastern Papua New Guinea,
rocks and ashes shot up 60,000 feet or 18,288 meters
last Friday. Residents fled their homes. Although no one seemed to be hurt in any way, some of them left town, while others have been asked to remain inside their houses after the eruption.
Steam was ejected by the volcano, which "occasionally boomed" according to David Flinn, a resident of Papua New Guinea, to Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The region around the mountain was capped with ash, about half an inch thick. The volcano began with a low grumble, rising steadily into a "Strombolian [low level] eruption with incandescent projections." It rose higher, became explosive and soon the grumble turned into a loud rumble, according to the Rabaul Volcanological Observatory. Qantas Airways altered the paths for planes nosing towards Tokyo and Shanghai from Sydney, Australia.
The last explosion in Mount Tavarur was in 1994, along with another unfriendly neighboring volcano aspirant---Mount Vulcan. Both volcanoes decimated Rabaul in Papua New Guinea then.