Humanity will take the first attempt the colonization of Mars relatively soon, but the fit of the red planet by people very distant future, said in an interview with RIA Novosti head of the laboratory of neutron and gamma-ray spectroscopy Department of nuclear planetology space research Institute of RAS Maxim Litvak.

"Probably the first attempt of colonization of Mars people will do relatively soon. But to adjust the Mars for yourself its a very distant future. With the available technology it is impossible in principle, so we can only fantasize," he said.

However, the scientist believes that the time has come to leave humanity out of your "shell".

"it is important to understand how long we can live and grow outside of our "cradle" ability of humanity to adapt to all conditions, including the still unknown and how can we be mobile", he said.

According to Litvak, train to live on other planets on the moon.

"the Crown of the Russian lunar program will be a permanent base on the surface. But at intermediate stages we need to work very well with automatic stations and robots to create all conditions for this," he explained.

The scientist also said that already discusses the different technologies for oxygen and hydrogen, the sintering building materials from lunar soil and test them on the moons surface and onboard automatic landing missions.

He added that of particular interest are the polar regions of the moon because of the potentially large quantities of water and resources.

Excerpt from:

The chance to colonize Mars was appreciated in Russia - The KXAN 36 News

MOSCOW, 13 APR RIA Novosti. The hit of an asteroid to the Earth will destroy mankind, if some people pre-move to Mars, but there they face danger in the form of gravitational perturbations from Jupiter, spoke in an interview with RIA Novosti head of the laboratory of neutron and gamma-ray spectroscopy Department of nuclear planetology space research Institute of RAS Maxim Litvak.

From the point of view of a global catastrophe, an asteroid strike to the Earth, a part of the civilization could be saved, if it is to live on Mars, he said.

But in the case of gravitational perturbations, caused, for example, rearrangements of the orbits of planets like Jupiter as it is, I assume, was previously in the inner Solar system can be attracted by objects from the asteroid belt, which, as the shrapnel will cut everything in its path, and the probability of their entering not only the Earth but also Mars can be very large, said the scientist.

Besides, according to him, in the fading Sun of humanity, if by that time still exist, too, will not survive on Mars, because it will be gone almost the entire Solar system.

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Learned survive mankind the hit of an asteroid to the Earth - The KXAN 36 News

Comets and asteroids are objects in our solar system that have not developed much since the planets were formed. As a result, they are in a sense the archives of the solar system, and determining their composition could also contribute to a better understanding of the formation of the planets.

One way to determine the composition of asteroids and comets is to study the sunlight reflected by them, since the materials on their surface absorb sunlight at certain wavelengths. We talk about a comet's spectrum, which has certain absorption features.

VIRTIS (Visible, InfraRed and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) on board the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta space probe mapped the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, known as Chury for short, from August 2014 to May 2015.

The data gathered by VIRTIS showed that the cometary surface is uniform almost everywhere in terms of composition: The surface is very dark and slightly red in color, because of a mixture of complex, carbonaceous compounds and opaque minerals. However, the exact nature of the compounds responsible for the measured absorption features on Chury has been difficult to establish until now.

Cometary Analogue Provided the Solution to the PuzzleTo identify which compounds are responsible for the absorption features, researchers led by Olivier Poch from the Institute of Planetology and Astrophysics at the Universite de Grenoble Alpes carried out laboratory experiments in which they created cometary analogues and simulated conditions similar to those in space.

Poch had developed the method together with researchers from Bern when he was still working at the University of Bern Physics Institute. The researchers tested various potential compounds on the cometary analogues and measured their spectra, just as the VIRTIS instrument on board Rosetta had done with Chury's surface. The experiments showed that ammonium salts explain specific features in the spectrum of Chury.

Antoine Pommerol from the University of Bern Physics Institute is one of the co-authors of the study, which is now published in the Science journal. He explains: "While Olivier Poch was working at the University of Bern, we jointly developed methods and procedures to create replicas of the surfaces of cometary nuclei." The surfaces were altered by sublimating the ice on them under simulated space conditions.

"These realistic laboratory simulations allow us to compare laboratory results and data recorded by the instruments on Rosetta or other comet missions. The new study builds on these methods to explain the strongest spectral feature observed by the VIRTIS spectrometer with Chury," Pommerol continues.

Nicolas Thomas, Director of the University of Bern Physics Institute and also co-author of the study, says: "Our laboratory in Bern offers the ideal opportunities to test ideas and theories with experiments that have been formulated on the basis of data gathered by instruments on space missions. This ensures that the interpretations of the data are really plausible."

Vital Building Block "Hides" in Ammonium SaltsThe results are identical to those from the Bern mass spectrometer ROSINA, which had also gathered data on Chury on board Rosetta. A study published in Nature Astronomy in February under the leadership of astrophysicist Kathrin Altwegg was the first to detect nitrogen, one of the basic building blocks of life, in the nebulous covering of comets. It had "hidden" itself in the nebulous covering of Chury in the form of ammonium salts, the occurrence of which could not be measured until now.

Although the exact amount of salt is still difficult to estimate from the available data, it is likely that these ammonium salts contain most of the nitrogen present in the Chury comet. According to the researchers, the results also contribute to a better understanding of the evolution of nitrogen in interstellar space and its role in prebiotic chemistry.

Research Report: "Ammonium Salts Are a Reservoir of Nitrogen on a Cometary Nucleus and Possibly on Some Asteroids"

Related LinksRosetta at ESAAsteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology

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Puzzle about nitrogen solved thanks to cometary analogues - Space Daily

Two craft probe beneath these bodies surfaces

Feb 27th 2020

THIS WEEK has seen the publication of results collected by probes to two heavenly bodies: Change 4, a Chinese mission to the Moon, and InSight, an American mission to Mars. Change 4 landed in January 2019; InSight arrived the previous November. The Chinese team, bowing to the realities of scientific publishing, have presented their results in Science Advances, an American journal. The Americans, however, have chosen Nature Geoscience, a British journal owned by German publishers.

Change 4 is Chinas second successful lunar lander, and the first from any country to touch down intact on the Moons far sidethe part never visible from Earth. Its purpose, other than demonstrating Chinas technological prowess, is to investigate the geology of Von Krmn crater in the Moons southern hemisphere. To that end it is fitted with a ground-penetrating radar which can peer many metres down.

This radar shows three distinct layers of rock, the top two each 12 metres thick and the lowest 16 metres thick. Below that, the signal is too fuzzy to see what is going on. The upper layer is composed of regolithcrushed rock that is the product of zillions of small meteorite impacts over the course of several billion years, and which covers most of the Moons surface. The other two, distinguishable by the coarseness of the grains within them, are probably discrete ejecta from separate nearby impacts early in the Moons history that were subsequently covered by the regolith.

InSight (pictured above as an artists impression) is intended to probe deeper than this. It is fitted with instruments designed to measure heat flow from Marss interior, any wobble in the planets axis of rotation (which would probably be caused by an iron core) and Marsquakes. The heat-flow instrument has so far been a washout. The mole, a device intended to dig into Marss surface, pulling this instrument with it, has refused to co-operateto the point where the projects directors are about to take the time-honoured step of hitting it with a hammer (or, rather, with the scoop on the probes robot arm) to persuade it to stay in the hole that it is supposed to be excavating. And the wobble detector, though working correctly, has insufficient data to report. So the release this week is mainly about the quakes.

InSights seismograph recorded 174 quakes between the crafts landing and the end of September 2019. The strongest were between magnitudes three and fourjust powerful enough, had they happened on Earth, for a human being to notice them. Quakes are a valuable source of information about a planets interior. A network of seismographs, as exists on Earth, allows their points of origin to be triangulated, their speed measured and their reflections from subsurface rock layers observed. From all this can be deduced those layers composition and depth. With but a single instrument, such deductions are trickier. InSights masters do, though, think that two of the quakes originated in Cerberus Fossae, a set of faults 1,600km from the landing site that are suspected of still being seismically active.

This article appeared in the Science and technology section of the print edition under the headline "Beneath the surface"

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The exploration of the Moon and Mars continues apace - The Economist

Science fiction is a great source of speculative ideas about technology, planetology, and advanced physics. Science fiction authors predicted the rise of space travel, computer networks, and wireless earbuds decades before these marvels insinuated themselves into our everyday lives. Science fiction predicted the rise of Elon Musk and Donald Trump, including all of their tweets. Science fiction predicted that youd have more to watch, on Netflix, than you can ever actually see. Science fiction predicted the conversations people on subways have, nearly all the time, about their dislike of e-books. Science fiction predicted that Google Maps would give the wrong address for that poetry reading you tried to attend. Science fiction knew (years before you did) that youd become obsolete, replaced by a team of inexpensive robots. It predicted youd learn of your own obsolescence.

But lets consider a different, unexplored dimension of these novels: their political ideologies. A few dry, preachy award-winners have already been brought up for questioningIm thinking, for instance, of those plodding allegories by Octavia Butler and Ursula LeGuin. But in a genre filled with uncomfortable fantasies of absolute power, and caustic observations about democracys weak points, its been hard to convince literary critics to draw up the roadmaps we need. For one thing, Americas critics-in-residence are mostly far left. Theyre embarrassed to learn that Orson Scott Card was a radical Mormon, that Robert Heinlein was an authoritarian, and that Frank Herbert hated Congress. Even Butler, who checks off somanyboxes for edgy academics, only becomes eligible for sainthood if you ignore her enthusiastic passages about privately-owned guns. It must feel, to an adjunct professor in the humanities, as ifThe Handmaids Taleand1984are the sole exemplars of political insight in a genre that otherwise thrives on libertarian hyperbole written by (and for) a lunatic fringe.

But this assessment isnt right; it misses something. Let us praise famous books likeDune,Enders Game,andFoundation. Let us patiently test out the political ideas Heinlein awkwardly smuggles into that groovy Martian lovefest,Stranger in a Strange Land.Its time we acknowledge genre fiction speaking truth to power. Here are just three of the many useful political lessons science fiction has taught me.

Rulers are less cynical than their advisors.Its the privilege of those who govern to translate ideals directly into action; because they spend all their time making abstract ideologies bear fruit, theyremain irreducibly idealistic. It helps, too, that the rulers are generally kept at a distance from the ruled. They hear only nice versions of what their subordinates do. Such cosseted people dont, as a rule, like going to bloody or treacherous extremes. That step requires somebody else: the trusted advisor whos willing to quietly doeverythingnecessary. The difference between respectable governments and reprehensible ones, often boils down to how much the leader doesnt need to know about the power his authorized representatives wield. Remember, inStranger in a Strange Land, when the Feds raid the Martians hideout? The President, busy taking calls in his private office, has no idea a raid is evenhappening. His bureaucrats actautonomously to further his interests. Thats far more dangerous than any public policy agendathe icy realism, the unlimited prerogative, of people who subscribe to all the kings goals and none of his illusions.

The most important constituencies get that way because theyre off the grid, and therefore likely to be underestimated.Drawing onSeven Pillars of Wisdom, T. E. Lawrences account of sand power in colonial Arabia, Frank HerbertsDuneis about a seemingly impossible revolution. The novel is set in a future age when humans have colonized outer space, led by a Roman-like empire that measures its territory in light-years. Yet the Emperor is undone, in a very short time, by a loose alliance of nomadic tribes living on a single planet. Their numbers are great, and hard to account for, since the official census doesnt survey brutal, sparsely-inhabited deserts. Theyre impossible to buy off, or threaten, because theyve lived by their own lights for too long.

They remind me of Earths Bedouins, of course, but they remind me of other populations, too. The evangelicals in our Southern states. The unregistered voters living in epicenters of urban decay. The alt-right, with its underground media empire and weaponized dog whistles. Hackers in Albania. Droves of well-organized, well-informed protestersbringing about the Arab Spring, or, more recently, helping to protect civil liberties in Hong Kong. When a communitys ignored, and forges a common identity under cover of darkness, it thereby acquires more power than anyoneinpower admits. By the time more enfranchised people adjust, and react to the new pieces on the board, its too late.

Predictions are variables; they alter the very same historical arcs they intend to trace.This circular, bewildering, evenparalyzing idea is the focus ofFoundation, Isaac Asimovs heady novel about the life cycle of civilizations. Asimov was merely the first person in his generation to meddle with such paradoxes. Years earlier, George Orwell wrote that he who controls the past, controls the future. He understood how important predictive narratives could be to political parties. A pattern can, in fact, become propaganda if its used to winnow out unwelcome possibilities. Youll hear, in the coming months, about the results of countless polls that show how so-and-so has no chance of being elected president. This is done entirely for the benefit of the other candidatesthe ones who appear to be in the lead, or at least on an upswing, while the competition falters.

Dire predictions lead to fearful, reactionary behavior; people who are afraid for their jobs or their lives can become xenophobic and isolationist overnight. Similarly, predicting the return of some previously attained Golden Age alwayssoundslike a credible form of optimism, whether or not those glory days were idyllic in realitywhether or not they ever even happened. The political world is a battlefield where scientific descriptions, and objective inferences about whatwillcome to pass, collide with all sorts of motivated visions of whatshouldand (by extension)mustbe true. Even facts cease to be objective in this context, since any one interpretation of a fact tends to foreclose the other interpretive chains, other patterns, that mightve explained it. Furthermore,anything (factual or not) that disrupts established patterns of human behavior createsnewsocial realitiesi.e., newfacts.

Any prediction, even if its deliberately seeded, also tends tobecome true if people start believing in it, using it to make decisions, and defending it against threats. Its admirable, and nearly impossible, to cleave to uncertainty instead, like the heroes of these books do. Certainty and confidence go over better with other people. Theyre also much easier to bear. But the best science, applied to human behavior, always acknowledges a wide range of equally probable outcomes. The hypothetical futures we inhabit, when we make predictions, are moralexercises, not moral imperatives. What values are indispensable to us? What will it take to realize those values, if things go very well or very badly, and our circumstances change?

It makes sense that sci-fi novelists would understand the ambiguities of prediction. As intellectuals, theyre largely defined by their hypotheses about the future. An authors predictions become synecdoches that count as her achievements, and pretty much sum her up, for every non-reader (and even for many of her fans). A small number of readers, though, identify completely with the storys moral assumptions. They turn from the authors mere speculations to the way the storyfeelsabout the future it describes. To a real fan, it doesnt matter whether the work is prophetic in visible, measurable ways.

Instead of anticipating the future, the novel (or story, or movie) re-defines whats possible now. Then facts become symbols of possibility, symbols of transformation. Facts and patterns, taken in hand by the imagination, become signifiers of something greater than themselves. They give rise to an awareness that once, the world was not as it has since become, to quote fantasist John Crowley. Our world could be differentagain. Thus science fictions, those laborious predictions, transcend what they predict. They reveal, to each attentive reader, that it must somehow be possible to slip precedents noose.

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What I Learned About Politics From Reading Science Fiction - Splice Today

Worlds Beyond Earth is the first new space show at the American Museum of Natural History in more than six years, and if you havent been to a planetarium in a while, the experience is a bit like being thrown out of your own orbit.

Surrounded by brilliant colors, the viewer glides through space in all directions, unbound by conventional rules of orientation or vantage point. Dizzying spirals show the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. At one point, museumgoers are taken along a journey from the perspective of a comet.

In illustrating the far reaches of our solar system, the show draws on data from seven sets of space missions from NASA, Europe and Japan, including the Apollo 15 mission in 1971, which was the fourth to deliver astronauts to the moon, and still-active ones like Voyager. Museum members will get an early look at the show, which runs about 25 minutes and is narrated by the actress Lupita Nyongo, during previews this weekend. It opens to the public on Tuesday. (The museums current planetarium show, Dark Universe, ends its run on Jan. 16.)

Vivian Trakinski, a producer on the show, said that the idea for Worlds Beyond Earth came from the abundance of data collected on the solar system. If the raw information is not necessarily new, the show brings together separate sources in an engaging, accessible way that should appeal to adults and to children hearing about other planets for the first time (although very young children might be overwhelmed).

Advances in visualization have allowed photographic data from space to be mosaicked to create an immersive simulation of celestial bodies across the solar system and across time. The imagery is not pure photography but a form of visual effects. Trakinski likens the process to making a climate model.

Story-wise, the movie, drawing on the field of comparative planetology, is constructed as a voyage to the far reaches of the system to Titan, Saturns almost Earth-like moon, courtesy of the Cassini spacecraft; to the environs of Jupiter and back. And in those travels, past debris and moonlets, the movie illustrates the fragility of Earth, which is positioned on a razors edge of habitability.

We have all these processes that are similar, we have magnetic fields, we have volcanoes, we have atmospheres, we have gravity, said Denton Ebel, the geologist who curated the show. And these processes lead to this huge diversity of outcomes. Ebel, who runs the Hall of Meteorites at the museum and is the chairman of the museums division of physical sciences, is the first non-physicist to curate a space show there.

Planetary science, particularly for places like the moon and Mars, is no longer done with telescopes, Ebel said. We have rovers that are analyzing rocks the same way wed do it in a laboratory here. So its geology.

The presentation shows the frightening fortunes that might have befallen Earth. Mars is held up as a frozen desert a failed Earth. Venus, scorched by solar wind, with a surface that could melt lead, is seen as an object lesson in global warming taken to the extreme.

With a sense of movement and scale that only a visual presentation could convey, Worlds Beyond Earth makes an unforced point about the dangers of climate change. Another celestial body might have an alien sea that contains more liquid water than all the oceans on Earth, as Nyongo narrates. But Earth itself, she adds later, is the only place with the right size, the right location and the right ingredients an easy balance to upset.

The director, Carter Emmart, a specialist in astro-visualization who worked at NASA Ames Research Center before joining the museum in 1998, said that a planetarium show is a natural format to browse and really see these places in a relaxed environment. This is the fruit of the missions, during which astronauts are often occupied with mechanical and safety issues.

But when I saw Worlds Beyond Earth in a not-quite-complete version last week, I was also struck by how it harnessed cutting-edge moviemaking techniques. It uses a high frame rate that is, the number of images shown per second, which here is 60 instead of the cinematic 24 to create a smooth sense of motion, and it has an almost bewildering complexity of angles and viewpoints. Emmart said that much time was spent selecting what he called the flight paths that viewers will be sent on.

He also said that it is the first new space show to take advantage of the high dynamic range essentially the spectrum between the brightest whites and the deepest blacks of the planetariums latest projection system.

That means that the loneliness of Earth amid a vast sea of darkness will be on full display.

Worlds Beyond Earth

Opens Jan. 21 (member previews are Jan. 18-20) at the American Museum of Natural Historys Hayden Planetarium, Central Park West, Manhattan; 212-769-5100, amnh.org.

Link:

Exploring the Solar System Anew at the Hayden Planetarium - The New York Times

Niels Grobbe

A University of Hawaii at Mnoa researcher was honored as the first-place recipient of the Innovation Award, presented at the Fifth International Conference on Engineering Geophysics held in United Arab Emirates.

Niels Grobbe is an assistant researcher with the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) and Water Resources Research Center (WRRC). As the first-place winner, Grobbe was awarded $10,000.

This is a very prestigious award, and WRRC is very proud of Niels accomplishment, said WRRC Director Tom Giambelluca. To finish first in the Innovation Award for Geophysics competition is a great achievement and reinforces the high expectations we have for Niels as he continues to excel in this cutting-edge field. We look forward to all the innovative work that Niels will bring to bear on critical problems affecting Hawaii and the Pacific region.

Grobbes submission, Seismoelectric Surface Wave Analysis for Characterization of Formation Properties, using Dispersive Relative Spectral Amplitudes, was selected as the winning contribution after a highly competitive evaluation procedure. He submitted a four-page extended conference abstract, a white paper and letters of recommendation. The award-winning researcher also gave a 45-minute presentation and sustained an extended question and answer session.

We were delighted to be able to hire Niels onto our faculty, and this award illustrates why, said Interim HIGP Director Rob Wright. He and his co-authors have developed a new method for exploring the movement of fluids in Earths crust, a method which will allow people to use existing approaches to answer a fundamentally different set of science questions.

Grobbe thanked his colleague, Sjoerd de Ridder from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, for collaborating with him on what he describes as an exciting innovation.

I am truly honored and humbled by receiving this competitive and prestigious award, and by the international recognition for our innovation on Seismoelectric Surface Wave Analysis for Characterization of Formation Properties, using Dispersive Relative Spectral Amplitudes, said Grobbe. I believe the innovation has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about seismoelectric signals, its data acquisition, and its applications for studying porous media, groundwater, and other subsurface fluid processes at a variety of spatial scales.

The rest is here:

UH researcher earns international recognition for innovation in geophysics - UH System Current News

Theoretical planetology, also known as theoretical planetary science[3] is a branch of planetary sciences that developed in the 20th century.[4]

Theoretical planetologists, also known as theoretical planetary scientists, use modelling techniques to develop an understanding of the internal structure of planets by making assumptions about their chemical composition and the state of their materials, then calculating the radial distribution of various properties such as temperature, pressure, or density of material across the planet's internals.[4]

Theoretical planetologists also use numerical models to understand how the Solar System planets were formed and develop in the future, their thermal evolution, their tectonics, how magnetic fields are formed in planetary interiors, how convection processes work in the cores and mantles of terrestrial planets and in the interiors of gas giants, how their lithospheres deform, the orbital dynamics of planetary satellites, how dust and ice are transported on the surface of some planets (such as Mars), and how the atmospheric circulation takes place over a planet.[5]

Theoretical planetologists may use laboratory experiments to understand various phenomena analogous to planetary processes, such as convection in rotating fluids.[5]

Theoretical planetologists make extensive use of basic physics, particularly fluid dynamics and condensed matter physics, and much of their work involves interpretation of data returned by space missions, although they rarely get actively involved in them.[7]

Typically a theoretical planetologist will have to have had higher education in physics and theoretical physics, at PhD doctorate level.[9][10]

Because of the use of scientific visualisation animation, theoretical planetology has a relationship with computer graphics. Example movies exhibiting this relation are the 4-minute "The Origin of the Moon"[8]

One of the major successes of theoretical planetology is the prediction and subsequent confirmation of volcanism on Io.[1][2]

The prediction was made by Stanton J. Peale who wrote a scientific paper claiming that Io must be volcanically active that was published one week before Voyager 1 encountered Jupiter. When Voyager 1 photographed Io in 1979, his theory was confirmed.[2] Later photographs of Io by the Hubble Space Telescope and from the ground also showed volcanoes on Io's surface, and they were extensively studied and photographed by the Galileo orbiter of Jupiter from 1995-2003.

D. C. Tozer of University of Newcastle upon Tyne,[11] writing in 1974, expressed the opinion that "it could and will be said that theoretical planetary science is a waste of time" until problems related to "sampling and scaling" are resolved, even though these problems cannot be solved by simply collecting further laboratory data.[12]

Researchers working on theoretical planetology include:

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Theoretical planetology - Wikipedia

Caldera lake bubbling; burned vegetation

"Three anomalous 'boiling' areas with large bubbles and burned vegetation were observed at Lake Vui on 13 July, by P. Fogarty (Chief Pilot of VANAIR). This was the first time he had observed such a phenomenon, and he noted that the vegetation had still been green in May. An aerial survey of the two summit calderas was carried out (during a VANAIR flight) on 24 July. At that time, no strong degassing was visible, but 3 areas of discolored water (each several tens of meters in diameter) were noticeable in the crater lake. Burned vegetation was observed up to the crater rim, 120 m above the water. On 26 July, microseismicity in the caldera was very weak and without any volcanic characteristics.

"Although continuous weak solfataric activity occurs beneath Lake Vui (Warden, 1970), an anomalously strong SO2 degassing is believed to have occurred between May and July. This event was unnoticed by island residents, but since Aoba has been quiet for 300 years, vigilance for this kind of phenomenon must be improved. The existence of a summit caldera lake, numerous lahar deposits, and thick layers of ash (vesiculated and accretionary lapilli) demonstrate the hazards that would accompany renewed activity. Thus, as a precaution, a seismological station was installed in July on the SW flank of the volcano.

Reference. Warden, A.J., 1970, Evolution of Aoba caldera volcano, New Hebrides: BV, v. 34, p. 107-140.

Information Contacts: C. Robin and M. Monzier, ORSTOM, Nouma, New Caledonia; M. Lardy and C. Douglas, ORSTOM, Vanuatu; C. Mortimer, Dept. of Geology, Mines, and Rural Water Supply, Vanuatu; J. Eissen, ORSTOM, France.

Volcanic seismicity felt during 1-7 December

Unusual seismicity was felt by island residents during 1-7 December 1994, with a maximum of seven small-to-medium events on the 5th. These volcanic events were of high-frequency and lacked individualized phases. At the suggestion of ORSTOM, the National Disaster Management Office (NDO) organized a helicopter reconnaissance on 7 December to inspect the volcano for evidence of possible eruptive activity. Activity at the Lake Vui crater and the fumarolic area on the shore of Lake Manoro was similar to that observed during previous aerial observations on 24 July 1991 and September 1993. At Lake Voui, small areas of hot and gaseous water were evident and the rainforest was completely burned around the crater. No large bubbles like those noted on 13 July 1991 (10 m in diameter) were observed (BGVN 16:07). An automated seismic alert station, with satellite transmission to Port Vila, will be installed near Lake Voui.

Information Contacts: M. Monzier, ORSTOM and Vanuatu Department of Geology, Mines and Water Resources, Vanuatu.

Increased steam emissions and seismicity in early March; evacuation preparations made

The following report, prepared on 17 March, is from volcanologists of the Institut Francais de Recherch Scientifique pour le Developpement en Cooperation, Office de la Recherch Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer (ORSTOM), in Vanuatu and Ecuador.

Geological setting. Aoba is the largest basaltic shield volcano in the New Hebrides arc, with the base ~3,000 m below sea level, the summit ~1,500 m asl, and a volume of ~2,500 km3 (Eggins, 1993; Gorton, 1977; Robin and others, 1993). This rainforest-covered island lies in front of the d'Entrecasteaux collision zone, between the N and S Aoba Basins along an ~N50E fracture transverse to the arc (figure 1; see Greene and others, 1994, for more information). Two concentric summit calderas, the largest 5 km in diameter (figure 2), enclose the central crater containing the 2-km-diameter Lake Voui (Vui) (figure 3). Numerous secondary craters and cones lie along the N50E fracture, out to the extremities of the island, where previous magma-seawater interactions have produced several maars.

Eruptive history. Lake Voui and the Manaro Ngoro summit explosion craters and cones formed ~420 years ago. The Ndui Ndui lava flows issued from the N50E fissure ~300 years ago and reached the NW coast (Warden, 1970). Possible eruption-related lahars (or only secondary mudflows following heavy rains?) annihilated villages on the SE flanks of the island ~120 years ago, producing several casualties. An eruption possibly occurred in 1914 with ashfalls (?) and lahars (12 casualties). . . .

Robin and Monzier (1993, 1994) consider Aoba the most potentially dangerous volcano of the Vanuatu archipelago because of the wide distribution of very young deposits related to strong explosive eruptions. They also cite thick lahar deposits, the presence of Lake Voui, long repose periods (~300-400 years , Warden, 1970), strong degassing at the lake in 1991, and a population of ~3,500 within 10 km of the crater.

Activity in December 1994. Unusual seismicity was felt . . . during 1-7 December 1994 (BGVN 20:01). Records from ORSTOM seismic stations on Santo (70 km W) and Efate (260 km SSE) islands showed that peak activity lasted 24 hours with 13 events, the largest M 4.6 (Regnier, 1995). Crustal hypocenters were located under the S submarine base of the volcano. On 7 December, helicopter reconnaissance showed small areas of rising hot gaseous water at Lake Voui, similar to July 1991 and September 1993, but the rainforest appeared completely burned for up to several hundred meters around the crater. Despite the end of the seismic crisis, ORSTOM emphasized to the NDO the need to remain circumspect of the volcano. In mid-December, according to Robin and Monzier (1994), the following advice was given to NDO: "In the case of a resumption of volcanic activity in the summit area, it will be wise to evacuate, in a first phase, the population of coastal villages of the central part of the island (in a 10 km radius area surrounding Lake Voui) towards the less hazardous NE and SW extremities of the island. If the eruption occurs near these extremities, or spreads along fractures from central vents towards these extremities, then it might be necessary to evacuate part of the population to Santo or Maewo-Pentecost."

Activity in March 1995. According to a VANAIR pilot report on 1 March, Lake Voui was calm with gas emissions from numerous locations. The following day, the lake was steaming all over, bubbling up in the center, and its surface was rough; the pilot also reported black sediment ejections. Early on the morning of 3 March, people on Santo Island observed a gas plume rising 2-3 km above Lake Voui. Simultaneously, crustal seismicity similar to that in December 1994 was recorded.

On 4-6 March, ORSTOM geophysicists (M. Lardy and D. Charley) recorded strong continuous tremor at Ndui Ndui, ~9 km NW from the main crater. This tremor had a monochromatic signal with a 1.4 Hz mean frequency, several hours duration, and an amplitude of 3-4x background. Local observers were trained to watch the activity and the collaboration with VANAIR pilots was reinforced. As usual during the tropical summer, the top of the volcano was covered by thick clouds and rarely visible. However, on 5 March a gas plume was still visible above Lake Voui.

An island resident who stayed several days in the summit area during early March described lake levels and reported that soft mud had been blown all over the shores. On 4 and 6 March the surface of Lake Voui was at least 5.4 m higher than normal. However, on 9 March the lake was hot and steaming, and was ~4.8 m below the normal level, a change of ~10 m within 3 days. Tremor activity remained constant between 9 and 13 March, but with significantly less intensity than during 4-6 March. In addition, shallow, local micro-seismicity was noted since 11 March. During an aerial survey on 13 March, the entire lake was steaming and a strong sulfur smell had been reported around the summit area.

If activity increases in the central crater, magma-water interactions could produce falls of ash, dense lapilli, and accretionary lapilli, as well as pyroclastic flows, base surges and lahars. Lava flows may also erupt from flank fissures, N50E or other orientations. The ORSTOM seismological team in Vanuatu will be reinforced on 17 March by the arrival of a new seismologist, and 5-7 portable seismic stations will be deployed around the island as soon as possible to improve the focal locations and delineate possible areas of attenuation. Also, a new permanent seismic station will be installed on Aoba. Daily contact is maintained between ORSTOM scientists in Vanuatu and Ecuador; the latter are prepared to move to Vanuatu if necessary.

Evacuation preparations. On 8 March, after discussions between ORSTOM geophysicists in Vanuatu and volcanologists now based in Ecuador, the following advice was given to the Vanuatu Government: ". . .The size of the gas plume observed above Lake Voui crater on March 3, 1995 probably means that magma is now rising within the volcano . . . . Thus, Aoba volcano is now dangerous and it seems necessary to envisage the evacuation of the population of coastal villages located in a 10 km radius area surrounding Lake Voui towards the less hazardous NE and SW extremities of the island . . . ."

Following this advice, Aoba Island was placed on alert and preparations for evacuations were begun. On 9 March, aircraft within a 4-km radius of Aoba up to 2.2 km altitude (7,500 feet) were restricted to scheduled flights and those approved by civil aviation or disaster office authorities. Correcting previous statements that evacuations had already started, the UNDHA reported on 17 March that villages within 10 km of the crater had been identified as threatened, and those within a 5-km radius had been placed on stand-by for immediate evacuation. Evacuation centers were identified, and all available government and several private ships were positioned to assist in a possible evacuation.

References. Eggins, S., 1993, Origin and differenciation of picritic arc magmas, Ambae (Aoba), Vanuatu: Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 114, p. 79-100.

Gorton, M.P., 1977, The geochemistry and origin of quaternary volcanism in the New Hebrides: Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, v. 41, p. 1257-1270.

Greene, H.G., Collot, J.-Y., Stokking, L.B., and others, 1994, Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, 134: College Station, TX (Ocean Drilling Program).

Regnier, M., 1995, Rapport prliminaire sur la crise sismique d'Aoba de dcembre 1994: Rapport ORSTOM, Port-Vila, 4 p.

Robin, C., and Monzier, M., 1993, Volcanic hazards in Vanuatu: Disaster Management Workshop by National Disaster Management Office, Republic of Vanuatu, 24-28 May 1993, Port-Vila, 8 p.

Robin, C., and Monzier, M., 1994, Volcanic hazards in Vanuatu: ORSTOM and Dept. of Geology, Mines and Water Resources of the Vanuatu Government report, 15 p.

Robin, C., Monzier, M., Crawford, A.J., and Eggins, S.M., 1993, The geology, volcanology, petrology-geochemistry, and tectonic evolution of the New Hbrides island arc, Vanuatu: IAVCEI Canberra 1993, Excursion guide, Record 1993 / 59, Australian Geological Survey Organisation, 86 p.

Warden, A.J., 1970, Evolution of Aoba caldera volcano, New Hebrides: BV, v. 34, no. 1, p. 107-140.

Information Contacts: C. Robin and M. Monzier (geologists) ORSTOM, Quito, Ecuador; M. Lardy (geophysicist); M. Regnier, J-P. Metaxian, R. Decourt (seismologists), and D. Charley (technical assistant), ORSTOM, Vanuatu; M. Ruiz (seismologist), Instituto Geofsico, Escuela Politcnica Nacional, Quito, Ecuador; J-P. Eissen (geologist), ORSTOM, France; BOM, Australia; UNDHA.

Crater lake exhibits convection cells and steaming as level drops

A pyroclastic explosion on the morning of 3 March 1995 generated a vapor-and-ash column ~3 km high (BGVN 20:02). Preliminary analysis of the resulting deposit did not reveal any juvenile material. On the morning of 5 March, a vapor plume rose ~500 m. It is possible that vapor plumes were emitted over several days, but were not observed at other times because of the thick clouds that usually hide the summit area. The center of activity on 3 March was between two small islands in Lake Voui (figures 4 and 5). Because of poor weather conditions, ORSTOM scientists were unable to observe the lake at close range until 13 March. Aerial photos taken on 20 March (figure 6) show the thermal contrast between Lake Manaro Lakua, formed by the accumulation of water in a low-lying area of the caldera, and Lake Voui, which fills the active crater. Convection cells, ~300-400 m in diameter, could be discerned within Lake Voui.

A drop in the level of Lake Voui that began on 6 March (BGVN 20:02) was visible in photographs taken on 20 March. During another overflight on 6 April, the level of the crater lake had dropped by ~2 m. By the time of a 27 June landing on the NW island in Lake Voui (figure 5), the lake level had dropped ~5 m below the maximum, as determined by recent vegetation. Water temperatures measured around the most accessible parts of the island averaged 38-40C, with highs of 63-67C. The strongly acidic (pH 2.3) emerald-green lake was mostly obscured by clouds, but vapor emissions were visible between the island and the NW edge of the crater. A small island seen on 6 April in the N part of the lake had enlarged noticeably because of the drop in water level. The topography of the islands is steep towards the center of the lake and gentle towards crater edge. All of the trees on the island were dead, but other vegetation was beginning to reappear. Some blocks of dried mud (40-50 cm in diameter) ejected during the phreatic explosion at the beginning of March were still visible. Sulfur deposits were noted, and gas bubbles were coming from numerous fissures at the edge of the island.

A bathymetric survey of Lake Voui has never been done, but ORSTOM estimates that it has a volume of 50 million cubic meters. Although activity has declined in recent months, ORSTOM will maintain the current low-level alert status until approximately the end of November.

Information Contacts: M. Lardy, D. Douglas, P. Wiart, and K. Kalkaua, Centre ORSTOM, Port Vila, Vanuatu, and Bureau des Desastres Nationaux, P.M.B. 014, Port Vila, Vanuatu; M. Regnier and S. Temakon, ORSTOM et Departement des Mines et de la Geologie et des Ressources en Eaux, Port Vila, Vanuatu; Chief N. Tahi, Village de Nambangahake (Ndui-Ndui) Aoba, Vanuatu; C. Robin and M. Monzier, Centre ORSTOM, Quito, EcuadorJ-P.Eissen, Centre ORSTOM de Brest, France; J-P. Metaxian, Universite de Savoie.

Monitoring and water chemistry at Voui crater lake

Following the 1995 phreatic explosion at Lake Voui (BGVN 20:02 and 20:08) a bathymetric survey of the crater lake was carried out. The 1996 survey confirmed the location of activity that had first been observed in 1992 on a SPOT satellite image. Monitoring of Lake Voui has continued through November 1998.

The average temperature over the whole 1 x 2 km surface of the lake (figures 7 and 8) stayed at ~30C during November 1996-November 1998, due in part to constant streams of gas that issued from the main vent. As a comparison, in June 1995, three months after the phreatic explosion, the surface temperature was 45C.

The ten major compounds dissolved in the lake's water have changed in concentration with time (table 1), but the samples, taken at the surface and at depths of 15-50 m, were consistent throughout the lake at any one time.

Table 1. Synopsis of the physical and chemical analysis of the waters of Voui lake derived from samples taken during 1995-98. Chemical constituents and ratios are given in mg/L. Courtesy Centre ORSTOM, Vanuatu.

The average volume of the lake was estimated at 50 x 106 m3, but the level varied significantly. A drop of 275 cm in surface elevation was observed between June 1997 and October 1998. Rainfall varied between 500 and 600 cm/year in the summit area.

Monitoring was conducted twice per year, complemented by seismic recordings taken from a station set up in the dry lake bed of Ngoro. This system is similar to that used on Tanna Island, Vanuatu (BGVN 21:08). The range of monitoring equipment in place on Aoba since 1996 was extended in October 1998 by the installation of an acoustic recording station (0.1-150 KHz) and a device for continuous measurement of lake-water temperature. The data are relayed through an ARGOS satellite transmitter. Identical stations have been set up on Kelut in Indonesia and at Lake Taal in the Philippines.

Information Contacts: Michel Lardy, Ins Rodriguez, Douglas Charley, and Pascal Gineste, Centre ORSTOM, P.O.Box 76, Port-Vila, Vanuatu; Michel Halbwachs, and Jacques Grangeon, Universit de Savoie, Campus Scientifique, F3376, Le Bourget du Lac, Cdex France; Janette Tabbagh, Centre de Tlobservation Informatise des volcans, CNRS-CRG, Garchy, France.

Increase in temperature and acidity at Lake Voui during April-August 2000

Since phreatic eruptions occurred at Voui crater lake in March 1995 (BGVN 20:02 and 20:08) the lake has been closely monitored. No reports of activity were received after October 1998 (BGVN 23:10) until Lake Voui's temperature and acidity increased above normal levels during April through August 2000. Charlie Douglas and Sandrine Wallez reported that in mid-April 2000 the temperature at Lake Voui was ~27C, but by August it had increased to 35.8 C (figure 9), which was the highest temperature recorded since they began monitoring the lake in 1998. They also reported that the water's acidity increased. Water analysis conducted on 15 June indicated that the increases were the result of an injection of fumarolic gases into the lake, perhaps related to ascent of new magma.

Information Contacts: Stromboli On-line, maintained by Jrg Alean and Roberto Carniel (URL: http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/); Charlie Douglas and Sandrine Wallez, Geohazard Mitigation Section, Department of Geology, Mines, and Water Resources of Vanuatu (URL: http://www.sidsnet.org/pacific/sopac/members/vu.html); Michel Lardy and Michel Halbwachs, Institut de recherche pour le dveloppement (IRD), P.O. Box 76, Port Vila, Vanuatu.

Sustained elevation of Lake Voui's temperature indicates increased heat transfer

Voui crater lake's temperature and hydro-acoustic signals are measured continuously by an automated station that transmits in real time via satellite (BGVN 23:10). Recent measurements revealed heavy activity under the lake during March-June 2000 (BGVN 25:08), when the estimated 50 x 106 m3 volume of water rapidly increased in temperature by more than 7C (figure 10).

The increase was accompanied by acoustic signals covering a wide range of frequencies (figure 10, bottom). Those in the audible band (> 100 Hz) were thought to be associated with the emission of gas bubbles and an increase in submarine fumarolic activity. Those in the ultrasound band (30-190 kHz) could stem from fluids circulating within the hydrothermal zone beneath the lake (figure 11).

A consistent first-order rise in water temperatures persisted through December 2000 (figure 12). Despite seasonal variations in air temperature and the cooling effect of heavy tropical rainfall (~5 m/yr), Lake Voui's temperature remained stable at ~36C as of January 2001. The preceding rise and sustained high temperature indicate continued heat transfer from the bottom of the lake. The effect appears more substantial than the heating seen between 1996 and 1999, when water temperature averaged ~30C.

Information Contacts: Michel Lardy, Institut de Recherche pour le Dveloppement (IRD), Centre d"Ile de France 93143 Bondy Cdex, France; Michel Halbwachs, Universit de Savoie, BP1104, F 73376 Le Bourget du Lac Cdex, France; Jeanne Tabbagh, Universit Pierre et Marie Curie, Dpartment de gophysique applique, 75252 Paris Cdex O5, France; Douglas Charley, Department of Geology, Mines, and Water Resources, PMB01, Port-Vila, Vanuatu, Oceania.

New eruption begins on 27 November 2005 and builds cone in crater lake

A new eruption began on 27 November 2005 when vapor plumes and ash columns were observed originating from Lake Voui, a crater lake at the summit of Aoba (figure 13). The volcano is also referred to locally as Manaro or Lombenben. Prior to this activity, the most recent reported volcanism consisted of phreatic explosions from the lake during March 1995 (BGVN 20:01, 20:02, and 20:08). Bathymetry conducted by ORSTOM in 1996 showed that the vent feeding gases and magma into Lake Voui had a depth of about 150 m and a diameter of about 50 m. The volume of water in the lake (1 x 2 km) totals some 40 million cubic meters, with a mean pH of 1.8. Lake Voui and the Manaro Ngoro summit explosion craters and cones formed ~ 420 years ago (figure 14). Lake Manaro was formed by the accumulation of water in a low-lying area of the Manaro summit caldera.

Starting on 3 December a team of volcanologists from the Vanuatu Department of Geology, Mines, and Water Resources (DGMWR), the French Institut de recherche pour le dveloppement (IRD), the New Zealand Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences (GNS), and New Zealand's Massey University began collaborating on observations and monitoring. The amplitude of tremor recorded by DGMWR instruments from 30 November to 3 December was lower than during the March 1995 activity.

Scientists who visited the lake on 4 and 5 December (figures 15 and 16) observed a similar style of eruptive activity on both days, but some individual explosions appeared larger on the 5th. It was not possible to reach the lake to collect a water sample. There appeared to be two active vents, side by side, in the lake. One was producing eruptions of mud, rocks, and water, and the other appeared to be the source of the large continuous steam plume rising above the crater; the plume did not contain ash. There were no reports of ash falling on the island since the start of the eruptions the previous week. The team estimated that the cone being built in the lake, at an estimated height of more than 20 m on the 4th, was about 70% complete around the active vents, and grew 5-10% higher between 4 and 5 December. Continuous tremor was recorded during this time, and the level of eruptive and seismic activity seemed to be fairly stable.

Cloud cover and rain prevented a visit to the lake on 6 and 7 December. Earthquake recorders from the GNS were installed at the Provincial Centre at Saratamata, the Longana Peoples Centre (Lovonda village), and at Tahamamavi ("place of warm sea") (figure 17). On 7 December, a final recorder from the IRD was installed near Nduidui on the SW side of the island. Over 6-7 December continuous moderate-level volcanic tremor was recorded, with no significant change in its level; there was no other significant seismic activity.

On 8 December, the group noted that small-scale eruptions continued in Lake Voui, building a volcanic cone in the lake and producing a tall (2.4-3.0 km) steam-and-gas plume. Afternoon observations showed the cone growing taller and surrounding three sides of the active vents. However, the cone was not complete on its E side, allowing lake water to react with the rising magma. Though the resulting explosions became further apart and slightly larger, the total energy involved appeared similar to 4-5 December. There continued to be two active vents, one producing the small explosions, and the second the steam and gas emissions. Seismic recorders continued to record volcanic tremor, but very few local earthquakes. No volcanic ash was present in the plume. The eruption had no immediate effect beyond Lake Voui. The Volcanic Alert Level remained at Level 2. The level of seismic activity seemed to be stable. No other significant seismic activity was recorded.

While departing by air on the evening of 8 December, the group clearly saw the active vents (figure 18). The cone had grown to the W, joining and partly burying one of the old islands. All eruptions occurred from inside the cone. The largest individual eruptions threw material 150-200 m above the lake. There was also a gas-and-steam vent present within the cone, W of the other vent. The level of the lake appeared unchanged.

On 10 December, the small-scale volcanic eruption continued from active vents within the summit crater lake (Lake Voui). Molten material entered the crater lake and reacted with the water to produce small explosive eruptions and a plume of steam and gas. The eruption built a cone around the active vents, enclosing them on three sides, forming an island about 200 m across and 50-60 m high. There were two vents, one erupting water, rocks and mud, and the other producing a tall column of steam and gas. The eruption had little effect outside the crater lake (minor ashfall occurred only in the first three days of the eruption). Five days of seismic recordings show a moderate level of seismic activity (mostly volcanic tremor).No change was noted in the level of Lake Voui, and there was also no evidence of ground uplift or fractures near the lake.

Sulfur dioxide measurements. SO2 data collected using a DOAS spectrometer on the Islander planes of Unity Air Lines (3 December) and Air Vanuatu (5 December). On 3 December the flux was 32.6-33.6 kg/s (~ 2,900 metric tons/day). By 5 December the flux had decreased about 25%, to 24.7-26.4 kg/s (~ 2,300 metric tons/day). SO2 was clearly detected by the OMI (ozone monitoring instrument) sensor on the NASA Aura satellite (figure 19). One measurement of the volcanic gas output on 10 December showed a moderate level of sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas (about 2,000 t/d) from the active vents.

Lake temperatures. A monitoring station for continuous measurements of water temperature at Lake Voui was installed in October 1998. The station used a satellite ARGOS transmission system and recorded the last heating episode of 2001 (figure 20), but failed after three years due to the harsh acid environment. ASTER thermal infrared images can also be used for monitoring lake surface temperatures, and Aoba has a freshwater lake (Manaro Lakua) which can be used to remove the seasonal/diurnal variations in atmospheric temperatures. Unfortunately, the top of the volcano is frequently covered by clouds and few ASTER images are exploitable. The most recent ASTER image clearly showing both lakes was collected on 9 July 2005. Difference in temperatures between lake Voui and Lakua was 4.0C, slightly above background values during 2002-2003. Maximum background temperatures measured with ASTER during the September 2002-October 2005 were at 26.3C. The last ASTER images before the eruption, on 5 October 2005, showed no unusual temperatures at Lake Voui.

MODIS satellites have a more frequent coverage than ASTER but their spatial resolution is only 1 km. The surface area of Lake Voui (2.1 km2) is too small for an accurate measurement of lake temperature, but MODIS can detect rough temperature changes or an increased thermal anomaly. The MODIS pixel footprint is about 1 km along track and 2 km across track, so the measured temperatures are a mixed signal corresponding to the lake and some signal from the adjacent tropical forest (much colder than the lake at night at this elevation). MODIS SST imagery showed a strong thermal anomaly on 21 November 2005 (figure 20). Approximate lake temperatures, likely a minimum, were 30.4C on 20 November and 29.5C (Terra)/ 31.4C (Aqua) on 21 November. On 25 November the temperature jumped to about 42C.

Reference. Cronin, S.J., Gaylord, D.R., Charley, D., Alloway, B.V., Wallez, S., and Esau, J.W., 2004, Participatory methods of incorporating scientific with traditional knowledge for volcanic hazard management on Ambae Island, Vanuatu: Bulletin of Volcanology, v. 66, p. 652-668. (URL: http://www.proventionconsortium.org/files/tools_CRA/CS/Vanuatu.pdf)

Information Contacts: Esline Garaebiti, Douglas Charley, Morris Harrison, and Sandrine Wallez, Department of Geology, Mines, and Water Resources (DGMWR), Port-Vila, Vanuatu; Michel Lardy, Philipson Bani, Jean-Lambert Join, and Claude Robin, Institut de recherche pour le dveloppement (IRD), BP A5, 98 848 Nouma CEDEX, New Caledonia (URL: http://www.suds-en-ligne.ird.fr/fr/volcan/vanu_eng/aoba1.htm); Brad Scott and Steve Sherburn, Institute of Geological & Nuclear Sciences (GNS), Wairakei Research Center, Taupo, New Zealand; Shane Cronin, Institute of Natural Resources, Massey University, Palmerston, New Zealand; Alain Bernard, IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Lakes, Universit Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium (URL: http://www.ulb.ac.be/sciences/cvl/aoba/Ambae1.html); NASA Earth Observatory (URL: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/); United Nations, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.

Landscape changes resulting from November 2005 eruption

As previously reported (BGVN 30:11), a new eruption of Aoba began on 27 November 2005 when vapor plumes and ash columns were observed originating from Lake Voui, a crater lake at the summit. Activity continued into early January, building a large cinder cone in the west-central part of Lake Voui (figure 21). The new cone also contained its own crater lake.

An image taken by ASTER's visible, near infra-red (VNIR) telescope on 24 December 2005 (UTC) showed the two larger caldera lakes, and steam escaping from an island in the center of Lake Voui (figure 22). The VNIR telescope has a resolution of ~ 15 m and operates in the spectral range 0.52-0.86 ?m.

During September through December 2005, infrared satellite data provided by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and processed by the MODVOLC Hot-Spot algorithm at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) only observed a single-pixel thermal anomaly. It occurred at 0110 local time on 26 November 2005 ( the image was acquired at 1410 UTC on 25 November 2005). That was 1 day prior to reports of the eruption from ground-based observers, although the ground-based reports could easily have been delayed so it is not clear that the MODVOLC thermal anomaly was actually prior to ground based observations.

Matt Patrick noted that the anomaly is nicely centered in the caldera and is almost certainly volcanic ? no other anomalies occurred on the island in the previous 5 years.

Information Contacts: Alain Bernard, IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Lakes, Universit Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium (URL: http://www.ulb.ac.be/sciences/cvl/aoba/Ambae1.html); NASA Earth Observatory (URL: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/); Esline Garaebiti, Department of Geology, Mines and Water Resources, Port Vila, Vanuatu; Matt Patrick, University of Hawaii, Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) Thermal Alerts Team, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822 (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/).

Crater-lake photos and satellite temperatures data show ongoing activity

As previously reported, a new eruption at Aoba began 27 November 2005 in one of the crater lakes (Lake Voui). The eruption formed a cinder cone in the lake (figures 23 and 24) that contained a crater with a small hot lake (BGVN 30:11 and 30:12).

On 31 January a high, dark ash plume caused ashfall in the S part of the island. Small eruptions continued in February.

Alain Bernard recently processed a 26 January 2006 nighttime ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) image. Figure 25 shows the ASTER product called AST_04 (TIR?thermal infrared radiometer, 8.12-11.65 ?m wavelengths?band 10) unprocessed image of Aoba with Lakes Voui and Lakua. The TIR bands, with a spatial resolution of 90 m, give the ability to detect small thermal anomalies (a few degrees C), perform thermal mapping, and monitor temporal variations in the lake surface temperature. As shown in figure 26, Lake Voui's temperature in early January 2006 dropped by ~ 10C to a mean of 25.4C (down from 35.7C one month earlier). Temperature differences between Voui and Lakua dropped to 4.3C, reaching almost to the background levels observed in July 2005 (see plot "Temperature data from Lake Voui at Aoba, October 1998-December 2005 . . ."; BGVN 30:11). There is still a strong thermal anomaly of 46.1C inside the new island (figure 13).

As of 11 February 2006 at 1011 hours (10 February 2006 at 2311 UTC), Alain Bernard reported that Lakes Voui and Lakua temperatures were, respectively, 27.2C and 23.2C (delta T = 4C). The maximum temperature for the mud pool was ~ 57C.

Information Contacts: Alain Bernard, IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Lakes, Universit Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), CP160/02, avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, Brussels, Belgium (URL: http://www.ulb.ac.be/sciences/cvl/aoba/Ambae1.html, http://www.ulb.ac.be/sciences/cvl/multispectral/multispectral2.htm); Esline Garaebiti, Department of Geology, Mines, and Water Resources (DGMWR), Port-Vila, Vanuatu.

During May-June 2006, Lake Voui's water rapidly turns from blue to red

Alain Bernard reported that Lake Voui in Aoba-Ambae volcano (BGVN 31:01) was undergoing a spectacular change in its color?the previously aqua-colored lake was turning red (figure 27).

Images of a pale reddish Lake Voui were obtained by Esline Garaebiti, who flew over the volcano 28 May 2006. Philippe Mtois, who flew over on 3 June 2006, photographed a blood-red lake. These photos were are posted on the CVL website along with recent ASTER temperature data. This color change was tentatively attributed to a rapid shift in the lake water's redox state. The change might be linked to the ratio of SO2/H2S in the hydrothermal fluids.

Information Contacts: Alain Bernard, IAVCEI Commission on Volcanic Lakes (CVL), Universit Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), CP160/02, avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, Brussels, Belgium (URL: http://www.ulb.ac.be/sciences/cvl/aoba/Ambae1.html, http://www.ulb.ac.be/sciences/cvl/multispectral/multispectral2.htm); Esline Garaebiti, Department of Geology, Mines, and Water Resources (DGMWR), Port-Vila, Vanuatu; Philippe Mtois, World of Wonders.

Acidic gas emissions destroy vegetation; islet lake breached

The Aura/OMI satellite detected elevated SO2 concentrations above Aoba volcano during July and August 2006. Comparison of MODIS imagery between 3 June and 31 August 2006 (figure 28) revealed the effects of emissions on vegetation around the crater. The conditions in the field were investigated by a scientific team from Institut de Recherche pour le Dveloppement (IRD). They concluded that a significant area of the summit (30 to 40 km2) was burned by acid gas emissions.

When IRD scientists conducted a visit to Aoba in late November 2006 vegetation surrounding the crater lake had been recently defoliated (figure 29), with trees completely burned and dead, due to plumes of acidic gas and aerosols during June-August 2006. They also concluded that heavy rainfalls since September 2006 diluted the acidity of plumes. Occasional green spots seen during the November visit were where new growths of ferns and tree ferns had become established. The acid effects were more extensive than previously seen since the early 1990s. This new behavior may reflect increased degassing from the source vent inside the ring-shaped tephra (or tuff) cone.

On 25 November 2006 an IRD team measured an SO2 flux of 3,000 tons/day. This value coincided with the measurement provided by the ozone monitoring instrument (OMI on the EOS Aura satellite). The value represented a marked reduction in SO2 degassing compared to that measured on 10 June 2006.

The team noted that the main lake in the crater, Lake Voui, was still a red color, an effect due to oxidation of the iron in its large mass of water (BGVN 31:05). Within that larger lake resides the ring-shaped island, which largely formed during the late 2005-early 2006 eruptions (BGVN 31:01). The island's form had been that of an unbroken ring, but by the time of their 25 November visit, the preceding month's heavy rains had eroded the smaller islands wall, allowing water in the two lakes to easily mix (figure 30). The W shore of Lake Voui has also been eroded, and fumaroles were observed in the lake. The breach in the tephra ring coincided with gas emissions ceasing.

The IRD team implemented the first permanent real-time temperature monitoring during their visit. Due to the heavy rainfall since June 2006 and the lowered levels of evaporation associated with the lowered average lake temperature (~ 25C on 25 November 2006), the lake level remained high. In addition, the average level of Lake Voui is higher due to volcanic material (ash, scoria) deposited between December 2005 and January 2006, and it should continue to fluctuate seasonally, as in the past.

Information Contacts: Michel Lardy, Institut de Recherche pour le Dveloppement (IRD), BP A 5 98 848 Noumea Cedex, New Caledonia (URL: http://nouvelle-caledonie.ird.fr/); Department Geology Mines and Water Resources (DGMWR), Geohazard Section, PMB 01 Port-Vila, Republic of Vanuatu; Alain Bernard, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium (URL: http://www.ulb.ac.be/sciences/cvl/aoba/Ambae1.html).

Increased degassing starting December 2009

Our last Bulletin report (BGVN 31:12) on Aoba (Ambae) described the destruction of vegetation by acidic gas emissions and the breach of the islet lake during 2006. This report discusses comparative quiescence into late 2009 when degassing escalated (substantial gas plumes were seen) and the hazard status rose. The volcano has remained quiet into mid-2011.

The Vanuatu region lies ~2,200 km N off the New Zealand coast and ~2,100 km NE off the coast of Australia (figure 31). A 1999 census suggested ~9,400 people resided on Ambae. Cronin and others (2004) describe the residents as "dispersed amongst more than 276 small extended family settlements and villages (Wallez 2000). Settlements are mostly restricted to the lower island slopes within 4 km of the coast. The highest population densities occur at the NE and SE ends of the island."

The Vanuatu Geohazards Observatory (VGO) noted increases in activity from Aoba (Ambae) starting in December 2009.This began when local villagers near the volcano reported seeing a plume over the island. In December 2009 the Vanuatu Volcanic Alert Level (VVAL) was raised to Level 1. The scale ranges from 0 to 4: 0 represents normal low-level activity and 4 represents a large eruption and island wide danger. The reported source of activity is a recent cone located in the crater lake, Voui (BGVN 30:11 and 30:12).

The VGO went on to note that "An expatriate pilot based on Gaua, also witnessed a plume on Ambae on Tuesday 6th April on his way back to Gaua from Santo. Aerial pictures that were taken by two Geohazards staff on 11 April 2010 also confirmed gas emissions that were more concentrated than normal... [which] reaffirms the [Ozone Monitoring Instrument or OMI] satellite image of gas emissions above. Another observation made on Ambae is the presence of sulphur-hydromagmatic activity on the SE part of the second crater of Ambae enclosing Manaro Lakua indicated by what seemed like two fumarolic zones.... There was also some discoloration of the water in Manaro Lakua near the 'fumaroles' with some areas near the shore [colored] brown, and some areas [colored] pale bluea sign of the incorporation of sulphur dioxide. It was also reported that while flying above the area, strong sulphur dioxide gas could be smelt even at 5,000 feet [~1.5 km altitude] on 11 April."

The VGO also noted that the OMI satellite pictures depicted fluctuating gas emissions during this period. The image for 11 April 2010 indicated elevated SO2 and gave the integrated concentration-pathlength as 15 kilotons. On this day, VGO had noted SO2 fluxes over 3,000 tons/day.

References. Cronin, SJ, Gaylord, DR, Charley, D., Alloway, BV, Wallez, S, and Esau, JW, 2004, Participatory methods of incorporating scientific with traditional knowledge for volcanic hazard management on Ambae Island, Vanuatu, Bulletin of Volcanology, v. 66, pp.652-668, Springer-Verlag.

Wallez S, 2000, Socio-economic survey of the impact of the volcanic hazards for Ambae Island: geo-hazards mitigation program section. Department of Geology, Mines and Water Resources, Port Vila, Vanuatu. p 39.

Information Contacts: Vanuatu Geohazards Observatory (VGO) (URL: http://www.vmgd.gov.vu/vmgd/); Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), Sulfur Dioxide Group), Joint Center for Earth Systems Technology, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA (URL: https://so2.gsfc.nasa.gov/).

Minor activity likely continuing into early 2013

In our May 2011 Bulletin we reported that there was increased degassing at Aoba (also known as Ambae) starting December 2009 through at least April 2010. This report summarizes notices pereiodically posted by the Vanuatu Geohazards Observatory (VGO) and covers the time interval from 4 June 2011 through 26 February 2013. The Vanautu Volcano Alert Level (VVAL) remained at 1 (on a scale of 0-4.)

Observations on 4 June 2011 revealed that small explosions had been occurring from the crater lake and were accompanied by local ashfall around the crater. Some villagers in the N and W parts of the island had observed the explosions.

Based on analysis of data collected by the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geohazards Department (VMGD), the Vanuatu Geohazards Observatory reported that a small series of explosions from Aoba occurred on 10 July 2011. On July 11, VGO noted that there had been recent increases in activity from Ambae and that local earthquakes were volcanic. Satellite images collected by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument showed sulfur dioxide emissions. Photos showed that the volcano was quiet on 12 July 2011, although ongoing earthquakes were detected.

According to the VGO, Ambanga villagers reported that minor activity at Aoba began in December 2012. The OMI instrument detected strong gas emissions on 18 and 25 January 2013; the emissions continued at a lower level through 7 February. Field observations by the Geohazards team during 30 January-2 February 2013 confirmed that activity had significantly changed. Data retrieved from a monitoring station also confirmed ongoing activity. Satellite images acquired on 3 and 26 February 2013 detected substantial sulfur dioxide emissions.

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Global Volcanism Program | Ambae

Mars valleys traced back to precipitationA new study suggests that the branching structure of the former river networks on Mars has striking similarities with terrestrial arid... - astrobio.net/mars/mars-vall pic.twitter.com/HFPQ0JPPC1

About 11 hours ago from Astrobiology Mag's Twitter via feeds on astrobio

Chasing 'OumuamuaThe interstellar object Oumuamua perplexed scientists in October 2017 as it whipped past Earth at an unusually high speed. - astrobio.net/also-in-news/c pic.twitter.com/FajMZ9ZF3o

About a day ago from Astrobiology Mag's Twitter via feeds on astrobio

More Clues That Earth-Like Exoplanets Are Indeed Earth-LikeResearch into spin dynamics suggests they have regular seasons and stable climates. - astrobio.net/comparativepla pic.twitter.com/dC96sJiaNr

About 3 days ago from Astrobiology Mag's Twitter via feeds on astrobio

Planet formation starts before star reaches maturityA European team of astronomers has discovered that dust particles around a star already coagulate before the star is fully grown. - astrobio.net/also-in-news/p pic.twitter.com/6PSxITQ0aO

About 4 days ago from Astrobiology Mag's Twitter via feeds on astrobio

NASAs James Webb Space Telescope to Target Jupiters Great Red SpotNASAs James Webb Space Telescope, the most ambitious and complex space observatory ever built, will use its unparalleled infrared c... - astrobio.net/also-in-news/n pic.twitter.com/JGmHutAjtM

About 5 days ago from Astrobiology Mag's Twitter via feeds on astrobio

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Comparative Planetology Archives - Astrobiology Magazine

1. The objective of comparative stylistics The objective of comparative stylistics is to study the stylistic characteristics of one language in comparison with those of another one. This systematic study offers students a better and deeper knowledge of the features that distinguish one language from another. Examples: - To become penniless /aflasa/ - The Arabs have pioneered in many branches of science /kna lilc arabi assabaqu fi: Satt furuc i al mac rifati/ These are two cases of "transposition." In the first example, the verb /aflasa/ is expressed by a phrase in English, while in the second example the verb "to pioneer" is replaced with a noun /assabaqu/ in Arabic. - He was blown away /dhahaba adrja arriyhi/ This is a case of "modulation," where each language describes the situation from a different viewpoint. While English indicates the means (blown), Arabic does the opposite: the result first /dhahaba/, then the means /adrja arriyhi/. Thus, we have a "chass-crois": Means: blown /adrja arriyhi/ Result: /dhahaba/ away - Give a pint of your blood /tabarrac biqali:lin min damika/ - Before you could say Jack Robinson /fi: tarfati c ayn/ These are two cases of "equivalence" where two languages describe the same situation by using quite different structural and stylistic means. In the first example, the expression "to give a pint," "pint" being a unit of measure for liquids equal to about half a liter, is rendered into Arabic by the equivalent /tabarrac biqali:lin min/ which literally means "donate some of." In the second example, the English idiom "before you could say Jack Robinson," which means "very quickly or suddenly," has an equivalent idiom in Arabic /Fi tarfati c ayn/ which means "in the twinkling of an eye." 2. The scope and limits of comparative stylistics According to Vinay and Darbelnet (1977), the three above-mentioned cases - transposition, modulation and equivalence - in addition to four others, which are borrowing, tracing ("calque"), literal translation and adaptation, constitute the seven techniques of translation. The authors of the book "Stylistique compare du franais et de l'anglais" even consider comparative stylistics as a method of translation (notice the expression, "mthode de traduction," they put under the title on the first page). It is undeniable that comparative stylistics is beneficial to students, since it enables them to identify the characteristics which distinguish their mother language from a foreign one, and hence to perceive the phenomena that endow each languagewith a peculiar genius. Yet, it is arguable that comparative stylistics can explain the process of translation or set forth "laws valid to the two languages concerned" (Vinay and Darbelnet 1977: 20). Since the comparison of two languages requires primarily the performance of translation, we can assert that comparative stylistics is subsequent to translation and not prior to it. Therefore, the seven techniques are no more than means of comparison. If we reconsider the example "he was blown away," it appears that, to translate it into Arabic, one would immediately look for its functional equivalent rather than think of the "technique" to be used, whether it is transposition, modulation or equivalence As a matter of fact, if the translator fails to find the appropriate equivalent in Arabic, /dhahaba adrja arriyhi/, it will be useless to know that this kind of transfer is called "modulation" from a comparative viewpoint. The same thing applies, of course, to the other techniques offered by comparative stylistics. Moreover, comparative stylistics usually suggests only one equivalent among several possible equivalents of a lexical unit or expression. In the previous example, we can say in Arabic: /dhahaba adrja arriyhi/ as well as /c asafat bihi arriyhu/ or /huwa fi: mahabbi arri:hi/, all of which are expressions with the same meaning. Finally, it appears that comparative stylistics, which is mainly interested in establishing correspondences and equivalences in two languages, does not go beyond the limit of language as a whole to reach the mobility of speech and usage. Hence, it can neither foretell the most appropriate equivalents for expressions in context nor embrace all potential cases of translation within the ever-renewable act of communication. The field of translation is indeed far from being limited or confined to linguistic facts, idiomatic expressions or correspondences that may constitute the subject of a comparative study

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What is comparative planetology - Answers.com

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Top banner images: HIGP excels in advanced research, teaching, and service. Our expertise spans the globe from pole to pole, from the depths of the seas to the tops of volcanoes, and extends to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. These images show, from left to right: satellite communication dish, a map of tsunami wave heights, map of mid-ocean ridge/seafloor spreading, the IMI (Imaging and Mapping Instrument) deep-towed ocean sonar system, Earth's Moon, active Hawaiian lava flow, Mars, a meteorite collected in Antarctica, and GPS field station.

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April 12, 2018

Europlanet presents its latest animation: Space Detectives The Case of the Rocks from Space has had its official premiere at 15:00 CEST on 12th April at EGU 2018 in Vienna. Watch now:

April 10, 2018

Europlanet presents: Space Detectives The case of the rocks from space. Europlanets latest animated video, Space Detectives the case of the rocks from Space will be premiered at the Europlanet stand on Thursday, 12th April at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) at 15:00 CEST. The video, designed in a film noir style by []

April 9, 2018

Europlanet at EGU From 9-13th April, Europlanet will be taking part in the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2018 in Vienna, Austria. On Thursday 12th April 2018, from 08:30 10:00, Europlanet will hold a tutorial session on the Virtual European Solar and Planetary Access (VESPA) virtual observatory for planetary science in room 2.85 []

April 4, 2018

Europlanet is committed to building a diverse, inclusive planetary science community in Europe and to ensuring that individuals within that community experience equal opportunity, regardless of gender, disability, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marital status, age, nationality or socioeconomic background. Europlanet Diversity Working Group Following a Diversity Breakfast event at the 2017 European Planetary []

March 29, 2018

Are you an early career researcher or amateur astronomer that would like to develop your science communication skills, as well as learning more about making ground-based observations in support of space missions? Europlanet 2020 (RI) and the Moltai Astronomical Observatory (ITPA VU) are holding an international research summer school,Space missions: ground-based observations and science communication, []

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Europlanet Outreach

Published on Mar 13, 2015 This is an interview with Kameran Fally, banker, physicist, religious scholar and political advisor to top levels of the British and Iraqi governments. GO TO : http://projectcamelotportal.com to obtain a copy of his 44 page presentation explaining in more detail his theory on the return of Planet X. As an []

Published on Sep 8, 2015 This is a wild and uncompromising ride into the illuminati playing field where they are using this interview along with the Taylor Swift video/song Bad Blood to announce the split in their ranks and a declaration of war between them. This is my 2nd interview with Kameran Felly. A Kurd []

Published on Mar 13, 2015 This is an interview with Kameran Fally, banker, physicist, religious scholar and political advisor to top levels of the British and Iraqi governments. GO TO : http://projectcamelotportal.com to obtain a copy of his 44 page presentation explaining in more detail his theory on the return of Planet X. As an []

Link:

Kameran Fally | What in the world is going on?

December 2011-January 2012 seismicity, incandescence, and evacuations

Plumes and seismic activity at Lewotolo volcano, Indonesia, increased during December 2011 and early January 2012. Lewotolo has erupted potassic calc-alkaline lavas containing as an accessary phase in vessicle fillings, the rare, complex zirconium-titanium-oxide mineral zirconolite (Ca0.8 Ce0.2 Zr Ti1.5 Fe2+0.3 Nb0.1 Al0.1 O7; de Hoog and van Bergen, 2000). Lewotolo last erupted in 1951. All historical eruptions were small (Volcanic Explosivity Index, VEI 2) with the exception of the first recorded eruption, which took place in 1660 and was as large as VEI 3. According to de Hoog and van Bergen (2000), strong fumarolic activity at the summit of Lewotolo indicates the presence and degassing of a shallow magma chamber.

December 2011-January 2012 activity increase. According to the Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM), Lewotolo produced thick white plumes reaching 50-250 m above the summit during December 2011. Seismicity increased on 31 December, and intensified on 2 January 2012 with tremor commencing at 1400. Accordingly, CVGHM raised the Alert Level from 1 to 2 (on a scale from 1-4) at 1800 on 2 January. Between 1800 and 2300 the same day, the maximum amplitude of recorded seismicity increased, and at 2000, incandescence was noticed at the summit.

At 2330 on 2 January, CVGHM increased the Alert Level to 3. Under the recommendation of CVGHM, access was prohibited within 2 km of Lewotolo (Hazard Zone III, figure 1), and residents in villages SE of the volcano were advised to keep vigilant and secure a safe place to flee to one of the towns to the N, W, or S in the event of an eruption.

Residents decide to evacuate. According to Antara News, evacuations began on 4 January spurred by increased activity of the previous few days, as well as minor ash falling in the villages. Antara News stated that most of the residents went to Lewoleba, the closest city to the volcano (~15 km to the SW of the summit). Of the evacuees in Lewoleba, all but about 50 people were reported to have found temporary housing with other residents of the city.

On 5 January, Channel 6 News reported that around 500 residents had evacuated leaving their homes in villages surrounding Lewotolo. They noted that residents who evacuated did so on their own accord, as the government had not yet called for evacuation. The Deputy District Chief of Lembata, Viktor Mado Watun, said "Black smoke columns are coming out of the mountain's crater, the air is filled with the smell of sulfur while rumbling sounds are heard around the mountain."

According to UCA News on 9 January, the health of the evacuees was cause for concern. Father Philipus da Gomez stated that "there are many refugees who have started suffering from acute respiratory infections."

Alert Level lowered. On 25 January 2012, CVGHM lowered the Alert Level of Lewotolo from 3 to 2 following decreased activity after 2 January. The lowered Alert Level restricted access to the summit craters only. CVGHM stated that the observed seismicity (table 1) showed a declining trend, tending towards normal conditions after 23 January. Visual observation revealed thick, white plumes reaching 400 m above the summit during 2-14 January (and a dim crater glow), and thin white plumes reaching no more than 50 m above the summit during 16-24 January (with no accompanying crater glow).

Table 1. Seismicity at Lewotolo during 3-24 January 2012, showing a declining trend in seismicity prior to CVGHM's lowering of the Alert Level from 3-2 on 25 January. Data courtesy of CVGHM.

On 15 January, direct observation of the crater was made, and revealed incandescence in solfataras, a weak sulfur smell, and hissing sounds in both the N and S side of the crater. CVGHM especially noted that the N side of the crater was quite different than when it was last observed in June 2010, when no solfataras were present. Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) measurements revealed fluctuating and increasing SO2 flux between 11-90 tons/day during 8-16 January.

References. de Hoog, J.C.M. and van Bergen, M.J., 2000, Volatile-induced transport of HFSE, REE, Th, and U in arc magmas: evidence from zirconolite-bearing vesicles in potassic lavas of Lewotolo volcano (Indonesia), Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology, v. 139, no. 4, p. 485-502 (DOI: 10.1007/s004100000146).

Information Contacts: Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (CVGHM), Jl. Diponegoro 57, Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, 40 122 (URL: http://www.vsi.esdm.go.id/); Channel 6 News (URL: http://channel6newsonline.com/); Antara News, Wisma ANTARA 19th Floor, Jalan Merdeka Selatan No. 17, Jakarta Pusat (URL: http://www.antaranews.com/); UCA News, Yayasan UCINDO, Gedung Usayana Holding, Lt.3, Jl. Matraman Raya No.87, Jakarta Timur 13140 (URL: http://www.ucanews.com/).

Thermal hotspots during 27 September-4 October 2015

During December 2011-January 2012, Lewotolo's seismic activity increased and the volcano produced thick, white plumes that rose as high as 250 m above the summit before subsiding (BGVN 36:12). Since that episode, no further activity was observed through 31 December 2016, except for several thermal anomalies during 27 September 2015-4 October 2015, as recorded by MODIS satellite instruments analyzed using the MODVOLC algorithm (figure 2).

Information Contacts: Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP), MODVOLC Thermal Alerts System, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), Univ. of Hawai'i, 2525 Correa Road, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA (URL: http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/, http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu/).

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Global Volcanism Program | Lewotolo

Featured These supposed Ray Systems run into and out of the Moons surface, along their paths. In the next video coming up I show the very close surface and great detail of the Moons geography and Topography. All the many elevated and descending levels. Mountains and Ridges longing thousands of miles. Some of these Ray Systems (Ejecta) are far to detailed and follow far too complex paths, to be Ejecta formed by the lava flow of impacting asteroids. Sub Surface empty spaces on the Moon and Sub Terranean Tunnels could possibly exist on the moon. Are they there because of underground rivers? Or were they built and excavated. In these photos of the surface we can see supposed Ejecta going in and out of the Moons surface. Possibly into Sub Terranean Lower Levels. Why are the Ray Systems so bright? The white ejecta if filled with built objects. Some symmetrical, some not. The veins I call them or tunnels at times run in straight paths for over one thousand km. DUST ON THE MOON: A permanent asymmetric moon dust cloud exists around the Moon, created by small particles from comets. Estimates are 5 tons of comet particles strike the Moons surface each 24 hours. The particles strike the Moons surface ejecting moon dust above the Moon. The dust stays above the Moon approximately 10 minutes, taking 5 minutes to rise, and 5 minutes to fall. On average, 120 kilograms of dust are present above the Moon, rising to 100 kilometers above the surface. The dust measurements were made by LADEEs Lunar Dust EXperiment (LDEX), between 20 and 100 kilometers above the surface, during a six-month period. LDEX detected an average of one 0.3 micrometer moon dust particle each minute. I believe this also has to do with the color we are seeing as the Sunlight reflects through the dust and the water molecules in the air. The Ejecta reflects even more through a surface haze. When filming the moon with my telescope and a cloud goes before me it makes the surface of the moon very white and reflective.

It looks like rivers and lakes could possibly exist on the moon so long me. Frozen ice on the Moons Surface? Well that would be contradictory to what scientists sayphotodecomposition is. It is a chemical reaction in which a chemical compound is broken down by photons. It is defined as the interaction of one or more photons with one target molecule. Any photon with sufficient energy can affect the chemical bonds of a chemical compound (LIKE WATER). Therefore the water would decompose and be sent out into space. So is water present or not. We always seem to get a large variety of different theories. All Different to one another. I believe it is good to have a theory but science is stuck on the same theories. Time to explore through different ways and techniques. These photos of the Moons Geography was taken by me.

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What the hackers are doing in this case is sending spam from somewhere and using my website as a link to redirect people to a website they own. They do this because including a link to your website will avoid spam filters while including a link to their own website will get caught in spam filters. Wordfence detects

My YOUTUBE was hacked. Really Hacked. YOUTUBE told me I was doing malicious activity as people were sending viruses and pornography from my link. Here is the thing GOOGLE does NOT have any bitchin way of finding that out as the GOOGLE COMPANY LET ME FLOAT AROUND WITHOUT ANY ACCESS TO ANYTHING GOOGLE. they told me I was under investigation and without any possibility of coming back. SO with that said GOOGLE is able to hold you money from your AD SENSE and that is what they did too me. The Spammers are sending me pornography by the shitload but it winds up in a box I just delete at the end of the month.

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Amazing clear view of all the ridges and mountains and clearings on the moon. Detailed scan by Bruce Swartz. Unknown Planet Surfaces and Light sources on Unknown Celestial Planets. Lets Get The SHOW BACK ON THE ROAD! Amazing new techniques in editing. This will permit me to show you all the entire surface. You will see here an elevated view of I am guessing 10 to 15000 feet overhead view of an area of many thousands of KM. Tomorrow I will already show you all how much better I clarified the surface. The search for truth is ON!

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possibly the light blocked by some of the Moon being present and in line with Earth, giving us possibly a glimpse of some everyday visitors in and around our Sun. Maybe this craft was lit up by the extra light in deep space seen from here of course. Any other country could go without seeing this depending on how much light is in their line of view. .

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You have been put in a queue and all your spam will not be seen by anyone. Sorry. This I.P ADDRESS is Blocked and you can no longer come back. thanks for stopping by.

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A S T E R O I D W I T H A N U M B E R (6) reflecting back to us. Great moments captured.

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200 Spam Threatswow I thought I was More Important Then That. They Must Have Slow Connections. You Got It Or You Dont Boys. Like My New Technique? Just Wait More To Come Tomorrow.

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This is right inside of the white areas that are always so bright and hard for telescope and cameras to reach the surface. More then 300 000 detailed scanned photos of the moon were taken by Space Stations and nobody found any structures? That is where you have to wonder about who gets to say what is up there. Amateur Astronomers are gaining more and more viewers on a large scale. Only a matter of time until this website gets noticed. As hard the attempts of idiots trying to hide this beautiful truth. You will never succeed. I am here to see that this is so. I remained without ads and the ones here you will see and many of you already know that I am being kept on idol. Out of the mainstreams and in darkness. I know the world will wake up very soon and it will be a very beautiful thing. It does not have to be apocalyptic just because that is what was written. Onwards I say and here is to another year of amazing discoveries. I just hope I wont be alone to enjoy them. Thanks to those who stick around. Thanks for the support.

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I was always in this to show the World what is up there in Space and on the Moon. No matter how much traffic I will get on my website. No matter how many people try to take me down. I will continue to create videos like the entire World was listening. Why? The World was lied too. Who would I be to find out some of the truth and not share with all my brothers and sisters. We live in a world of jealous people. If you enjoy the way I clarify the surface help me by sharing the word around everyone. I will appreciate it.

SINUS IRIDUM{ MASSIVE RIDGE LINES AND WALLS EXPOSED

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Mirrors can do a lot. It can also make us believe it is on fire. Mirrors look like fire when lights reflect onto them. When the Rulers Of The World Set something Up It Is Always Made To Look Natural and to blend in with nature so at times we look for clues in the wrong areas. Mother nature will tell us what is going on. Just observe her. She aint alone lollll.

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Bruce Swartz Self Taught Astronomer & Planetary ...

I getti di plasma attorno ai resto di supernova della Vela sono molto frammentati, al punto da apparire come shrapnel, le pallottole cave che all'esplosione vanno in mille pezzi. Un team internazionale del quale fanno parte tre ricercatori dell'Inaf di Palermo ne ha osservato uno con il telescopio spaziale Xmm-Newton, scoprendo uninsolita abbondanza di silicio

Esce oggi su Nature uno studio che rivela come i buchi neri in sistemi binari abbiano assi di rotazione non allineati, un dato da cui possibile trarre preziose informazioni riguardo alla loro genesi. Media Inaf ha intervistato uno degli autori dellarticolo, il mantovano Alberto Vecchio, oggi astrofisico allUniversit di Birmingham

Una futura missione umana su Marte dovrebbe includere nel proprio bagaglio un particolare lievito. Non per fare il pane, o la birra, ma per trasformare lurina e lanidride carbonica prodotta dagli astronauti in Omega-3, nutrienti fondamentali, oppure ricavare plastica per stampare pezzi di ricambio in 3D

Voyager. In una parola, due sonde e uneccezionale avventura scientifica ai confini del Sistema solare. Una storia affascinate quella degli esploratori automatici della Nasa che diventata un docu-film, in onda questa sera sul circuito statunitense Pbs

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INAF - IAPS Roma | Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia ...

Researchers studying past volcanic activity found they could retrospectively predict when outflows of molten rock would cease for about 40% of effusive eruptions, the kind that produces flowing lava.

Developing a method to predict when a volcano will erupt has long remained out of reach. Less studied, but also important for public safety, is forecasting when eruptions will end, a feat that has proven equally elusive.

Now researchers are using satellite data to test a 1981 theory that lava flowforming eruptions follow a predictable pattern, and they have confirmed the pattern in many cases. Whats more, they find that using the theoretical model and observations from space as their guides, they can predict with considerable accuracy when those pattern-fitting eruptions will stop.

I actually didnt think it would work at all. I was happily surprised that it made sense and could be used.I actually didnt think it would work at all, said Estelle Bonny, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Hawaii at Mnoa who is affiliated with the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP) and is the first author of a recent paper about the findings. She said that she had suspected the model was too simple for a complex natural process, but I was happily surprised that it made sense and could be used.

Effusive eruptions, characterized by lava flows, can go on and on. It might only be a couple of days, but it can also be a year, Bonny said. For people who live nearby, knowing when it will end can be important to knowing if they have to evacuate and, if they do evacuate, when they will be able to go back home.

British volcanologist Geoff Wadge came up with the 1981 theory that the rate of flow in an effusive eruption would follow an asymmetrical curve: an early cascade of lava, followed by a gradual decline.

Back then, measuring the rate of discharge involved difficult and dangerous field work, and scientists might get only one or two measurements per eruption. However, since 2000, instruments aboard NASAs Terra and Aqua satellites have taken infrared thermal measurements of active volcanoes four times a day, from which researchers readily calculate discharge rates. Now were lucky to have way more data sets than he had, Bonny said. We wanted to use this [abundance] of data to see if the theory still makes sense.

In a paper published online in June in the Bulletin of Volcanology, she and her adviser, Robert Wright, associate director of HIGP, looked at 104 effusive eruptions that took place at 34 different volcanoes over the past 15 years. Of these, 32 eruptions followed the asymmetrical Wadge curve, with an early peak and gradually slowing flow. Eight more were double-pulse eruptions: two initial bursts, followed by the same slow decline. Thirteen others she described as half Wadge: an early peak, followed by a slow flow that continues for a long time.

The remaining 51 eruptions followed no pattern at all. Its not perfect, Bonny said. Sometimes it doesnt show the trend, but sometimes it does.About halfway through the eruption you could have a good prediction.

For eruptions that did follow the model, the scientists found that they could use satellite data to forecast in retrospect when eruptions would end.

It took 3 days worth of observations to predict that the December 2005 eruption of Piton de la Fournaise on Reunion Island would last for 9 daysit ended up stopping on the 10th day.

The model also worked for longer volcanic activity, like the eruption of the Kizimen volcano in Kamchatka, Russia, that began in March 2011. Bonny found that the longer she observed the volcano, the more accurate her prediction became. After 102 days of observations, the model predicted that the eruption would end after 210 days, just 2 days shy of the actual duration of 212 days. About halfway through the eruption you could have a good prediction, she said. The prediction didnt change significantly after the halfway point.

What about eruptions that dont fit the pattern? The team didnt look at explosive eruptions. Those blasts generally offer little mystery about when they will end; most of the action typically ceases after that first, powerful bang.

Among the remaining lava-exuding eruptions the team investigated, Bonny found that the model could still predict double-pulse eruptions simply by resetting the curve at the second peak of the eruption.

However, she and Wright found that the model could predict endings for neither the half Wadge nor random-pattern eruptions. Nonetheless, Bonny said that applying the model to satellite measurements of such eruptions can still yield valuable insights. In about the same amount of time that it would take to forecast an eruptions duration, observers can figure out what type of eruption theyre dealing with, she noted.

Ben Kennedy, a volcanologist at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, said that the Hawaii team took the kind of space-based observing, data analysis, and modeling that represents the future of volcanology and applied those tools to a practical, public safety problem.

A massive part of the impact is the duration of the [eruption]; this affects all sorts of critical hazard management decisions.This paper is answering the right questions, Kennedy said. Hazard managers need to know what are the likely impacts of the event. A massive part of the impact is the duration of the [eruption]; this affects all sorts of critical hazard management decisions.

Although the study reaffirmed that every eruption is different, it also made significant steps toward classifying effusive eruptions, he said. It seems about 50% are behaving in a predictable way. And about 30% are behaving in a way that will allow accurate predictions during the eruption of when it might end.

For Bonny, thats the next step. So far, she has produced only retrospective predictions, but she is now making plans to test the model on volcanic eruptions in real timemaybe on a volcano close to home. Bonny said that a future eruption of the island of Hawaiis Klauea volcano, which has threatened nearby towns with lava flows in the past, would be a good case study for the modeling method.

Ilima Loomis (email: [emailprotected]), Freelance Journalist

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Satellite Observations Could Help Forecast an Eruption's End - Eos

image by K.C. Pau, Hong Kong

Comparative planetology is a powerful approach to understanding processes on different worlds. It has been used since early observers compared lunar features to landforms on Earth. The first stage of such a comparison is simply noticing similarities in morphology. Here KC points out the curved shores of a small bay on the East coast of Hong Kong with the Bay of Rainbows on the Moon. KC does not imply that Sinus Iridum resulted from water erosion of less resistant rock, but the similarity of a lowland being surrounded on three sides and open on the fourth is striking. In fact, that is probably why Riccioli called it a sinus/bay about 360 years ago. If we look more closely we see that bays on Earth occur along interfaces of land and liquid. That is true on the Moon too, but we also notice that completed lunar bays (craters) occur away from interfaces of mare and highlands, but not on Earth. So we might conclude that different processes caused the three landward sides of the bay on the Earth and the Moon. But there is a similarity in that the sea sides have missing walls. Did erosion remove the sea sides of lunar bays? Maybe. Was it erosion by mare lavas that destroyed the western rim of Le Monnier or the northern rim of Letronne? Or were these simply craters that formed on the edges of basins that dipped (or faulted) down toward their centers? There is little evidence for lava erosion of crater rims, yet the walls of Flamsteed P and other craters in the maria are often missing. Looking at a beautiful bay in Hong Kong caused us to consider how bays form on Earth and Moon, and even though there are few similarities in the processes, the thinking has been informative.

Chuck Wood

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August 3, 2017 - LPOD

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) was part of an international team that recently discovered a relatively unpopulated region of the main asteroid belt, where the few asteroids present are likely pristine relics from early in solar system history. The team used a new search technique that also identified the oldest known asteroid family, which extends throughout the inner region of the main asteroid belt.

The main belt contains vast numbers of irregularly shaped asteroids, also known as planetesimals, orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter. As improved telescope technology finds smaller and more distant asteroids, astronomers have identified clusters of similar-looking bodies clumped in analogous orbits.

These familial objects are likely fragments of catastrophic collisions between larger asteroids eons ago. Finding and studying asteroid families allows scientists to better understand the history of main belt asteroids.

"By identifying all the families in the main belt, we can figure out which asteroids have been formed by collisions and which might be some of the original members of the asteroid belt," said SwRI Astronomer Dr. Kevin Walsh, a coauthor of the online Science paper detailing the findings.

"We identified all known families and their members and discovered a gigantic void in the main belt, populated by only a handful of asteroids. These relics must be part of the original asteroid belt. That is the real prize, to know what the main belt looked like just after it formed."

Identifying the very oldest asteroid families, those billions of years old, is challenging, because over time, a family spreads out. As asteroids rotate in orbit around the Sun, their surfaces heat up during the day and cool down at night. This creates radiation that can act as a sort of mini-thruster, causing asteroids to drift widely over time.

After billions of years, family members would be almost impossible to identify, until now. The team used a novel technique, searching asteroid data from the inner region of the belt for old, dispersed families. They looked for the "edges" of families, those fragments that have drifted the furthest.

"Each family member drifts away from the center of the family in a way that depends on its size, with small guys drifting faster and further than the larger guys," said team leader Marco Delbo, an astronomer from the Observatory of Cote d'Azur in Nice, France. "If you look for correlations of size and distance, you can see the shapes of old families."

"The family we identified has no name, because it is not clear which asteroid is the parent," Walsh said. "This family is so old that it appears to have formed over 4 billion years ago, before the gas giants in the outer solar system moved into their current orbits. The giant planet migration shook up the asteroid belt, removing many bodies, possibly including the parent of this family."

The team plans to apply this new technique to the entire asteroid belt to reveal more about the history of the solar system by identifying the primordial asteroids versus fragments of collisions.

This research was supported by the French National Program of Planetology and the National Science Foundation. The resulting paper, "Identification of a primordial asteroid family constrains the original planetesimal population," appears in the August 3, 2017, online edition of Science.

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SwRI part of international team identifying primordial asteroids - Space Daily