GLOBAL VOLCANISM: Big Ben - Rare Australian Volcanic Eruption Captured On Film!

The still-smoking peak of Big Ben volcano, shortly after the eruption.© Pete Harmsen

February 4, 2016 - AUSTRALIA - Australia's only two active volcanoes have both erupted - and scientists on board a ship conducting research nearby caught the rare event on film. The Big Ben volcano on remote Heard Island in sub-Antarctica, almost 1800 kilometres north of Australia's Antarctic base at Davis Station, erupted a combination of poisonous gases and red-hot lava.

It was the first time it had done so in decades.

We witnessed the lava descending Big Ben interacting dramatically with the snow and ice cover of the mountain.

Richard Arculus, ANU volcanologist

The other volcano, on the neighbouring McDonald islands, erupted gas only. Scientists on board the CSIRO's RV Investigator were visiting the islands to conduct research into the concentration of iron in Antarctic waters.

"We witnessed the lava descending Big Ben as it interacted dramatically with the snow and ice cover of the mountain," said ANU volcanologist Professor Richard Arculus, who witnessed the eruption first hand.

"It is possible that a quenched carapace of glass is formed over the lava allowing the flow to descend considerable distances downhill, forming lava tubes." Big Ben volcano is one of the most active in the world. Changes in appearance of the lava flows on the summit of Big Ben during successive days indicate active eruptions have been taking place over the past week, Professor Arculus said.

The summit, Mawson Peak, of Big Ben volcano on Heard Island. © Pete Harmsen

Very high penguin rookery and smoke drifting out of the vent. © CSIRO

Volcanoes erupt when the Earth's magma, which is lighter than surrounding rock, rises and collects in subterranean chambers. Eventually some of the magma pushes through vents and fissures and erupts as lava on the surface.

"The lava types erupting from Big Ben are the end-products of extensive processes of selective crystal withdrawal from alkali-rich basalts within crustal magma chambers," he explained.

The end-product of this process is a lava type characteristic of other hot-spot volcanoes like Mt Erebus, Kilimanjaro and Gran Canaria. "The eruptions were once-in-a-lifetime events for scientists on board," said Monash University geologist Associate Professor Steven Micklethwaite.

© Brisbane Times

"Although it was difficult to do much more than watch and observe, the insights gained into the eruption behaviour of such a furiously remote volcano are important.

"Monitoring these types of eruptions tells us about how lava interacts with ice, which can be quite spectacular," Associate Professor Micklethwaite said.


WATCH: Big Ben erupts.

Expeditioner Jodi Fox, whose doctoral thesis is on Heard Island volcanism, said observing lava flowing down the flank of Big Ben over a glacier was incredible. "Given persistent cloud cover and generally foul weather, I didn't think we'd observe much of the volcano on this voyage," she said.

The team spotted the eruption while circling the islands to map the sea floor to identify hydrothermal systems driven by underwater volcanoes. Scientists believe these are driving the Southern Ocean ecosystem from the bottom-up.

They are testing the hypothesis that hydrothermal systems release iron, a fertiliser for planktonic blooms, which create half of the planet's oxygen.

The research sheds light on global fluctuations in nutrients. It will also help determine the merits of artificially seeding the oceans with iron in order to increase the uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change. - Brisbane Times.

GLOBAL VOLCANISM: Big Ben Is Rumbling Fiercely, Ready To Erupt - Lava Is Spilling From Australia's Only Active Volcano; NASA Images Reveal Lava Lake Has Overflowed Crater?!

May 01, 2013 - AUSTRALIA - New NASA photo reveals the lava lake on Australia's only active volcano has overflowed the crater, showing possible signs of eruption.

An image taken by NASA's EO-1 satellite shows the lava flow on Australia's only active volcano widening at the top.
Picture: NASA  

NASA's EO-1 satellite snapped the shot of Big Ben, which is located on the remote Heard Island, about 4,100km southwest of Perth, in the sub-Antarctic, on April 20.

When compared to another image taken on April 7, it appears the lava flow is widening at the top, NASA said.

The volcano's caldera appears to have filled with so much lava that some has since cascaded down Mawson Peak.

In October 2012, satellites measured subtle signals that suggested volcanic activity on remote Heard Island. These images, captured several months later, show proof of an eruption on Mawson Peak. By April 7, 2013, Mawson’s steep-walled summit crater had filled, and a trickle of lava had spilled down the volcano’s southwestern flank. On April 20 the lava flow remained visible, and had even widened slightly just below the summit. These natural-color images were collected by the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on the Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite.
Picture: NASA

Heard Island's remoteness and Mawson Peak's altitude of 2745 metres mean there's nothing to fear from the eruption, The Register reports.

No permanent human presence exists on the island, beyond an automated weather station. - Herald Sun.

GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVAL: Big Ben's Tilt Could Force MPs Out Of Commons - Land Subsidence Tilts Iconic Tower by 0.26 Degrees (46cm); Fears That it Will Get Worse and Sink Into the Thames!

The iconic clocktower which houses Big Ben tilts by 0.26 degrees (46cm) at the top and if the subsidence gets much worse, MPs may be forced out of the Palace of Westminster.

The House of Commons Commission, which is chaired by Speaker John Bercow, will meet to discuss a new report that offers a range of options, up to and including selling the building and moving Parliament elsewhere. The crumbling Palace, which has been beset by maintenance problems since it was built in the 19th Century replace the Old Palace destroyed by fire in 1834, needs years of repairs. It could even sink into the Thames if action is not taken. The building of the Jubilee Line extension in the 1990s is being blamed for the subsidence and, even though there is a continuous programme of repairs to the 1,100 room Palace, surveyors are expected to recommend sealing off sections for several years to shore up its foundations.

It is thought the House of Commons and House of Lords Chambers may also have to close for long periods. A Commons spokesman told The Sunday Times: "The commission will be considering whether to ask officials from both Houses to undertake a study into the long-term approach to the maintenance of Parliament. "No decisions are likely to be taken for several years as to whether either House will need to move out of the palace for a period to allow essential work to take place." Mr Bercow will take a particularly keen interest in the report as his grace-and-favour apartment is in the clocktower. Dunfermiline and West Fife MP Thomas Docherty, who is a member of the Commons Administration Committee, said Big Ben is not likely to topple into the river anytime soon. However, like others looking at this problem, he agreed it needed to be dealt with sooner rather than later, and is likely to prove very expensive. - SKY News.

POLE SHIFT: Geological Upheaval - Big Ben, the Tower of London is now Tilting Some 0.26 Degrees, Sinking Quickly on the North Side?!

Fears over the long-term stability of Big Ben have been raised because it is beginning to tilt to one side.

The top of the clock tower is leaning one-and-a-half feet off a level position, according to surveyors, and getting worse each year. The tower in Westminster, which houses the giant bell known as Big Ben, is sinking into the banks of the Thames, partly as a result of decades of underground excavation. Subterranean works beneath the tower include the Jubilee line station, an underground car park and sewers. Its lurch of 0.26 degrees is said to be visible to the naked eye – and if it goes uncorrected could cause the tower to crash. However at current rates, it would take 4,000 years before the tower is as slanted as the Leaning Tower of Pisa which leans by four degrees and is around 12ft off the vertical. John Burland, emeritus professor at Imperial College London, said: ‘I’ve heard tourists saying “I don’t think it is quite vertical” and they are right. If it started greater acceleration we would have to look at doing something, but I don’t think we need to do anything for a few years yet.’ If Big Ben were to fall it would crash into MPs' offices over the road in Portcullis House. Currently, the clock tower is sinking more quickly on the north side of the 315ft-tall building.

A just published 2009 survey for London Underground and the Parliamentary Estates Department found that the rate of movement has accelerated in recent years. Engineers cannot explain why the tower's clock face moved up to an eighth of an inch (3.3mm) away from the vertical between November 2002 and August 2003. Since 2003, monitoring instruments show the tilt has increased 0.04in (0.9mm) a year, compared to the long-term average rate of just 0.025in (0.65mm) a year. The report, obtained by the Sunday Telegraph, revealed that the tower  was now leaning towards the north-west at an angle of 0.26 degrees, meaning the top of the tower is 1ft 5in (435mm) from vertical. The Leaning Tower of Pisa leans by around four degrees. Big Ben's movement has caused cracks in the walls of other parts of the House of Commons, including corridors where ministers and shadow ministers have their offices. - Daily Mail.

NOTE: Special thanks to reader, Joanne Chan, for contributing this story.

MYSTERY: Symbol of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - UFOs seen near Big Ben and Westminster Abbey in London, England, days before the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton?

On April 19th, ten days before the Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton, a fellow Youtube user filmed a video of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) that appears to be morphing or shape-shifting in the midday sky. The objects were filmed over the Big Ben clock and Westminster Abbey, the location planned for the wedding ceremony.

The following two images are two separate frames captured from the video. The UFO(s) seems to be made up of three parts exhibiting a mist like cloud surrounding.

Here is the statement from the witness:

While visiting London with our family, my daughter spotted a small white 'thing' across London sky. We are standing with our back to Tower of 'Big Ben'. First we thought it was a parachute, but it was way to high up in the sky. As i zoomed in it looked like a cloud that changed shape. It stayed there for at least about 30 minutes. As the rest of the family wanted to proceed with the tour, i was not able to check how long it stayed there during the day. I lost sight of it. If you look closely you will also initally see a small white spot next to it in the first frames(top-left). What did I see? Is it just a cloud? Why did it stay so long in one place. Is there a scientific explanation? - Sony DV digital Handycam, 120x digital zoom: DCR-TRV24E 

Here is the video: