GLOBAL VOLCANISM: "What Did You Do To The Mountain" - Rumbling Africa Volcano Nyiragongo Has Goma Observatory Experts Concerned!

Nyirangongo volcano in new phase of activity.
© The Weather Network

April 11, 2016 - CONGO - The question I keep getting when I tell people that I jumped into Nyiragongo, an active volcano in the Democratic Republic of Congo is: "What did you do to the mountain!?"

It's an odd question, but it makes sense when you realize that Nyiragongo is suddenly undergoing a new, more active phase. And it's got the volcanologists at the Goma Observatory worried.

New activity in the crater over the last few weeks has spurred the scientists into action as a new vent has opened up on the ledge just above the lava lake. This was preceded by a series of earthquakes that knocked large rocks off the crater walls that I had only recently scaled.

The ledge that the vent opened on is the one that I didn't make it down to, but the rest of the team did. However, I did stand directly above the area in which it opened, but, at the time, I took no notice of the nondescript ground far below me. I had zero inkling that less then 10 days after I left, magma would boil out of a newly formed crack in the earth.

The vent has formed on the side of the caldera closest to the city of Goma at the base of the mountain. In addition, new fumoroles (gas and steam vents) have opened up on the flank of the volcano close to where lava erupted in the 2002 eruption. In that eruption, 147 people lost their lives and over a third of Goma was destroyed.

The eruption was not explosive like Mount St. Helens, but instead, effusive like Mount Kilauea in Hawaii. During the eruption of Nyiragongo, lava flowed down the slopes from cracks in the side of the mountain at speeds that reached 100 km/h. The chemical composition of the rock makes the lava extremely liquid.

The concern right now is that this active phase could be a signal that a new eruption is imminent.

Since the 2002 eruption, the city has expanded, but still lacks basic infrastructure that would allow quick evacuation. Goma simply is not a city that can be evacuated fast.

When I was there, only a few roads were fully paved and those were within the city core. The sprawling conglomeration of tin roofed shacks and cinder block buildings stretched haphazardly in every direction. Despite the efforts to rebuild the city after the long civil war, it is functional but struggling. Evacuation is simply not an option. This is why observation and early warning are critical to survival in the city.

The proximity of the city to the mountain is why Nyiragongo has been declared a Decade Volcano. These are 16 volcanoes identified by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) as being worthy of particular study in light of their history of large, destructive eruptions and proximity to populated areas. Essentially, it's a list of the most dangerous volcanoes on the planet.

The greater danger lurks under the water of Lake Kivu. Goma sprawls out along the northern shore of the lake and deep in its depths is a massive amount of carbon dioxide that is slowly building thanks to the volcano.

Think of it like a pop bottle with the top on. Open it up and a bit of gas may fizz up. Now, shake that bottle and pop the top. The resulting eruption of gas and liquid will end up soaking the room and you.

Lake Kivu is similar, only on a far more vast scale. The weight of the water above the gas-saturated deep layers acts as a top, keeping the gas in solution. However, if the concentration of carbon dioxide builds to a critical level, it could all come out of the lake at once.

This isn't likely to happen any time soon as the concentration is still too low. The danger is disturbance. If the volcano erupts and lava makes it to the lake, an eruption of the gas, known as a limnic eruption, could take place. That eruption would spill titanic amounts of carbon dioxide into the areas around the lake and potentially kill hundreds of thousands of people.


WATCH: Top 5 most dangerous volcanoes in the world.

It is an eerie feeling to see these pictures of the Nyiragongo crater and realize that I was standing on a volcano that was mere moments from stirring to life. And a terrifying feeling that I may end up returning to a city that is slowly being engulfed in a new eruption of burning, liquid rock. - The Weather Network.

GLOBAL VOLCANISM: Mount Nyiragongo In Congo Showing Signs Of Imminent Eruption - Aircrafts Cautioned Against Flying Over The Volcano!

 Mount Nyiragongo's lava lake has at times been the most voluminous known lava lake in recent history

March 25, 2016 - CONGO - Rwanda Red Cross has warned of a possible Nyiragongo volcano eruption in the near future, the country's daily The New Times has reported.

Nyiragongo is one of the eight volcanic mountains in the Virunga Massif. The volcano is located near the town of Goma in eastern DR Congo, close to the Rwandan border.

Press reports from Kigali, indicate that local researchers have reported that that since February 28, 2016 Nyiragongo volcano increased signs of imminent eruption.
The New Times quoted, Dr Dyrckx Dushime, the head of Red Cross in Rubavu District, saying that the active volcano has recently released magma from one hole to another of two kilometers that form smoke on the top of it.

He explained that the volcano now releases polluted gas in the air between 5000 and 50,000 tonnes, per day which include a lot of sand.

Although he said people should not panic, he however cautioned aircrafts against flying over the volcano for fear of engine damage.

Dushime also warned residents in neighbouring areas against using unclean water, especially from rain and to wash vegetables before cooking.

The newspaper also reported that Rwanda's Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs' personnel were monitoring developments in the Virunga Massif

The Nyiragongo volcano last erupted in 2002, causing a lot of damage in both countries and displacing about 400,000 people. - New Vision.

 

GLOBAL VOLCANISM: Satellite Spies Congo's Nyiragongo Volcano - Could Warn Of Eruption!

June 11, 2014 - CONGO, AFRICA - Italian scientists have successfully used data from an orbiting satellite six miles above the Earth to measure the temperature, thickness and volume of the lava in a fiery lake inside the 11,400-foot summit of the Nyiragongo volcano at in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They say the technique could be used to monitor volcanoes in remote spots across the planet.

Photo: The lava lake bubbling inside Nyiragongo. Credit: Cai Tjeenk Willink, via Wikimedia Commons.

The researchers, from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Catania, Italy, compared data collected from space by Meteosat, a weather satellite operated by a European research consortium.

The information was collected by an instrument called the Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager (SEVIRI), and it matched the results from data collected by a ground-based thermal camera.Their methods are detailed in this article in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

The lava temperature inside Nyiragongo’s lake can reach 2,200 degrees Fahrenheit.

The researchers previously used the same method in 2011 to measure the temperature of a lava fountain inside Mount Etna in Italy, but this was the first time the Congolese volcano had been measured from space. The ability to monitor Nyiragongo and spot an eruption early is important because the city of Goma and its million inhabitants are just 7.5 miles away.

Amazingly, intrepid researchers actually have climbed the volcano and visited the lava lake. Back in 1960, documentary filmmaker Haroun Tazieff made a a documentary, The Devil’s Blast, that revealed for the first time the glowing inferno. In 2010, the summit was visited by a team that included photographer Olivier Grunewald, who got to within a few feet of the lake to take these close-up images. - Discovery News.

GLOBAL VOLCANISM: NASA Satellite Detects Large Plume From DR Congo's Nyamuragira Volcano!

July 19, 2013 - DR CONGO - Recent NASA satellite images from 11 June 2013 show a thick steam and gas plume rising from a pit crater in the summit caldera of Nyamuragira volcano.

No evidence of lava close to the surface was found, while the lava lake in neighboring Nyiragongo remains well active and visible on the same images. Nyamuragira’s plume was rich in water vapor — which condenses rapidly in the humid tropical air — and sulfur dioxide, which lends a blue tint in natural-color satellite imagery.

Carbon dioxide, fluorine, and chlorine gas are also found in Nyamuragira lavas and likely present in the gas plume. Located near the eastern boundary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nyamuragira is one of Africa’s most active volcanoes.

If degassing magma was near the surface, then the intense heat would cause a bright red glow in shortwave infrared light. No such glow is visible atop Nyamuragira, but it is present on neighboring Nyiragongo Volcano, which has featured a lava lake for more than a decade.

The images were collected on June 11, 2013, by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8. In natural color (top), the rainforest is dark green, clouds are white, and the sulfur-rich volcanic plume is very light blue. Barren land at Nyamuragira’s summit and lava flows is brown or black.

In false-color, clouds are mostly white and volcanic plumes are cyan. Forest and other vegetation is bright green. Fresh lava flows from the 2011–12 eruption of Nyamuragira are black, and older lava flows appear as brown tendrils running down the mountain’s flanks. Agricultural fields in the southeast (lower right) corner of the image also appear brown. - Volcano Discovery.