Beat me to it - I was just about to post that link.

OMG - I am flying to Copenhagen on Monday - I hope I can get back home for Christmas!

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The BBC reports suggest that Katla could be a significant eruption, with potential climatic implications.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/12/02/katla-icelandic-volcano_n_1124934.html?ref=uk 

also, they are saying it could release billions of gallons of fresh water into the ocean; what would the impact to the THC be from that?

So, to summarise:

Could cool the global climate due to dust and Sulphur emissions
Could possible weaken the THC and Gulf Stream
Would add CO2 to the atmosphere, so would have a longer term warming effect

So, worth watching and discussing.

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Worth for monitoring the potential situation

also new developments in El Hierro, the pedra-pomes collected between many floating near Restinga bay on the Nov 29th are Basaltic

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2011/11/6410551435_c7e20f219a_z.jpg

not silica, wich is rare

updated hourly at Armand Vervaeck website

http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/

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The increase in Ketla's activity in terms of earthquakes is slight and is not new news I.e. it has been over the last few months or indeed possibly longer. It is building up slowly bu that process could take from days to weeks to months or even years. I wouldn't panic as it may not go for years. Having said that it could go tomorrow, as could Hekla - who knows!

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You might be safe or of course you might not be but "imminent" to a geologist might mean a fairly long timescale to most of us. Anyway. some alternative viewpoints:

"There is a bogus news story about Katla volcano. The bogus news are that Katla volcano is just few days from erupting. This is wrong. At the moment there are no signs that Katla volcano is about to erupt. There is currently a relative quiet in Katla volcano, compared to the activity several weeks ago" and 

http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2011/12/02/iceland-trying-to-calm-katla-volcano-eruption-fears-in-international-media/

Last major eruption in Europe was also at the begining was basalting floating pommes stone and delivered amazing submarine eruption in the Azores islando of Faial in 1957 "Capelinhos eruption" here some video of the time

http://youtu.be/Ewv_wazJhYY

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15917740

Article online from the bbc about what's currently happening off El Hierro island

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Some quite astonishing images taken during 2011 of volcanic activity around the world.

 

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/12/the-year-in-volcanic-activity/100209/

Excellent! Thanks for posting that link.

Some extraordinary and beautiful pictures there, always with the reminder that people living in those areas are affected or worse by the volcanic activity.

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Superb set of pics. Cheers!

Cleveland volcano in the Aleutians has erupted with enough force to generate ash warnings for aviators:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/12/alaska-cleveland-volcano-eruption.html

but it appears that although Cleveland has been quite active over the last ten years, eruptions tend to be single isolated events at intervals, and the ash warning is already being reduced to 'watch' status.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/alaskas-cleveland-volcano-sends-ash-cloud-15000-feet-sky

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Mount Etna has been reported erupting since wednesday with a new crater forming on the south east side.

 

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/ash-cloud-fears-italys-mt-etna-erupts-091406049.html

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Boris, a volcanologist who lives nearby, managed to capture some great footage and has also provided an account of this latest eruption

http://www.flickr.com/photos/etnaboris/6646027507/ 

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Impressive video

Thanks for posting

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Now Etna is having another go - video 18 March

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnnf28GBOn0

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A spectacular video has emerged showing Mount Etna firing hot lava and ash into the sky.

Europe’s highest and most active volcano on the southern Italian island of Sicily erupted for the fifth time this year on Sunday.

Molten lava poured down Etna’s slopes on during the eruption, which lasted an-hour-and-a-half.

Ash landed close to villages at the foot of the volcano but no damage was reported. The eruption did not cause any interruption to air traffic

 

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/mount-etna-erupts--amazing-video-captures-moment-volcano-blew-its-top.html

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Mount Etna is at it again and has been blasting flaming lava and ash into the air in its sixth eruption this year.

The eruption is the 24th in a series that began in January 2011.

Rock blew off the southeast side of the mountain, which is only 10 miles from the Zafferana Etnea village and 18 miles North of the town of Catania on the Italian island of Sicily.

 

No warnings of danger have so far been issued by authorities and Catania International Airport has remained open.

Eruptions from Etna, which reaches 11,000ft, have been caused by the African tectonic plate sliding below the Eurasian plate.

The Eurasian plate is melting as it moves downwards and hot magma is being forced up to the surface.

Etna's most powerful recorded eruption was in 1669 when the mountain top was destroyed and lava ran in to the Mediterranean Sea.

It is difficult to predict when the mountain will erupt next.

 

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http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/  regarding El Hierro

Joke wrote an Email to chief scientist Ramon Ortiz (advisor IGN, researcher CSIC and sometimes spokesperson in Pevolca on scientific issues) asking him how possibly the Sumatra earthquake could influence the El Hierro eruption effects (a stain was observed after the arrival of the earthquake waves at El Hierro). This is Mr. Ortiz answer :

“Cuando hay un terremoto tan grande como los del dia 11 y 12 (8.6 y 8.2 en Sumatra y 6.9 en Baja California), las ondas sismicas recorren varias veces el planta y al atravesar los sistemas magmaticos producen una liberacion de gas (disfusion rectificada) que en algunos casos puede llegar a disparar un erupcion, aunque en general solo producen mayor emision de gas (similar a cuando se agita una botella de Cava) y por eso aumento la emision de gas en la restinga y aparecio la mancha”

Translation
“When an earthquake as large as those on April 11 and April 12 occur (8.6 and 8.2 in Sumatra and 6.9 in Baja California), seismic waves travel several times through the earth and magmatic systems produce a release of gas (disfusion rectificada) that in some cases can trigger an eruption (…), although in general only produce a greater emission of gas (similar to when you shake a bottle of Cava (Spanish Champagne)) and thus the increase the emission of gas in La Restinga and a stain appeared”


I also found this link on the same site showing a timelapse of Etna

Thanks - that's interesting stuff.

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Article in The Telegraph pointing to the increased signs of a potential eruption from the Katla caldera in Iceland.

There are signs of high activity beneath the Katla caldera in Iceland – a possible sign of an impending eruption. This should prompt extensive high-level contingency planning across Europe, as Katla has the potential to be much more damaging than Eyjafjallajökull was.

On average the volcano has erupted every 60 years, but the last eruption was in 1918.

Last July, a flood of water burst from beneath the ice cap on top of Katla, washing away a bridge. This indicates that an extra pulse of heat reached the base of the ice. Since then, there have been erratic movements of the surface of the volcano, measured by precise GPS instruments, and bursts of high earthquake activity beneath Katla’s caldera. These observations imply that magma has risen to shallower depths.

Katla’s eruption in 1918 produced five times as much ash as the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull one. A major eruption could result in large parts of Iceland being flooded as snow and ice melted; significant poisoning of Icelandic agriculture; destruction of property; and, of course, the grounding of aircraft across Europe.

If enough material is ejected it could even have a cooling effect on the global climate for a few years. A precedent for that would be the 1783-84 eruption from the fissure of Laki, which is part of the same volcanic system, Grímsvötn, that erupted last year. This was a very large eruption of 15 cubic kilometres (3.6 cubic miles), compared to the fraction of a cubic kilometre ejected in 2010, and had a huge impact on the northern hemisphere, reducing temperatures by up to 3 C. This had catastrophic effects far beyond the shores of Iceland (where at least a fifth of the population died), with thousands of recorded deaths in Britain due to poisoning and extreme cold, and record low rainfall in North Africa.

Large eruptions such as this occur only every few hundred years on Iceland, but the potential for danger is significant. Even if deaths from famine are less likely today, a recent study of the potential effects of the air pollution caused by such an eruption estimates that it could lead to between 52,000 and 228,000 fatalities throughout Europe.

 

Full article here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/9195178/Iceland-volcano-and-you-thought-the-last-eruption-was-bad....html

 

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But Katla has its denialists too

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/peddling-fear-of-an-icelandic-volcanic-eruption/

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However Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano, which lies some 50 miles (80 km) to the southeast of Mexico City has started showing signs of life.

The volcano's lava dome started to expand on Friday, suggesting fresh magma may be pushing upwards. It spewed red-hot fragments and lightly dusted cars and streets in some small towns in the state of Puebla.

Schools in at least five small towns near the volcano called off classes after Mexico's National Center for Disaster Prevention raised the alert level for the 5,450-meter (17,900-foot) Popocatepetl late on Monday.

 

 

A new risk map that reveals the hazards most likely to occur in the future on Popocatepetl, considered the planet's riskiest volcano -- has been developed by the University at Buffalo volcanologist Michael F. Sheridan, Ph.D., and colleagues at UB and the National University of Mexico (UNAM).

http://www.buffalo.edu/news/hires/popohazvert.jpg

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Who says riskiest? and measured by what criterion? e.g.

Yosemite - every 3/4 m years, but capable of wipng out life worldwide

Katla - every few hundred years, capable of causing starvation in Europe

Etna - every decade, could destroy a town or two in Sicily

and if, as I suspect, Popocatapetl is being nominated for 'most risky', it's probably on a combination of frequency, violence and closeness to inhabited areas, there are certainly other strong contenders in Indonesia such as Mount Merapi.

Anyway, here's a list of 10 to keep your eye on, with data and some nice photos:

http://www.travelvivi.com/top-10-most-dangerous-volcanos-worldwide/

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Thanks for this

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Yosemite?

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