* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Mount Merapi

Blobrana · L

The Terra satellite took this picture on May 14, 2006.

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In this image, clouds have collected at Merapi’s summit (red square), which is a fairly common occurrence. To the east of Merapi is Semeru Volcano (yellow circle), which also showed signs of unrest in May 2006, emitting plumes of volcanic ash.
Semeru Volcano is Java’s highest volcano, rising 3,676 metres above the nearby coastal plains.

Blobrana · L

The new dome at the peak of Mount Merapi increased its growth on Monday and more lava oozed down its slopes, but residents were not ordered to evacuate.
A total of 67 lava flows were recorded flowing from the new dome at the peak since Sunday night.
The outflow of lava and deadly gas clouds means that there is less chance of a massive explosion.

Blobrana · L

Molten lava from a magma chamber 1.5 kms below Mount Merapi has begun flowing. This signals that one of the world's most active volcanoes is near to erupting.

"It's correct, the molten lava from Mount Merapi was seen flowing at about 2 a.m. Thursday. It went to the south direction with a radius of 200 metres" - vulcanologist Subandriyo, head of Yogyakarta Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology.

Blobrana · L

A new lava dome on the peak of Mount Merapi suggests a pyroclastic eruption is immanent.

The new dome formed by lava outflow has been steadily expanding for more than a week, also the frequency of the volcano's multi-phased earthquakes, signal high magma activity inside the mountain.

On Tuesday, 156 multi-phased earthquakes were recorded inside the volcano, and for the first six hours of Wednesday, 44 were recorded.
Mas Ace Purbawinata, a geologist at the vulcanology office headquarters in Bandung, West Java, said that the high frequency of quakes signalled that magma inside the mountain continued to exert a high pressure on its clogged crater.

"Reports I have been given show that this new lava domes continues to grow, and when it has reached an unstable form, it may collapse and results in an outflow of both pyroclastic flows, more popularly known as heat clouds, and magma. It will not have an explosive eruption but it will be more in the form of a lava outflow, and more dangerously accompanied by the swift descent of heat clouds" - Mas Ace Purbawinata.

Merapi remains on a standby alert status, one step below an alert, which would require the mandatory evacuation of more than 29,000 people living nearby.
In its last large eruption in 1994, pyroclastic flows known locally as "shaggy goats" careened down the volcano at more than 100 kilometres per hour, reached temperatures of 600 degrees Celsius.

Blobrana · L

Merapi Volcano, Indonesia was imaged on two different opportunities recently by the ASTER spaceborne instrument following a special observation request. A daytime image (15m/pixel) was collected on 26 April 2006 at 03:05 UTC and a night time thermal infrared (TIR) image (90m/pixel) was collected on 28 April 2006 at 15:10 UTC.

The daytime image shows a minor plume, however most of the summit is obscured by a small cloud. The nighttime image shows a clear summit with obvious (albeit low-grade) thermally-elevated pixels (max = 25.9 C). These pixels are clustered near the summit with a lesser anomaly (max = 15.5 C) approximately 650m to the southwest and down slope from the summit.

Source

Blobrana · L

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) received information from the International Charter "Space and Major Disasters" that Mount Merapi, Java, in the Republic of Indonesia (a 2,968 meter high mountain) showed signs of volcanic activity. The mountain was observed on April 29, 2006 (Japan Standard Time, JST) using two onboard sensors of the Advanced Land Observing Satellite "Daichi" (ALOS), the Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type 2 (AVNIR-2) and the Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR), to provide observation data to the Charter.

This is the first time in the world to observe the same area using a satellite onboard optical sensor and aperture radar simultaneously, and that enabled them to identify the characteristics of the area with higher precision.

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The above image were taken by the Advanced Visible and Near Infrared Radiometer type 2 (AVNIR-2) and the Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) at 11:40 a.m. on April 29, 2006 (Japan Standard Time, JST.)

According to the Directorate of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, Indonesia (DVGHM), the crater cracked, and volcanic fumes were rising about 100 meters high from the crater on April 11. The AVNIR-2 observation data clearly shows the fumes as well as volcanic ash at the crater and its surrounding area.

The PALSAR data also clearly shows the undulating geographical character as radar reflection spreading radially from the crater to the foot of the mountain. The west side of the crater (on the left side of the crater in the image) is dark meaning weaker radar reflection, and that is considered to indicate different characteristics of the land surface.

The Merapi Mountain was named by combining the words "merah" (meaning "red") and "api" (meaning "fire"), and it is one of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia. There was a massive eruption in 1969 and it has repeatedly erupted once every two to three years since 1992. Every time lava erupts from the crater, it causes frequent damage including a collapse of a lava dome and destruction from a pyroclastic flow or a landslide.

Blobrana · L

A light volcanic ash rain on Thursday morning blanketed Gemer village in Dukun sub-district on the slope of Mount Merapi strengthening the local people`s belief that the volcano will blow its top soon.

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Blobrana · L

Blobrana · L

Indonesia has prepared to evacuate thousands of villagers after Mount Merapi a volcano in the heart of densely populated Java Island started spewing thick clouds of smoke and hot lava.

The 2911-meter high Mount Merapi overlooks the ancient city of Jogjakarta, the capital of Central Java, located approximately 40 kilometres south.
Authorities have placed the volcano on Orange Code, or the second highest alert level, following fears of an eruption due to an increase in the number of tremors.

"Due to a high level of tremor activities and the spewing of the lava, Mount Merapi is now on alert status" - Dali Ahmad, volcanologist from the Directorate of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation.

The military had deployed more than 200 trucks and buses to evacuate villagers living on the slopes of Merapi near Jogjakarta, 460 km west of the capital, Jakarta.
Mount Merapi's increased volcanic activity prompted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to order preparations for evacuation.

The summits of two large volcanoes in Central Java, Indonesia are shown in the centre of this radar image. Lava flows of different ages and surface roughness appear in shades of green and yellow surrounding the summit of Mt. Merbabu (mid-centre) and Mt. Merapi (lower centre). Mt. Merapi erupted on November 28, 1994 about six weeks after this image was taken.
The image is centred at 7.5 degrees South latitude and 110.5 degrees East longitude and covers an area of 33 kilometres by 65 kilometres
Position: Latitude: 7.54 South Longitude: 110.44 East

The stratovolcano`s last major eruption was in 1994 when more than 60 people were killed. One of its most destructive eruptions was in 1930, when 1,300 people were killed. Thousands of villagers were also evacuated in January 1997 when Merapi became more active.
Indonesia sits astride the geologically active Pacific "Ring of Fire" and has more than 100 active volcanoes.

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