4 hottest volcano events of 2009

Boy 2009 passed quite quickly, but it didn’t go without a blast, that’s for sure ! I’m gonna show you some really amazing stuff that happened during 2009, most of which you probably have no idea of, and this is the first one from that series.

4th place (honorable mention): Mayon, Philippines

_660943_fire300

It may have happened just a week ago, but it was spectacular nonetheless. Mayon has been keeping everybody on their toes, despite not technically erupting: 50.000 people have been evacuated because of lava fountains flowing freely downhill, and geologists reported they expect a major boom during 2010.

mayonphotoimage3

The sights it created may be absolutely stunning, but trust me, Mayon is not the place you want to be the following year.

mayon_lava1

3rd place: Redoubt, Alaska

mount-redoubt-eruption

Since the beginning of the year, Redoubt had us wondering; it seemed certain it will make a boom, and the only question was how big it will be. Well, it wasn’t that big really, but any volcanic eruption (especially in the US) is definitively an event. It was also what you can call the first “digital” eruption, with updates being constantly posted on twitter, among other channels.

redoubt2lg

redoubtplume

2nd place: Underwater eruptions, Tonga

tonga1

tonga2

The underwater eruptions were absolutely amazing, and good thing is no people were threatened by them. I posted some pictures when they took place, but it can’t hurt to post some of them again, right (if you want more, go for the link) ?

tonga3

tonga6

tonga7

tonga12

1st place: Sarychev peak, Russia

sarychev_peak_volcano_in_stereo

Yep, it’s old Mother Russia that gets this award, though I’m not sure it’s one you’d be happy to receive. It was big enough to be seen from the ISS, and they took some stunning pictures.

sarychev-peak-eruption-6-12-09-iss020-e-09048

The eruption absolutely stunned all flights above the Pacific over the Kuril islands for weeks and despite taking place practically in the middle of nowhere, everybody (well, that’s an exaggeration really) got a good look at it.

Written by



  • http://balatoni.wordpress.com Sandor

    I love Hungary – Its my favorite country ;-) I mostly like Budapest and the lake Balaton so I love to rear and hear about it. Great post

  • http://www.myfreeworldofwarcraft.com FreeWoW

    WoW! Those are freaking awesome!
    I especially love the water pics with black water/smoke shooting up. Thats crazy.
    Id be scared if I were in the city of that one volcano

  • Notyourbusiness

    LOL

Tags: , , , , ,

Subscribe for FREE!

Popular This Week

Drop us a line!

Tip us on news, scientific reports and studies, scientific advances, science art, interesting phenomena or any kind of science related material. Just write to andrei@zmescience.com.