Saturday, November 30, 2013

Hubblesite on Ison; Now dust in the wind?; A trail of questions


November 29, 2013

ISON: Not Dead Yet?

by Tracy Vogel

Something seems to have survived ISON's encounter with the Sun ... but the question is what?

After fading in the sights of two NASA observatories and vanishing entirely from a third yesterday, astronomers speculated that ISON had met its demise. But then a faint smudge appeared in the images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). This could have been nothing more than a bit of leftover dust, but the fan-shaped feature didn't disperse, and began to brighten.

Observers at NASA's Comet ISON Observing Campaign have more analysis, but the gist is that no one is sure yet what, if anything, survived perihelion. It could be a fragment of ISON's nucleus. It could be too small to last more than a couple of days. Or there's a chance that it might have enough mass to grow back a tail and eventually appear in Earth's night sky.

We'll have to wait and see. HUBBLESITE

AND THEN GONE AGAIN NOW...

sadly as mere dust in the wind?

I close my eyes
Only for a moment and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes with curiosity

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind

But in ISON's wake - a trail of questions! NASA Comet Ison Observing Campaign says: 



Comet C/2012 S1 ISON in the Cor-2 images on the NASA STEREO Ahead spacecraft.
[Image credit: NRL/NASA]

Comet C/2012 S1 ISON in the Cor-2 images on the NASA STEREO Behind spacecraft.
[Image credit: NRL/NASA]

Pretty cool, huh?! Now I'm sure you have even more questions, and I promise we're almost there but first I want to be sure you understand what you're looking at here. 

These images are "coronagraph" images, just like the SOHO/LASCO images we've been seeing, and the Sun is represented by that white circle in the center. But the spacecraft that took these images are in very different locations in space -- on the opposite side of the Sun, in fact! I recommend you check out this image that will show you exactly where the spacecraft were relative to the comet when these movies were made. (Keep in mind also that the SOHO spacecraft is close to Earth, so we have three unique views of ISON, which is just fabulous!) I also want to quickly note that these images have been processed to make them look "pretty", and have been rescaled, colorized and compressed. Thus these should not be used for robust scientific analysis -- you will need the actual "FITS" image data files for that. These are just a very beautiful look at a truly spectacular comet! 


















OK, Q and A time...
  • What happened to comet ISON? Is it still alive? Great question, and we recommend you find a comet expert to answer that. ... [crickets] ... Sigh, OK I guess that's us. Well we don't have a very clear answer yet but there are a couple of things we can say for sure. First, during its passage through the Sun's million-degree corona, its dusty/gassy coma got very much burned away, though clearly some fine dust survived (which is the fine cloudy stuff you see being pushed away from the Sun). Second, something did emerge from the corona. It could be a comet, or just the remains of what once was. We can't tell right now. 
  • If there is a nucleus, how big is it?
    There is no way we can tell this from the spacecraft data we have right now. We will need to wait for Hubble to be able to observe the comet, which will be in mid-to-late December, I believe. What I can tell you is that however big ISON's nucleus was a few weeks ago, it is much smaller now!

  • Will it be naked eye visible? When? How bright?
    This is definitely the toughest question but also the most frequent. We still don't know if it will be naked eye but based on its current brightness in the LASCO images - which is around magnitude +5 and fading - it does seem unlikely that there will be much to see in the night sky. I suspect that some of the outstanding astrophotographers around the world will be able to get something, but I doubt it will be as spectacular as before perihelion. I hope I'm wrong though.
    I'd guess that a few observers will begin picking up ISON in a couple of days but if - and I do mean IF - comet ISON becomes naked eye visible, it won't be until near the end of next week (say, Dec 6 or 7). Please don't get your hopes up, but we all need to keep in mind how ISON keeps surprising us.
...


But what about those seemingly unnoticed but evident monumental CME's in the images blasting away into our solar system? You wonder...

Friday, November 29, 2013

The Resurrection from the Dead of Comet ISON!

COMET ISON LIVES! Cancel the funeral. Comet ISON is back from the dead. Yesterday, Nov. 28th, Comet ISON flew through the sun's atmosphere and appeared to disintegrate before the cameras of several NASA and ESA spacecraft. This prompted reports of the comet's disintegration. 

Today, the comet has revived and is rapidly brightening. Click to view of a SOHO coronagraph movie of the astounding flyby:
Before the flyby, experts had made many predictions about what might happen to the comet, ranging from utter disintegration to glorious survival. No one predicted both.

Karl Battams of NASA's Comet ISON Observing Campaign says "[Colleague] Matthew Knight and I are ripping our hair out right now as we know that so many people in the public, the media and in science teams want to know what's happened. We'd love to know that too! Right now, here's our working hypothesis:

"As comet ISON plunged towards to the Sun, it began to fall apart, losing not giant fragments but at least a lot of reasonably sized chunks. There's evidence of very large dust in the long thin tail we saw in the [SOHO coronagraph] images. Then, as ISON plunged through the corona, it continued to fall apart and vaporize, losing its coma and tail completely just like sungrazing Comet Lovejoy did in 2011. What emerged from the Sun was a small but perhaps somewhat coherent nucleus that has resumed emitting dust and gas for at least the time being."

Battams emphasizes that it is too soon to tell how big the remnant nucleus is or how bright the resurgent comet will ultimately become. "We have a whole new set of unknowns, and this ridiculous, crazy, dynamic and unpredictable object continues to amaze, astound and confuse us to no end. We ask that you please be patient with us for a couple of days as we analyze the data and try to work out what is happening." SpaceWeather

Typhoon Yolanda/Haiyan death toll mess up

Fortun: Bone up Noy, there are no coroners in RP

Dr. Raquel Fortun, Filipino Forensic Expert
  • Written by  Tribune 
  • Friday, 29 November 2013

  • FORENSIC EXPERT BARES NOY’S INCOMPETENCE, IGNORANCE
A respected and well-known forensic expert in the Philippines whose services were tapped by the Department of Health (DoH) to help identify the bodies in typhoon-ravaged Tacloban but had to pull out after being insulted by her counterparts from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), yesterday lashed out at President Aquino, saying his latest pronouncement on the slow body count had only exposed the extent of his incompetence and ignorance.
In her twitter account which had been going viral, forensic expert, Dr. Raquel Fortun, said Aquino’s statement defending the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) for its slow and low “Yolanda” casualty count, had only exposed the President’s gross incompetence and ignorance.
In his statement the other day, Aquino was quoted saying that the NDRRMC had been relatively slow in its body count as it had to make sure of its data before releasing any figure of the dead.

The belief is that Aquino had ordered the NDRRMC director to bring down the death count, as Aquino had publicly estimated the death toll at 2,000 only.

“It’s because you have to make sure that there is the certification or a coroner’s report before it is made official,” Aquino said in reference to the supposed body-count procedure.

However, Fortun rebutted him in her twitter account, saying Aquino obviously does not know what he is talking about.

“Certification of a coroner’s report is needed before a body is counted?” Fortun said.
“Do you know Mr. President that we don’t have coroners in the Philippines?” She pointed out.
When a follower in her account told her that it could have been what Aquino’s advisers told him, Fortun retorted: “Shhh! His advisers also don’t know that.”

Fortun also lamented at how Aquino is running his government saying it was much better during the time of former President, now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. “Arroyo’s term may not have been spanking clean. But at least there was a sense that we were governed,” she said.

Fortun also noted a major difference between Aquino and Arroyo saying Arroyo was not afraid to face and confront any problem,but that Aquino is too allergic to hear any negative news.
“With former President GMA, you throw all the problems at her and she will deal with them. But the one who is sitting now is allergic to bad news,” Fortun said.
“So, if your boss does not like bad news, you are out of place with him. Thus you also end up delivering only good news to him,” she said.

Having stayed in Tacloban for five days, and witnessing for herself the miseries of the people there, Fortun could only sympathize with Yolanda’s victims.

“It’s only 27 days before Christmas and still we have no Christmas tree yet. But for some people, they still have no homes to stay and worse, some of them have lost their loved ones,” Fortun stated in her account.
The “official” death toll coming from the NDRRMC continues to go much too slowly.
Three weeks after super typhoon “Yolanda” smashed into the Visayas region, government authorities continued to recover corpses in the affected areas as the official death toll being reported by the NDRRMC is piling up.
The Task Force Cadaver, headed by Senior Supt. Pablito Cordeta of the Bureau of Fire Protection, on Wednesday retrieved 34 more bodies in Tacloban City.
So far, the task force has already retrieved a total of 2,038 corpses from the hardest hit city since its activation last Nov. 15 or a week after “Yolanda” struck.

The official death toll of the NDRRMC yesterday stood at only 5,560 with 60 additional confirmed deaths in Eastern Visayas. The number of injured people remained at 26,136 and those missing still 1,757. 

Comet ISON disintegrated...but is coming back now!

CANCEL THE EULOGY: Comet ISON flew through the sun's atmosphere on Nov. 28th and the encounter did not go well for the icy comet. Just before perihelion (closest approach to the sun) the comet rapidly faded and appeared to disintegrate. This prompted reports of ISON's demise. However, a fraction of the comet might have survived. 

Click on the image below to see what emerged from Comet ISON's brush with solar fire:

In the movie, Comet ISON seems to be falling apart as it approaches the sun. Indeed, researchers working with NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory said they saw nothing along the track that ISON was expected to follow through the sun's atmosphere. Nevertheless, something has emerged. Whether this is a small scorched fragment of Comet ISON's nucleus or perhaps a "headless comet"--a stream of debris marking the remains of the comet's disintegrated core--remains to be seen.

An earlier movie from SOHO shows more of the comet's approach:
The movie spans a day and a half period from Nov. 27th (01:41 UT) to 28th (15:22 UT). We see that Comet ISON brightened dramatically on Nov. 27th before fading on Nov. 28th. That brightening might have been a disintegration event, in which the comet cracked open and spilled its vaporizing contents into space. SpaceWeather

Comet ISON is down, but not out!
From: EarthSky
NOVEMBER 28, 2013. It has been … a ride. Comet ISON rounded the sun today at 18:45 UTC/ 1:45 p.m. ES, and appeared to be disintegrating. Now this evening the comet is appearing brighter again. Will some remnant be visible from Earth in early December, as ISON pulls away from the solar glare? It hardly seems likely at this point that we’ll get a very bright comet. But we might get something. And, whatever happens now, hasn’t it been great so far?
By Thursday evening, at least one scientist – Karl Battams at NASA’s Comet ISON Observing Campaign – wrote on Twitter:
Alright we’re calling it, and you heard it here first: We believe some small part of #ISON’s nucleus has SURVIVED perihelion.
The bad news about ISON came earlier today. Karl Battams – who has almost singlehandedly informed the world about this comet – wrote shortly before perihelion:
Last night [Nov. 27], I was optimistic that comet ISON would continue its dramatic brightening trend, and soar into the negative magnitudes. This morning it is indeed with a heavy heart that I show you the image [above], in which we clearly see that ISON has faded rather dramatically in the past few hours. It is still likely around -1 magnitude, but this number is falling fast.
… and now I’m reluctantly thinking it seems very unlikely to survive at this point. I do think it will reach perihelion, and reach the NASA SDO field of view, but based on what I see it doing right now, I will be very surprised to see something of any consequence come out the other side.
BUT… at every single opportunity it can find, Comet ISON has done completely the opposite of what we expect, and it certainly wouldn’t be out of character for this dynamic object to again do something remarkable.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Watchers hold their breath on Comet ISON whose fate is known today; why the world is so intrigued.

Note: you can also follow ISON’s current progress as seen from SOHO at their website!
The tracking plan for the Solar Dynamics Observatory on November 28th as ISON passes through perihelion. (Credit: NASA/SDO).
The tracking plan for the Solar Dynamics Observatory on November 28th as ISON passes through perihelion. (Credit: NASA/SDO).
For over the past year since its discovery, pundits have pondered what is now the astronomical question of the approaching hour: just what is ISON going to do post-perihelion? Will it dazzle or fizzle? In this context, ISON has truly become “Schrödinger’s Comet,” both alive and dead in the minds of those who would attempt to divine its fate.

Recent estimates place ISON’s nucleus at between 950 and 1,250 metres in diameter. This is well above the 200 metre size that’s considered the “point of no return” for a comet passing this close to the Sun. But again, another key factor to consider is how well put together the nucleus of the comet is: a lumpy rubble pile may not hold up against the intense heat and the gravitational tug of the Sun!
Current updated light curve for ISON. Be sure to check with NASA's Comet ISON Observing Campaign for the latest updates. (Compiled by Matthew Knight on November 24th, 2013).
Current updated light curve for ISON. Be sure to check with NASA’s Comet ISON Observing Campaign for the latest updates. (Compiled by Matthew Knight on November 24th, 2013).
But what are the current prospects for spotting ISON after its fiery perihelion passage?
If the comet holds together, reasonable estimates put its maximum brightness near perihelion at between magnitudes -3 and -5, in the range of the planet Venus at maximum brilliancy. ISON will, however, only stand 14’ arc minutes from the disk of the Sun (less than half its apparent diameter) at perihelion, and spying it will be a tough feat that should only be attempted by advanced observers.

Note that for observers based at high northern latitudes “north of the 60,” the shallow angle of the ecliptic might just make it possible to spot Comet ISON low in the dawn after perihelion and before sunrise November 29th:
ISON Perihelion 1730UT Fairbanks
ISON post-perihelion at sunrise on November 29th as seen from Fairbanks, Alaska. (Created using Starry Night Education software.

Three Comet ISON scenarios from NASA's viewpoint:


...and why Comet ISON is particularly intriguing:

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Pope attacks 'tyranny' of markets; urges Catholic Church renewal

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis attacked unfettered capitalism as "a new tyranny" and beseeched global leaders to fight poverty and growing inequality, in a document on Tuesday setting out a platform for his papacy and calling for a renewal of the Catholic Church.
The 84-page document, known as an apostolic exhortation, was the first major work he has authored alone as pope and makes official many views he has aired in sermons and remarks since he became the first non-European pontiff in 1,300 years in March.
In it, Francis went further than previous comments criticizing the global economic system, attacking the "idolatry of money", and urged politicians to "attack the structural causes of inequality" and strive to provide work, healthcare and education to all citizens.
He also called on rich people to share their wealth. "Just as the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill' sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say 'thou shalt not' to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills," Francis wrote in the document issued on Tuesday.
"How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses 2 points?"
The pope said renewal of the Church could not be put off and said the Vatican and its entrenched hierarchy "also need to hear the call to pastoral conversion".
"I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security," he wrote.
Italian theologian Massimo Faggioli greeted the work as "the manifesto of Francis" while veteran Vatican analyst John Thavis called it a "Magna Carta for church reform".
"The message on poverty sets Pope Francis on a collision course with neo-liberal Catholic thought, especially in the United States," said Faggioli, an expert on the Second Vatican Council and reform in the Catholic Church.

Comet ISON nears Sun now!


A NASA spacecraft has captured its best video yet of the icy Comet ISON streaking toward a Thanksgiving Day encounter with a sun, a close shave that the comet might just not survive.
The latest video of Comet ISON comes from NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft, one of several sun-watching space observatories tracking the comet's close encounter with the sun on Thursday (Nov. 28).

"This movie from the spacecraft's Heliospheric Imager shows Comet ISON, Mercury, Comet Encke and Earth over a five-day period from Nov. 20 to Nov. 25, 2013," NASA officials wrote in a video description. "The sun sits right of the field of view of this camera." SPACE.COM

Pacquiao politically harassed after Macau fight?

Pacquiao staggered by BIR tax punch

By 

Wednesday, November 27th, 2013

GENERAL SANTOS CITY, Philippines—One of the world’s richest athletes, boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, is fighting out of the ring with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) over a P2.2-billion tax delinquency case.

“My lawyers will eventually settle that issue with the BIR,” said Pacquiao, who returned on Monday to a hero’s welcome in his hometown directly from Macau after his masterful conquest of Mexican-American Brandon Rios in a welterweight bout.

The BIR issued a warrant of “distraint” early this year against the bank accounts of the eight-division boxing champion after it said he failed to remit taxes amounting to P2.2 billion to the government on his earnings from top-billed prizefights in the United States in 2008 and 2009.

Under the National Internal Revenue Code, the issuance of the warrant is allowed as a civil remedy to collect taxes from delinquency.

The amount being demanded by the BIR is much bigger than the P1.8 billion in total assets and net worth declared by Pacquiao, who is also Sarangani representative, in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

Court case

Pacquiao did not pay the amount or protested the BIR assessment, but instead filed a case in the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) in Quezon City to nullify the warrant.

Last week, the CTA issued a “status quo ante” order restraining both parties from engaging in any action against each other pending a review of the case. It will issue a ruling on Dec. 5.

In a press conference late Tuesday afternoon, however, Pacquiao unleashed punches against the BIR, insisting that his conscience is clear and that all his tax liabilities with the government were properly paid. He appealed to the agency to lift the warrant.

“There are many crooks in the government whose bank accounts and properties were not subjected to garnishment,” he said in Filipino. “I had absorbed many blows just to earn money and give pride to the nation, but this is what happened.”

Read more: Inquirer.Net 


Pacquiao floored in tax fight; "Harassment" he says.
From Sports.Yahoo!

Manny Pacquiao punches Brandon Rios in their welterweight boxing bout in Macau on November 24, 2013
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Manila (AFP) - Philippine boxing hero Manny Pacquiao said Tuesday authorities had frozen all his domestic bank accounts over allegations of unpaid taxes from lucrative fights in the United States, leaving him financially paralysed.

The shock announcement came just two days after Pacquiao, 34, resurrected his boxing career with a unanimous points decision over American Brandon Rios in Macau."This is harassment," the former eight-division world champion said in an interview on ABS-CBN television, as he disclosed for the first time a freeze order issued by the Philippines' Bureau of Internal Revenue in recent months.
The victory, which Pacquiao dedicated to the victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan that claimed thousands of lives in the Philippines this month, added to his lustre among millions of ordinary Filipinos.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Comet ISON vs. The Solar Storm - NASA Report

Last clear photo of Ison taken from Earth as it approaches the Sun?
"I took this picture of Comet ISON on Nov. 24th at 6: 25 UT from the Teide Observatory," says Juan Carlos Casado. "The comet was over the distant island of Gran Canaria above a sea of clouds about 1 hour before sunrise and only 16° from the sun. The exceptional atmospheric conditions of Teide Observatory allowed me to capture the image."

Nov. 24, 2013:  In 2007, astronomers were amazed when a solar storm hit Comet Encke.  NASA STEREO spacecraft watched as a CME (coronal mass ejection) struck the comet head on and ripped off its tail.

On Nov. 28th, Comet ISON will pass through the sun's atmosphere, flying little more than a million kilometers above the sun's surface. It will be ~30 times closer to the sun than Encke was in 2007 and more likely to encounter a ferocious solar storm.
The same thing could be in store for Comet ISON--only worse.
"For one thing," says Angelos Vourlidas of the Naval Research Lab and a participant in NASA's Comet ISON Observing Campaign (CIOC), "the year 2007 was near solar minimum. Solar activity was low. Now, however, we are near the peak of the solar cycle and eruptions are more frequent."
"I would absolutely love to see Comet ISON get hit by a big CME," says Karl Battams, an astronomer at the Naval Research Lab who also works with the CIOC. "It won't hurt the comet, but it would give us a chance to study extreme interactions with the comet's tail."
CMEs are magnetized clouds of plasma hurled into space by the explosions of sunspots.  The gas inside a CME is not very dense, so its impact would not shatter a comet's core. The fragile tail is another matter. Comet tails are as gossamer as the CMEs themselves, so the interactions can be intense and unpredictable.
"The CME that ran over Comet Encke back in 2007 was slow, barely creating a pressure pulse by compressing the solar wind ahead of it," notes Vourlidas. "It was this compression which caused the Encke's tail to fly off."
He believes that Comet ISON would experience something more dramatic. "Any CME that hits Comet ISON close to the sun would very likely be faster, driving a shock wave with a much stronger magnetic field.  Frankly, we can't predict what would happen."
Comet ISON entered the field of view of STEREO-A's Heliospheric Imager on Nov. 21st.  Coincidentally, Comet Encke is there, too. Presently, the two comets are being gently buffeted by solar wind and their tails are wagging back and forth accordingly.
splash
The Heliospheric Imager on NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft is tracking Comet ISON as it plunges toward the sun. In this movie, which spans a two day period from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22, 2013, the sun is off-screen to the right. Coincidentally, Comet Encke is present too.
If the sun erupts, both comets could be engulfed by the same CME.  This would turn the two comets into solar probes.  Like wind socks, they would sample the storm from two widely separated locations, giving researchers a rare 3D view of a CME's inner structure.
Comet ISON will be passing over the sun's equator on Nov. 28th on the same side of the sun where a group of active sunspots was recently clustered.  In other words, says Battams, "we're going to be in the 'hot zone' for CMEs."
NASA's entire fleet of solar observatories will be watching when ISON takes the plunge.  This includes STEREO-A and STEREO-B, the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and the Solar and Heliophysics Observatory (SOHO), which NASA operates along with the European Space Agency. If a CME strikes the comet, all of the spacecraft are likely to see what happens.

Mayon and Yellowstone also trembling

Mayon Volcano. AFP file photo

Mayon Volcano Bulletin, Nov. 23, 2013

Mayon Volcano’s (13.2500°N, 123.6833°E) seismic network recorded five (5) volcanic earthquakes during the past 24-hour observation period. Steaming activity and crater glow could not be observed due to thick rain clouds that covered the summit. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission on 25 October 2013 was measured at an average of 84 tonnes/day. Ground deformation survey (precise leveling) on the 2nd week of November 2013 showed slight deflation of the edifice compared to August 2013 survey, with the volcano still slightly inflated compared to January 2010 baselines. 
Mayon Volcano’s alert status remains at Alert Level 1, which means that it is at abnormal condition.  Although this means that presently no magmatic eruption is imminent, it is strongly advised that the public refrain from entering the 6-kilometer radius Permanent Danger Zone (PDZ) due to the perennial life-threatening dangers of rockfalls, landslides/avalanches at the middle to upper slope, sudden ash puffs and steam-driven or phreatic eruptions from the summit. Active stream/river channels and those identified as perennially lahar-prone areas on all sectors of the volcano should also be avoided especially during extreme weather conditions when there is heavy and prolonged rainfall. DOST-PHIVOLCS maintains its close monitoring of Mayon Volcano and any new development will be communicated to all concerned stakeholders.


The most dangerous volcano in the U.S. roars to life.

Yellowstone trembles again - new earthquake swarm underway


Yellowstone Volcano

A new earthquake swarm is currently underway at Yellowstone National Park, USA. According to the earthquake list of University of Utah, a new series of relatively stronger earthquakes started on November 23, 2013. Almost all of them are located approximately 19 km (12 miles) NNE of West Yellowstone, MT.
Most noticeable earthquakes are M 3.3 that struck on November 23 at 20:47 UTC (13:47 local time) and M 3.1 that struck on November 24 at 07:18 UTC (00:18 local time).
There are still 7 days when the new YVO monthly update report with more data will be available.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Answers to some questions raised about those volcanoes erupting

Seven Volcanoes In Six Different Countries: Your Questions Answered

Chris Carrington
The Daily Sheeple
November 22nd, 2013
Erupting Mount Etna, the largest and most active volcano in Europe.

My article yesterday: Seven Volcanoes In Six Different Countries All Start Erupting Within Hours Of Each Other has raised a great deal of interest. Here at The Daily Sheeple and on other sites who have kindly republished it, many readers have asked questions. So, I’m going to have a go at answering some of them.

This is bulls*%t, the volcanoes are just doing what volcanoes do.

It’s not bullshit, but you are correct that it’s what volcanoes do. Volcanoes are vents, when the pressure builds up the volcanoes release a mixture of steam and gases, sometimes rocks and molten rock (lava), to relieve the pressure build up.

According to the Smithsonian Institute, there are some 1,511 active volcanoes on the planet. Active is defined as a volcano that has erupted at some point during the last 10,000 years.

The Smithsonian states that on average there are 60 eruptions a year, but that between 45 and 75 would be considered within normal parameters. Today, at this moment 34 volcanoes are actively erupting. The Smithsonian also states that up to 20 volcanoes erupting on a given day would be within the normal parameters.

The reason the daily figure is such a large proportion of the yearly figure is simply because some volcanoes are always erupting. Stromboli and Kilauea are good examples of this, though there are others included in the daily count.

So, based on the Smithsonian figures, we are well above the daily amount of expected eruptions. It was having seven distinct and not constantly erupting volcanoes erupting within hours of each other that grabbed my attention yesterday.

So volcanoes contribute to global warming like humans do?

Yes and no. Volcanoes spew out a massive amount of gases, many of them on the global warming ‘hit list’ so yes, they contribute to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere BUT, this is more than offset by the cooling effect of the gases, ash and particulate matter which lowers the mean global temperature. You can read about various volcanic gases here.
The Mount Pinatubo eruption, which climaxed with nine hours of eruption on June 15, 1991. On June 15, millions of tons of sulfur dioxide were discharged into the atmosphere, resulting in a decrease in the temperature worldwide over the next few years.(source)
The Mayans said it would end in fire…

They also mentioned floods, and I think they got the date wrong. I am not familiar with all the Mayan prophesies so I think I should stick to the bits of science I understand.

It’s the End Times, it’s Gods will

I can’t comment on that.

You need a tinfoil hat, everything’s a conspiracy?

I’m not saying that, not at all, though Evan Pugh Professor Richard Alley of Penn State did once say in a televised lecture that “if volcanoes communicated they could take over the world”. His work in ice core analysis has provided much of the information we currently have about how volcanoes have affected our climate in the past.

What was the biggest eruption of all time?

The Siberian Traps eruption some 250 million years ago . In recorded history the largest eruption was Tambora in 1815.
It was so big, in fact, that it canceled summer. That’s right, no summer. So much ash was thrown into the atmosphere when Tambora exploded in 1815 that it effectively blocked out sunlight and solar radiation, reflecting it back out away from our planet, which started getting kind of chilly and cloudy as a result. Thus, 1816 became the year without a summer. Way off in Europe and the United States crops failed, and people starved, while back in Indonesia 10,000 people were killed nearly instantly by lava flows and toxic fumes. The overall death toll from the explosion and resulting tsunami was 92,000 (not counting the death of an entire season). (source)
Is this uptick in activity anything to do with comet Ison?
In my opinion no, but I’m not an astrophysicist, actually I’m not any kind of scientist so what I should say is I don’t know.

Ison is continuing its nose-dive towards the Sun. I don’t think there is enough solid matter left for it to influence volcanic activity at such a distance. There would be no gravitational effects for example.
As an aside, did you see this shot of Ison’s tail? It’s so long it would cover the distance between the earth and the Moon 21 times over. (source)

tail_strip

Is the increase in solar flares or sunspots to blame?

An increasing number of scientists are starting to look at the influence that activity on the Sun plays on the Earth’s geological processes and climate. Many now agree that the number of sunspots can affect climate on Earth, but no conclusions have yet been reached on if they can also have an effect on volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Research in the Earth’s orbital cycles and the effect they have on crustal processes is further advanced than the sunspot/geology research.  These orbital cycles move us closer, or further away from the Sun depending on where we are in the cycle so it looks like the Sun itself could have an effect on geological processes in its own right.

They are called Milankovitch cycles and although they were described more than a century ago, their existence was only finally confirmed in 1976. You can read more about them here.

Pole shift is the cause

There is no evidence that terrestrial pole shift has ever occurred. The drifting and coming together of the continents is well documented, as is their drifting apart again over a period of millions of years. Terrestrial pole shift where the continents physically move suddenly and violently is not evidenced anywhere in the geologic record at this point.

Magnetic pole shift does occur, has always occurred, and will continue to do so. This is evidenced in the geologic record.

Science has not yet found a connection between magnetic pole shift and volcanic eruptions but that’s not saying they won’t do so in the future.

You are an alarmist, a few minor volcanoes erupting will not affect anything.

You think? Well that’s your right. In my opinion there is nothing alarming about pointing out that volcanic activity has increased and continues to increase.

As stated above, the Pinatubo eruption in 1992 reduced global temperatures for years. It doesn’t have to be one large eruption to do that, enough small ones will have the same effect.

Our climate moves in cycles, always has and always will, and at this point we are in a cooling cycle. Add to that the research that points to sunspot activity causing cooling, and then add on the cooling caused by vulcanism and the result is a distinct possibility of a more profound cooling than might have otherwise been expected.

The government says nothing, warns of nothing, so we have to research and read and find out for ourselves. Many people don’t physically have the time to find out for themselves, they are too busy working every hour God sends to feed their families. That’s where alternative news websites come in.

Now, if I’m wrong, and we get all toastie warm…great, fantastic, I hate the cold. If, however, this is a trend that’s set to continue, then sharing what I believe to be correct information is not just the right thing to do, it’s something I feel obligated to do.

Delivered by The Daily Sheeple

Contributed by Chris Carrington of The Daily Sheeple.