Ethiopia’s long-dormant Hayli Gubbi volcano erupted into life this week after roughly 10,000 years of inactivity. It left a trail of destruction in nearby villages and caused flight cancellations after ash plumes disrupted high-altitude flight paths. The villages within the district of Afdera within the Afar region were covered in ash, where residents were left coughing and livestock food and water were compromised, officials say. Since Tuesday, the volcano has subsided, while the dramatic event was captured in space. (Picture: AP)
The eruption has alerted experts because it highlights how long-dormant volcanoes can suddenly awaken. For the reason that Afar Right, which is home to the Hayli Gubbi, is certainly one of East Africa’s most geologically lively regions, real-time monitoring is crucial. The satellite imagery allows researchers to trace the eruption’s scale and trajectory, which may reveal more in regards to the volcanic region in the realm. (Picture: Nasa Worldview)
What happened?
Hayli Gubbi erupted at around 8:30am UTC on Sunday, in accordance with the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC). Explosive activity continued through the morning and early afternoon, sending ash plumes as high as 45,000 feet (13.7 kilometers). Nonetheless, the VAAC has reported that the explosive phase of the eruption has stopped. In response to Volcano Discovery, a field report revealed that within the explosion massive volcanic blocks, some estimated at 100kgs, were thrown greater than 50 meters from the crater, while medium to smaller projectiles scattered beyond that, and a thick carpet of ash and dirt prolonged across a large radius. The fresh ash was dark-brownish in color. (Picture: Nasa Worldview)
Researchers say that is the primary time Hayli Gubbi is understood to have erupted within the Holocene, which is a geological epoch that began at the top of the last ice age around 11,700 years ago and typically, if a volcano hasn’t erupted within the Holocene, it is taken into account extinct. Hayli Gubbi is the southernmost volcano within the Erta Ale Range, a series of volcanoes within the Afar region. (Picture: Nasa Worldview)
The range makes up the East African Rift System, where a tectonic plate that stretches most of Africa is splitting in two. And, although Hayli Gubbi was dormant for millennia, the Erta Ale volcano from which the range takes its name has been constantly lively since a minimum of 1967. In July, it erupted in a shower of ash. At the identical time, satellite data revealed ground movement showing an intrusion of magma from Erta Ale had pushed greater than 18 miles below the surface, under Hayli Gubbi. (Picture: Worldview via AP)
The European Space Agency mapped out the trajectory of the Hayli Gubbi eruption using the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite, showcasing the day of the eruption and the next day. They wrote: ‘The primary (pictured) shows the plume of sulphur dioxide billowing from the volcano on the time of the eruption or shortly after. Here, the plume is beginning to drift eastward over parts of the southwestern Arabian Peninsula.’ (Picture: ESA)
‘The second image (pictured), captured on November 24, shows how the plume dispersed north-eastward along the coasts of Yemen, Oman and the Arabian Sea.’ No casualties have been reported, but one local official expressed concern over the impacts of the eruption on farmers and livestock within the region. Chatting with the Associated Press, Mohammed Seid, an area administrator, said: ‘While no human lives and livestock have been lost up to now, many villages have been covered in ash and consequently their animals have little to eat.’ (Picture: ESA)
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