Nabro Volcano Eritrea

According to NASA strong volcanic activity continued at Nabro volcano, Eritrea in late June, 2011, almost two weeks after the volcano sprang to life after a series of earthquakes shook the Eritrea-Ethiopia border region.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite captured this true-color image at 7:25 UTC (10:25 a.m.) local time on June 24, 2011.

Shortly after midnight local time on June 13, the volcano spewed a large ash plume about 8 miles (15 km) high and disrupted air traffic over parts of the Middle East. Prior to that day, there had been no eruptions of this volcano during historic times. The initial eruption contained large amounts of ash as well as very high levels of sulfur dioxide. By June 20, the Volcanic Ash Advisory Center reported that the sulfur dioxide eruption continued.

In this image, the large red hotspots represent areas of increased surface temperature, an expected result of volcanic activity. A very large, white, billowing plume can be seen rising from near the hotspots and blowing to the southwest. The difference in the character of the eruption can be seen by comparing this image to the MODIS Image of the Day for June 21 (image captured on June 19), when the large plume was primarily dark brown in color.

On June 22, a report from the Eritrean Ministry of Information, stated that the ash and lava emitted from the Southern Red Sea region volcano has created a new land mass measuring hundreds of square meters.

With every passing day and without any signs that the flight ban over Europe might be soon over the world economy is loosing billions of dollars. Air travel is the biggest driver of economic activity with a clear positive correlation between the two. Hence, both tend to increase or decrease together.

According to Brussels- based Eurocontrol, the European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation, 70% of Europe’s air travel has been brought to a still stand by the Icelandic Volcano.

This has a similar impact on all other regions world wide as incoming and outgoing traffic and trade volumes are connected on both sides of the travel origin and destination equation. The following video shows world air traffic flows between continents during a normal 24 hour day of normal operation.

Considering that 70% of European air traffic is missing it would be interesting to see how the current flow across our globe might look like.

Geologists in the region report that a huge amount of lava has spewed in the remote volcanic complex in Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression bordering Eritrea.

According to the report, the eruptive activity has started since late June and the heat from the spewing lava was first detected by space-based thermal sensors.

The area is believed to be home to mainly nomadic herders. So far there have been three other eruptions of the Manda Hararo volcanic field since the first volcanic activities in modern times began there in August 2007.

However, the Ethiopian News Service announced that the current eruption is being accompanied by dense plumes of sulphur dioxide gas.

According to the news, the eruption killed five people and hundreds of livestock and forced 50,000 nomads to flee, although there is no detail if the eruption has struck any of the nomadic herders in the area.

This active volcanic area is an extension of the East African Rift Valley, the oldest and best defined rift in the Afar region on the Eritrean-Ethiopian border.

The exact mechanism of the rift formation is still under debate among scientists.

Evidences suggest that the East African Rift System (EARS) assumes elevated heat flow from the asthenosphere (the liquid layer of mantle), which is causing a pair of thermal “bulges” in central Kenya and the Afar region on the Eritrean-Ethiopian border.

It is believed that the EARS is one of the geologic wonders of the world, a place where the present tectonic forces could possibly create new plates by splitting apart old ones.