Re: sunrise tomorrow on eruption of Piton de la Fournaise
Posted by Canie on January 16, 2002 at 19:37:14:

Hey Chris! We like Volcanos too! I have yet to see an erupting one and I hope that Hawaii's Kilauea will remain active long enough for me to get over there!

Isn't that Volcano on Reunion Island? Ahh Yes. Indian Ocean. New activity - I get the weekly reports and the latest says this:
PITON DE LA FOURNAISE Réunion Island, Indian Ocean 21.23°S, 55.71°E; summit
elev. 2,631 m; All times are local (= UTC + 4 hours)

The eruption that began at Piton de la Fournaise on 5 January, continued
through 15 January. There was a decrease in tremor during 7-11 January,
with as few as 8 small earthquakes recorded per day at about 1-km depth. On
12 January tremor increased by a factor of two in comparison to the
previous day and earthquakes were recorded about 4 km beneath the Plaine
des Osmondes, near the N caldera wall. During the evening of 12 January, a
new fissure opened at the base of the rampart in the lower part of the
Plaine des Osmondes. Lava flowed from the fissure down into the Grand Brûlé
close to the northern rampart. On 14 January lava flowed across the
National Highway on its way to the ocean, entering it at 1540. By 15
January tremor was stable and about 100 earthquakes were recorded over a
24-hour period on the N side of the volcano. At 0600 a swarm of
low-frequency earthquakes began near Bois-Blanc, a village on the island’s
E coast, NE of Plaine des Osmondes.

Background. The massive Piton de la Fournaise shield volcano on the island
of Réunion is one of the world's most active volcanoes. Most historical
eruptions have originated from the summit and flanks of Dolomieu, a
400-m-high lava shield that has grown within the youngest of three large
calderas. This latter caldera is 8 km wide and is breached to below sea
level on the eastern side. More than 150 eruptions, most of which have
produced fluid basaltic lava flows within the caldera, have been documented
since the 17th century. The volcano is closely monitored by the Piton de la
Fournaise Volcano Observatory, one of several operated by the Institut de
Physique du Globe de Paris.

Sources: Observatoire Volcanologique du Piton de la Fournaise
http://volcano.ipgp.jussieu.fr:8080/reunion/Eruptions.htm,
Le Journal de l'Ile
http://www.clicanoo.com/articles/article.asp?id=21559
Piton de la Fournaise Reports from the Bulletin of the Global Volcanism
Network http://www.volcano.si.edu/gvp/volcano/region03/indian_w/pdlf/var.htm