Originally Posted by: Saint Snow

 

 

I was in Naples last Monday and visited Pompeii. Astonishing place.

My understanding (and I also watched a documentary a few months/a year ago) is that the whole Bay of Naples area is a giant Caldera, and the entire area has lifted 2m in the past few years as the magma chamber builds (IIRC, it had only risen 2m in the preceding 60 years)

 

Oh, and I was on Sicily on Wednesday, a few days before Etna cranked the pyrotechnics back up.

Jealous? Me?

Too right!

Originally Posted by: Saint Snow

 

 

Not sure what exactly you're jealous of, but if it's Pompeii, then all I can say is try to do it. It's an amazing place.

And get a good tour guide, as they will make your visit. Ours wasn't great, but still conveyed enough to have me absolutely staggered. The scale of the place was overwhelming enough (it's surprisingly massive), but immerse yourself in the facts (eg, it was buried under 10m - yes, metres - of ash and pumice) and it's simply staggering. It was a 'bucket list' thing for me, and actually surpassed expectations. 

But Naples was a absolute dump. We only drove through it, and some parts might be nice, but if you're going to visit, I'd recommend staying further afield, like in Sorrento or along the Amalfi coast. Or, as we did, visit on a cruise.

Sorrento is nice, we werethere for New Year about 5 years ago, direct coach from Naples airport avoiding the city, Circumvesuviana railway to Pompeii and Herculaneum, buses along the spectacular corniche road to Amalfi.

Glad to hear that you enjoyed Pompeii though when we were there then we felt Herculaneum was even better - the part you can see (most is under the modern town) was less crowded and very well restored whereas restoration of Pompeii seemed to be a matter of putting up scaffolding and a'No entry' sign! The previous boss i/c restoration has however been sacked for diverting funds and the project is now under control of an army man, though.

Off-topic, but 40 years ago we stayed in Naples and then moved on to Palermo. Naples hotelkeeper - You're going to Palermo? But they shoot people in the street!. Palermo hotelkeeper - You've come from Naples? And you haven't been robbed!

Stromboli very active today and this evening. It seems one person has been killed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48857422

Edited by user 03 July 2019 19:39:14(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Originally Posted by: Lionel Hutz

 

I would very much recommend a visit to Naples. So many cities in Europe are almost like open air museums, beautiful but entirely for tourists. Naples is a stunning city but not entirely conquered by tourism. 

30 years ago, stayed in Naples before taking train on to Palermo, not without a thought for the Campi Flegrei in western Naples where the old caldera was heaving up and down by a metre or two. Apparently the upper strata are relatively strong and managed to restrain the magma moving around underneath - for now.

Innkeeper in Naples "Going to Palermo? They shoot people in the street there!"

Innkeeper in Palermo "From Naples? and you haven't been robbed?"

I would have asked for payment and a byline but she seems happy enough to supply the footage for free.

Askja has been a little grumpy this week over in Iceland

https://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/vatnajokull/

Edited by user 10 November 2019 21:31:40(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Originally Posted by: doctormog

The suggestion is that the swarm is tectonic in nature rather than volcanic but it is worth monitoring in coming weeks.

Nothing official but I've read differently. The pulsating nature of the swarm is more indicative of magma movements.

Originally Posted by: Saint Snow

We haven't had a big, climate-impacting eruption for a long while, have we?

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective the swarm near the Askja volcano is not especially likely to provide one either.

There does seem to be more of a pattern develops to the swarm but the significance of that remains to be seen. I will target much further judgement until I hear from the experts at the IMO. Perhaps things are developing but the tremor data I am looking at do not really scream “eruption” http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/ask.gif

It is however, pardon the pun, a fluid situation.

Originally Posted by: doctormog

 

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective the swarm near the Askja volcano is not especially likely to provide one either.

There does seem to be more of a pattern develops to the swarm but the significance of that remains to be seen. I will target much further judgement until I hear from the experts at the IMO. Perhaps things are developing but the tremor data I am looking at do not really scream “eruption” http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/ask.gif

It is however, pardon the pun, a fluid situation.

One source I've read is this is most likely a dyke intrusion and another source says that the officials at the imo ate meeting to discuss what is happening.