Scientist says volcanic eruption in Congo is imminent close to city of half million

October 14th, 2009 Congo and Angola officials to suspend deportationsKINSHASA, Congo — An Angolan official says his country and neighboring Congo have agreed to suspend thousands of deportations. Angolan Deputy Foreign Minister Georges Chicoty said Tuesday that the countries will let Congolese refugees remain in Angola, and Angolan refugees remain in Congo.

October 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have suggested that a real tsunami may have inspired the legend of Atlantis, with evidence coming from islands close to Greece.he islands that make up the small circular archipelago of Santorini, roughly 200 km southeast of Greece, are what remain of what once was a single island, before one of the largest volcanic eruptions in human antiquity shattered it in the Bronze Age some time between 1630 B.C. to 1550 B.C.

October 9th, 2009 Montserrat volcano spews ash, residents wear masksSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Rock falls from a spewing volcano stirred up more volcanic ash Friday on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, which lost half its population after a devastating eruption last decade. Dozens of small earthquakes accompanied ash plumes that have billowed up 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) this week, prompting officials to distribute masks to residents, said James White Jr., acting director of the Disaster Management Coordination Agency.

October 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have found that seismic forces have twisted an Italian supervolcano's interiors, giving scientists an unprecedented glimpse deep into the feature's explosive plumbing-and a better shot at deciphering when the next one might blow. The now fossilized supervolcano last erupted about 280 million years ago, leaving behind an 8-mile-wide (13-kilometer-wide) caldera, which was recently discovered in the Italian Alps' Sesia Valley.

September 21st, 2009 MELBOURNE - A significant volcano eruption in Australia is 'well overdue' and emergency authorities must better prepare themselves and the wider community to respond to it, the recipient of the prestigious Geological Society of Australia (Victoria Division) Selwyn Medal for 2009 has warned. Internationally-respected Melbourne geologist and Geological Society of Australia member, Associate Professor Bernie Joyce will receive the Selwyn Medal Thursday at the Geological Society of Australia's (Victoria Division) annual Selwyn Symposium 2009.

September 21st, 2009 SYDNEY - A scientist has said that a volcanic eruption is "well overdue" in Australia from the past 3,000 years and there are hundreds of volcanoes that could cause trouble, from South Australia and Victoria through to Queensland. According to a report by Fairfax Digital Network, Melbourne geologist Bernie Joyce has made the warning.

September 18th, 2009 LONDON - A team of geologists is trying to gather data in an attempt to understand how global warming will increase the explosivity of volcanic eruptions. As increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels warm the planet, the problems associated with melting ice won't just raise sea-levels; they will also uncap volcanoes.

August 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - NASA scientists have placed about a dozen monitoring 'spiderbots' inside the volcanic crater in Mount St Helens in the US, which are high-tech devices that can detect an impending eruption. Mount St. Helens is one of the most active volcanoes in the US.

August 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists is all set to study an island in the process of rebirth after a volcanic eruption destroyed life on it recently. When Alaska's Kasatochi Volcano erupted on August 7, 2008, it virtually sterilized Kasatochi Island, covering the small Aleutian island with a layer of ash and other volcanic material several meters thick.

August 8th, 2009 LONDON - In a new research, scientists have determined that the use of geo-engineering to slow global warming may increase the risk of droughts. Methods put forward include reflecting solar radiation back into space using giant mirrors or aerosol particles.

July 30th, 2009 LONDON - Astronomers have detected a new mysterious bright spot on the planet Venus, which might have been caused by volcanic activity, turbulence in the planet's atmosphere, or charged particles from the sun. According to a report in New Scientist, amateur astronomer Frank Melillo of Holtsville, New York, first spotted the new feature, which is brighter than its surroundings at ultraviolet wavelengths, on the planet's southern hemisphere on July 19.

July 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has determined that glaciers are the reason behind seismic activity and earthquakes in Iceland. The study was carried out by Kristin Jonsdottir, Roland Roberts, Veijo Pohjola, Bjorn Lund, Zaher Hossein Shomali, Ari Tryggvason, and Reynir Boovarsson from the Department of Earth Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

July 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Climate model simulations by a team of scientists has suggested that Indonesia's Toba supervolcano, when it erupted about 74,000 years ago, triggered a 1,000-year episode of ice sheet advance, and also may have produced a short-lived "volcanic winter", which drastically reduced the human population at the time. Previous climate model simulations of the eruption have been unable to produce the glaciation, and there are no climate observations to support the volcanic winter.

June 30th, 2009 Scientists lower Alaska volcano threat levelANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaskans can put away their dust masks and spare air filters, for now, because Mount Redoubt seems to have cooled off since its last major eruption nearly three months ago. The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Tuesday that seismic activity has slowed under the volcano and it's possible that eruptions have stopped.

May 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists at the University of Leeds in the UK have uncovered a previously unknown giant volcanic eruption that led to global mass extinction 260 million years ago. The eruption in the Emeishan province of south-west China unleashed around half a million cubic kilometers of lava, covering an area 5 times the size of Wales, and wiping out marine life around the world.