Vesuvius

[bjdeming]

Per INGV's notice, it sounds like Vesuvius is swarming a bit but is well within normal limits and they're keeping the alert at normal levels.

Still, it probably should have its own thread for two reasons:

• To underscore what the boffins say about this not being connected to Campi Flegrei
• The fascination we have for it because of the Pompeii eruption in 79 AD

Mount Vesuvius is tricky to understand both in its own right and because it has been so extensively studied.

Some links to get started:

• INGV monitoring page (Italian) for the three volcanic threats to Naples
• Global Volcanism Program (GVP) page
• Eric Klemetti on "70 Years of Silence"
• A draft of my eBook chapter (uses authoritative references -- listed so you can explore them -- on background, the Pompeii eruption and also links to various information online including Civil Protection's "Plan Vesuvio" in case of emergency)

There are live cams galore online. Here are a couple videos I really like:

• Pompeii, by Zero One (follows the events as described by the paper referenced in my eBook chapter, which also explains how Vesuvius doesn't always go off this intensely):




But sometimes it does.

• The local Alpine Club climbing Vesuvius during winter, thirteen years ago (note -- when it went back to sleep in the 1940s, Italy did extensive tree planting on its slopes):

 

[bjdeming]

All is quiet. INGV shared a YouTube today in honor of the 1944 eruption. It's in Italian, but the visuals are spectacular.



This was one of the small-scale Vesuvian eruptions, believe it or not.

A larger one (but not Pompeii sized) occurred at the turn of the twentieth century. It's responsible for the current cone appearance (the surrounding caldera is from AD 79) and an American was there -- literally right on the summit with some pioneering Italian crazy people volcanologists.

He was an interesting fellow, though eccentric. When he learned that US newspapers were headlining his presence at the summit, he left, went down to Naples, sent a telegram to Mom to reassure her, and then went back up to the observatory. Vesuvius was violently erupting through all this. The Italian boffins hugged him when he returned -- they had figured he was running out on them.