July
When July opened, the alert at Taal as lowered as both seismicity and gas emissions were down – and no eruption ever occurred. However, the media did get a hold of “unrest” at Hekla in Iceland with the usual sensationalized results – but just to keep everybody on their toes, Katla chose July to produce a small jokulhlaup, likely caused by a very minor eruption under the Myrdalsjökull. I spent much of July in the field, so a couple guest posts kept us entertained along with a great Q&A from Dr. Clive Oppenheimer, including questions on the ongoing Nabro eruption (see above). However, I did have time to debunk some terrible “science” that claimed an eruption had occurred at Pisgah Crater in California – we would revisit this sort of nonsense in August with the “steaming hills” of Santa Barbara. Oh yes, and Etna erupted (twice!)
Image: Nabro in Eritrea erupting in early July, 2011. Image courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory.