Friday Flotsam: Visit Pompeii from home, National Geographic and the weekly Volcano Watch from Hawai`i

Its already Friday!

News!

Print of the Temple of Jupiter at Pompeii with a steaming Vesuvius in the background.

• You can now wander down the streets of ancient Pompeii from the comfort of your own home or office. Google Streetview now cover the streets of the city wiped out by the 79 A.D. eruption of Vesuvius in Italy. Now, some of the articles on the Pompeii streetview give lipservice to the current threat of Vesuvius to the modern city of Naples, my favorite being:

The authorities continually monitor Vesuvius these days, and estimate they’ll be able to give adequate warning if it’s ever in danger of erupting again.

Nothing like a good and vague statement about all the monitoring and mitigation around Naples.

• You might have noticed an announcement today that ScienceBlogs and National Geographic have now teamed up. Look for a lot more cross-pollination between the two – you can read all about it on Page 3.14.
• I don’t know about you, but I am getting awfully fond of Hawai`i 24/7‘s Volcano Watch series, brought to us by the scientists at HVO. This week’s article talks about volcano awareness around Hawai`i. There was also some other Hawaiian volcano news this week as the federal government declared a disaster for areas affected by vog. The vog has severely challenged plant growers near Kilauea since the sulfur dioxide emissions have risen over the last few years. They will now be eligible for federal money/loans to help mitigate against the vog.