Talk:Jabal al-Tair Island

Article name
Yemen's Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation refers to the island as Jabal al-Tair Island. It's also the most common use of the term across the internet. Of course, I'm just going on what I've been able to find, so I could be wrong. &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 05:05, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I hate to use Google but "official" sources from Yemen can use a bewildering array of names at times. Several similar versions have roughly equal numbers of hits.  Jabal al-Tair Island (lit. Al-Tair Mountain Island) seems a little long but as long as the abomination of "Jazirt Atta-Ir" that is making the rounds on the newswires is not used. —   AjaxSmack   05:15, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
 * It doesn't matter to me, just as long as we get it right. :) I've also seen it referred to as "Bird Mountain" and "Bird Island".  Can we find out what kind of bird species inhabited the island?  I also ran into some passing comments about how this island was a popular stopping point for vessels at some point. &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 05:19, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
 * It would seem that jazirah (meaning "island") would refer to the island and jabal (meaning "mountain") to the mountain but since it seems the entire island is the mountain, it will be interesting to see where this goes. —  AjaxSmack   05:15, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm going out on a wing here...but at-Tayr is Persian for the birds. :) But, according to the article on Altair, it's Arabic for "flying".  Can someone add the Arabic name to the article?  &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 05:30, 1 October 2007 (UTC)


 * The word in "Altair" is the active participle ṭā’ir = "flying". The word in Jabal al-Tair is Ṭayr. They are both from the word root ṭ-y-r = "fly(ing)". Anthony Appleyard (talk) 21:51, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

"Richter Scale"
A (cited) Reuters article indicated an earthquake of magnitude 4.3 in September of 2007. This was changed, in the Wikipedia article, to a mention of the "Richter scale." Most seismology data is reported to the general public as "magnitude", but both members of the press and Wikipedia writers like to add the term "Richter scale", which is largely obsolete. Earthquake magnitude is reported as a number indicating "moment magnitude," and it is simply incorrect to call that "Richter scale." If a cited news report or siesmological measurement says "magnitude", DO NOT call it "Richter scale." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.68.134.1 (talk) 15:59, 2 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I didn't see this comment before I recently added the (now corrected) wikilink for magnitude to Richter magnitude scale here. I didn't realize Richter was obsolete, sorry! -- M P er el  16:54, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Google
Incredible. This article is already appearing in Google results! From nothing a few hours ago to probably the best one-page resource on the island. Congratulations, everyone! --Dhartung | Talk 10:17, 1 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Indeed - well done us. Apologies for the edit conflicts - I think all of the information from various sources has been retained and integrated in the expanded version. -- !! ?? 10:43, 1 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I have added a few maps pinched from other articles, but we could do with a better one, picking out the island. A photo is probably out of the question, I suppose, but a map and/or satellite image would be great. -- !! ?? 14:42, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Type of Eruption
Looks more like a Fissure vent on the BBC film. Several 'fountains' of lava in a row at low pressure. Strange to have a Stratovolcano on a divergent boundary...or is it? 160.84.253.241 12:51, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Mountain infobox
Since most mountain/volcano articles have infobox mountain is there any objection to adding it to the article? &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 21:38, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Seems appropriate, although information has likely changed ... I wonder if the peak is still there. Perhaps mark as "as last reported" or some such. --Dhartung | Talk 22:26, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
 * It's already in the article, but I commented it out. Just wanted to let people know if they want to use it. &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 22:53, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Unsourced expansion from Yemen
The following text was unsourced expansion, inappropriately placed in Yemen:


 * The island is located about 80 miles (140 km) from Yemen. Yemeni Defence Ministry sources were quoted as saying the western part of the island had "collapsed" following the eruption and its naval ships were searching the surrounding waters for the missing soldiers who were stationed on the island.


 * The N.R.P. "Álvares Cabral" a Vasco da Gama class frigate, from the Portuguese Navy, part of the SNMG1, was the first ship belonging to the NATO maritime group to spot the eruption. The ship and her helicopter a westland lynx, code named Sonic, were the first to arrive and assist the Yemenite authorities in the search and rescue attempt.


 * Three earthquakes struck the tiny oval island around 7:27 a.m. EDT on 30 September, and were ranging between 4.3 and 4 on the Richter scale, according to the Yemeni Earthquake Center. The volcanic eruption spewed lava hundreds of metres into the air. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh flew to nearby Hudaidah port to observe the situation and gave the order to send rescue teams. Yemeni Coast Guard rescued 21 of the 29 Yemeni military personnel who were on the island when the volcano erupted, but they then sought outside help from a nearby six-ship NATO task force, which was only 26 nautical miles away when the eruption took place. The flotilla is known as NATO's Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), which its Web site describes as "a multinational seagoing Force, on task continuously giving NATO the ability to respond quickly and with flexibility to promote NATO's interests anywhere in the world."


 * Jabal al-Tair, meaning "Bird Mountain" , is one of a number of volcanos at the southern end of the Red Sea in the narrows betwen Yemen and Sudan. The island last saw an explosive eruption in 1883, according to the Washington-based Smithsonian Institute's Global Volcanism Program. The island is sometimes referred to as Jazirt Mount al-Tair. Yemen has had a military base on the island since its 1996 conflict with Eritrea over the nearby islands of Hanish and Jabal Zuqar. The island is located near a major shipping lane.

Placed here in case anyone wants to add and source any part of this. In particular I am unable to find sources for the Alvares Cabral claims. --Dhartung | Talk 22:24, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
 * (I sourced the involvement of the Cabral, but the details about the helicopter seem a little more than necessary.)--Dhartung | Talk 23:24, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Main page
This article is now listed on the Main Page under In the news. --Dhartung | Talk 23:24, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Coordinates
Could someone better skilled at Wiki edits than myself please add the coordinates of the island to this page? It's located at 15°33'0"N, 41°49'0"E (15.55°N, 41.82°E). I noticed a pointer to this page doesn't show up in the Wikipedia overlay for Google Earth. I am hoping this may help. Many thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.169.219.130 (talk) 05:04, 2 October 2007 (UTC)


 * In Google Earth and maps.google.com, the island doesn't show up at the satellite image at all, other than possibly as a dark blue area (see e.g. satellite image:, same as map: . The resolution in the area seems to be good enough that an island this size should show. Anyone got an explanation for this?--Niels Ø (noe) 12:27, 2 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Yes, see GVP: "Google Earth imagery does not show the island, but an overlay has been posted at the Google Earth Blog; turn on the Volcanoes layer to get the GVP balloon information." &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 12:46, 2 October 2007 (UTC)
 * That's not really an explanation, but thanks anyway.--Niels Ø (noe) 10:58, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I thought a link to the Google blog would suffice: "Unfortunately, there is no satellite photo for Google Earth for the island." Not sure what other explanation you are looking for. &mdash;Viriditas | Talk 09:03, 6 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Don't apologize; I apreciated your post. I wrote above: The resolution in the area seems to be good enough that an island this size should show. So why doesn't it? Maybe because I'm just wrong and the resolution is too low. Anyway, that's what I wondered about.--Niels Ø (noe) 09:28, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

Latest Eruption Status?
I've been trying to locate more recent information on just what the island is doing but I've not been able to find anything more recent than the 8th of December 2007. See: Volcano Blog

Has anyone else had any luck in running information down? Graham1973 (talk) 00:10, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

it looks to have stopped based on these  - second link suggest sattellite info ceased showing hotspots in june 2008. First link shows last eruption as 2008 - suggesting eruption ended in 2008 didn't continue into 2009 - so I've changed the info box. Think that seems correct though this photo dated as 07NOV08 (in the bottom right) still shows smoke rising from the vent. EdwardLane (talk) 21:02, 29 May 2011 (UTC)

Still garrisoned?

 * Jabal_al-Tair_island says "Yemen has maintained a military base on the island since 1996, following the dispute with Eritrea. There are two watchtowers for control and observation of the large warships, cargo ships, and oil tankers that pass by.". Has a garrison come back after the eruption? Are the 2 watchtowers still there? Anthony Appleyard (talk) 10:44, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Infobox island or infobox mountain?
One or the other or both? Viriditas (talk) 02:16, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Well for a while I thought it might be a Seamount but apparently not as it's above water level. I've manually removed the lines I inserted based on that original assumption. EdwardLane (talk) 23:26, 29 May 2011 (UTC)

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