mitigation
eklemetti | July 20, 2008
It has been a while since we've seen a Chaiten update, but today there is a report that LanChile has had to cancel flights to Puerto Montt due to ash from the volcano. Chaiten has been erupting since early May, so now we're almost 2 1/2 months into the eruption - quite a feat for such a large eruption! The report also mentions that some residents of the town of Chaiten have been able to visit their homes to collect belonging and the government might just try to rebuild the town in an entirely new location. The USGS plans to send geologists to the volcano later in 2008 or early 2009 to survey…
eklemetti | July 4, 2008[wp_caption id="" align="alignnone" width="360" caption="Llaima 2008"][/wp_caption]
The current eruption at Llaima in Chile is causing some concern about flooding in the Rio Calbuco near the volcano. The lava flows are melting snow on the volcano and this is being exacerbated by heavy rain in the area as well. The eruption seems to have waned some according to the governor of the region. This all follows the evacuations of people near the volcano and the red alert issued by the Chilean government. (The picture of Llaima is from the January 2008 eruption.)
eklemetti | July 1, 2008
Update 7/2/08: Sounds like the lava flows from Llaima are increasing ... or that there are more of them. The lava flows, as mentioned below, pose a threat to melt the ice on the volcano and produce lahars, or at least flooding.
Lots of news this morning about a new eruption at Llaima in Chile. The composite volcano is in south central Chile (the lakes region) about 430 miles south of Santiago. This is at least the third time this year that Llaima has erupted, and this time a lava flow is heading down the volcano towards the Rio Calbuco as far as 800 m downslope. The fear is the lava flow…
eklemetti | June 29, 2008
Almost 9 months since its last eruption, Ruapehu is keeping New Zealanders guessing about its next move. Brad Scott of GNS Science (NZ) reports that the crater lake at Ruapehu is reading unusually warm temperatures and high gas emissions, well after geologists there would have expected after the last eruption. Their conclusion doesn't seem to point to an imminent eruption, but rather just "unrest" at the volcano. Ruapehu is a fairly unique situation, mitigation-wise, as the volcano is a popular tourist destination for its skiing, but is also a relatively active volcano. This means that…
eklemetti | June 25, 2008
Since the "surprise" eruption of Chaiten in southern Chile (still erupting away), I'm sure there has been a lot of talk about better monitoring and predictions for volcanic eruptions. Now, we don't know the full extent of the facts, but usually an eruption of the magnitude of Chaiten (VEI 6, i.e., BIG) don't just go off out of the blue. There are precursors, such as seismicity under the volcano, uplift of the land over the volcano (think of the bulge of Mt. Saint Helens prior to the 1980 eruption), increasing emissions of volcanic gases such as carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide, increase in…
eklemetti | June 23, 2008
Things have quieted down on the volcano-news front lately. I did catch a report that Fuego (Guatemala) is having small explosions (stombolian eruptions; link in Spanish), producing small (100s m-tall) ash columns along with some throwing incandescent blocks 30-50 meters from the vent. Just the typical noises expected at an active volcano. In the meantime, you can check out the volcanic hazards information that the Guatemalan survey (INSIVUMEH) has posted on their website. I'm always a fan of a country trying to educate their citizens of the real dangers of volcanoes and how to prepare.