Mt. Redoubt, March 30, 2009: Photograph taken during observation and gas data collection flight on March 30, 2009. Photo by Heather Bleick.
Courtesy Alaska Volcano Observatory/USGS
Scientific American has put together an interesting slide show of images from the Mount Redoubt eruption.
The volcano has moved to a more steady, but less explosive, eruption pattern.
And there are web cams of the volcano available here and here.
Mt. Redoubt's eruption in 1990: A dramatic, mushroom-shaped eruption column rises above Mt. Redoubt on April 21, 1990. Clouds of this shape, which are produced when the upper part of an eruption column attains neutral buoyancy and is spread out above the troposphere-stratosphere boundary, are common during powerful explosive eruptions.
Courtesy USGSAlso be sure to check out the Alaska Volcano Observatory's page on Mt. Redoubt's activity.
Tags : A little something called "volcano monitoring"
in Earth and Space Science, Earth Structure and Processes, Scientific Inquiry, and Forces of Nature
Last night, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal criticized government spending authorized by the stimulus bill, calling particular attention to "something called volcano monitoring." Hey, $140 million is a lot of money, and what does it get us? Turns out volcano monitoring is actually kind of a big deal.
Fluffy cloud of water vapor, or engine-clogging agent of doom?: Taken from Alaska Airlines jet on July 20, 2008. This photo of Alaska's Okmok volcano was taken from 37,000 feet up, looking south from about 15 miles to the north. Scientists estimate the top of the ash cloud was at 20,000 ft.
Courtesy Phil Walgren, Alaska Volcano Observatory (USGS) and Alaska Airlines
It teaches us a lot about earth processes, of course, but some folks aren't swayed by talk of scientific advancement.
An argument for everyone is that monitoring enables authorities to plan and implement evacuations when necessary.
"The USGS has issued several warnings over the past 10 years, though predicting the timing and size of eruptions remains a difficult task.
Volcano monitoring likely saved many lives — and significant money — in the case of the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines (where the United States had military bases at the time), according to the USGS.
The cataclysmic eruption lasted more than 10 hours and sent a cloud of ash as high as 22 miles into the air that grew to more than 300 miles across.
The USGS spent less than $1.5 million monitoring the volcano and was able to warn of the impending eruption, which allowed authorities to evacuate residents, as well as aircraft and other equipment from U.S. bases there.
The USGS estimates that the efforts saved thousands of lives and prevented property losses of at least $250 million (considered a conservative figure)."
Still not convinced? Here's another benefit: volcano monitoring keeps our air routes safer, too. See, a pilot can't easily tell the difference between an ash cloud and a regular cloud. But ash clouds can damage flight control systems and kill jet engines. Don't think that's really a big problem? Some 10,000 passengers and millions of dollars' worth of cargo are ferried by US aircraft over the North Pacific every day, and there are 100 potentially dangerous volcanoes under those air routes.
Suddenly "volcano monitoring" doesn't seem like a goofy piece of esoteric research...
Columbia's Nevado del Huila region
Courtesy USGS/R.L. SchusterThe eruption of a volcano in southern Columbia has claimed the lives of at least 10 people and officials fear the death toll will rise.
Nevado del Huila is the highest volcano in Columbia, towering at 17,602 feet. Early last year It came to life after being dormant for more than 500 years.
The volcano is located in a remote area of southeastern Columbia about 150 miles south of Bogota. A number of isolated villages surround the mountain, and thousands were evacuated earlier this week for fear of an impending eruption.
When the eruption finally happened yesterday, it triggered two large landslides along the Paez River. Seven people are still listed as missing and the region remains on high-alert. But the locals have good reason to be nervous. In 1994 several hundred people were killed by landslides from Nevado del Huila induced earthquakes. And nine years before that a nearby volcano named Nevado del Ruiz erupted and killed more than 25,000 people.
LINKS
Three volcanoes in South America have become quite active. Here's a video report from National Geographic. One volcano in Ecuador is so active that it suspended flights into Quito's airport for a while.
Soputan Volcano erupts in Indonesia
Courtesy guano
The alert status for Mount Soputan in Indonesia has been raised to the third highest level on their four-level system after beginning a minor eruption on Monday.
The region around the volcano is relatively uninhabited, with the closest villages at least 5 miles away. Still, residents were warned to stay a safe distance from the volcano.
The Soputan stratovolcano is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes.
Pompeii pressure: Vesuvius may be easing up
in Earth and Space Science, Earth Structure and Processes, and Forces of Nature
Thing of the past?: New studies show that the likelihood of a major eruption of Mount Vesuvius, like this computer image of the infamous blast of 79 A.D., are decreasing.
Courtesy WikipediaAbout a year ago visitors at the Science Museum of Minnesota learned about the disaster that struck Pompeii, Italy, when Mount Vesuvius erupted, wiping out the city and a lot of its residents in the span of just about a day.
Today, about three million people are living within range of a Vesuvius eruption. But the good news from geologists is that they may be under lessened risk for a devastating eruption like the one that hit in 79 A.D.
A new study shows that the volcano’s magma reservoir has been rising up closer to the Earth’s surface over the past 20,000 years. At that higher level, the magma is likely to produce less violent eruptions.
That magma has actually moved quite a bit. Between the huge Pompeii-devastating eruption and another one in the year 472 A.D., the magma pool climbed about 2.5 miles toward Earth’s surface.
But that doesn’t mean people can sleep totally at peace in the volcano’s neighborhood, experts advise. Other factors also play into the severity of a volcano eruption, including tectonic plate shift and the deposit distribution of the magma, factors that weren’t part of this new study.
Kilauea, the volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island, has been erupting for 25 years, and has recently picked up the pace. While not an immediate threat to human life, scientists are keeping an eye on it.
Nevado del Huila: Huila, the highest active volcano in Colombia, is a stratovolcano constructed inside an old caldera. The volcano is seen here from the SW.
Courtesy Juan Carlos Diago, 1995 (Bernardo Pulgarín, INGEOMINAS, Colombia).Nevado del Huila, a volcano in Columbia, erupted shortly before midnight on Monday forcing about 3,500 people to evacuate. The eruption was preceded by seismic activity that started on April 8.
Nevado del Huila last erupted in 2007, causing flooding and mud flows (lahars) as the eruption melted the snow and ice cap on top of the tallest active volcano in Columbia.
Before this recent activity, Nevado del Huila had been quiet since the 16th century.
In 1985 25,000 people were killed when another Columbian volcano, Nevado del Ruiz, erupted initiating a series of deadly lahars.
NASA Science website is an awesome resource
NASA Science website
Courtesy NASA To show how useful this site can be, here are links to pages I found as I dug deeper into just one of the many areas on the NASA Science website.
Science for different levels of learning
The NASA Science website provides learning opportunities for four learning groups.
Earth, sun, planets, and astrophysics
The NASA Science website is divided into these parts.
I'm going through Pompeii withdrawal here at the museum now that our recent exhibit on the volcano has left. Then I ran into this story about a volcano getting ready to go in South America. Read on all you fellow volconologists!
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