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Volcano Eruption In Caribbean Is "Warning"
National Geographic ^ | 1-9-2007 | Ted Chamberlin

Posted on 01/09/2007 8:27:27 PM PST by blam

Photo in the News: Volcano Eruption in Caribbean Is "Warning"

January 9, 2007—Smoke signals don't get much more ominous. A volcano on the island of Montserrat discharged a five-mile-high (eight-kilometer-high) cloud of superheated ash and gas yesterday—possibly portending another, disastrous eruption.

"I think it was a warning call … of what it can do," Vicky Hards, director of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, told the Associated Press.

Residents have good reason to fear the Soufriere Hills volcano, given that in 1997 it wiped out the tiny Caribbean island's evacuated capital, Plymouth, killing 19 people and prompting an exodus of about half the island's population of approximately 10,000.

This week the crater's lava dome continues to grow—a process that began on December 24. Because yesterday's eruption failed to cause the lava shell to collapse, experts are worried that the mounting pressure could be released in a powerful blast.

Such an eruption would likely send hot ash and gas flying down the northwestern flanks of the mountain. As a result, the U.K. territory's government yesterday ordered dozens of families in the area to evacuate.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: caribbean; eruption; montserrat; volcano
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1 posted on 01/09/2007 8:27:28 PM PST by blam
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To: blam

Bush's fault!


2 posted on 01/09/2007 8:30:21 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Happy New Year!)
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To: blam

3-15-2006 Eruption

3 posted on 01/09/2007 8:31:02 PM PST by blam
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To: blam

Isn't this island regarded as the potential source of a rather large, east coast tsunami? Some sort of shelf of land, poised to slough off into the Atlantic?


4 posted on 01/09/2007 8:31:10 PM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: blam
"experts are worried that the mounting pressure could be released in a powerful blast."

Yeah, I felt that way after eating in Bickford's.

5 posted on 01/09/2007 8:31:15 PM PST by billorites (The People have spoken.... Damn them!)
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To: RegulatorCountry

That's the Azores.


6 posted on 01/09/2007 8:33:52 PM PST by uglybiker (A bunch of radical Unitarians left a flaming question mark on my lawn!)
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To: RegulatorCountry

There was a Mega Disasters program on THC concerning the island of La Palma in the Canaries. I don't know if Montserrat has the same charactaristics.


7 posted on 01/09/2007 8:34:46 PM PST by edpc (The pen is mightier than the sword......until you fight someone.)
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To: Paleo Conservative

Global Warming!


8 posted on 01/09/2007 8:38:46 PM PST by AFreeBird (If American "cowboy diplomacy" did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it.)
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To: AFreeBird

Global Farting!


9 posted on 01/09/2007 8:41:34 PM PST by DTogo (I haven't left the GOP, the GOP left me.)
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To: blam
That's almost as bad as an SUV polluting our clean air.
10 posted on 01/09/2007 8:42:13 PM PST by Liberal Bob
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To: blam
Oh, dear.

This used to be such a beautiful little island - very Irish in flavor of all things (it was originally settled by the Irish). Very green and tropical. We stayed there several times at a tiny little hotel on the NW coast -- the Vue Pointe -- with a great beach and very nice staff.

I'm sorry they're having more trouble with the Soufriere . . . shades of Mt. Pelee and St. Pierre . . .

11 posted on 01/09/2007 8:42:41 PM PST by AnAmericanMother ((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
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To: blam

If you haven't seen it yet, go to Google maps and look up Montserrat. They don't have really high resolution images of the island, but the orange glow of the lava lake in the caldera is unmistakable...it was apparently caught mid-eruption.


12 posted on 01/09/2007 8:44:38 PM PST by Arthalion
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To: Paleo Conservative

That jokes getting a little old.


13 posted on 01/09/2007 8:45:36 PM PST by Shadowstrike (Be polite, Be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.)
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To: blam

BOOMmarking ;)


14 posted on 01/09/2007 8:48:13 PM PST by Chena
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To: RegulatorCountry
Good memory: Montserrat Tsunami
15 posted on 01/09/2007 8:53:06 PM PST by NautiNurse (Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.)
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To: edpc
'There was a Mega Disasters program on THC concerning the island of La Palma in the Canaries."

There is a new one now that disputes all those conclusions about the mega-tsunami aspect of La Plama.

" I don't know if Montserrat has the same charactaristics."

No. I'm not aware of any tsunami concerns from Monserrat.

16 posted on 01/09/2007 8:57:21 PM PST by blam
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To: Paleo Conservative

No, no. Haven't you heard? It's now Pelosi's fault.


17 posted on 01/09/2007 8:59:02 PM PST by Terpfen ("Conservatives" who sat at home cost us the War on Terror, SCOTUS, and economic success.)
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To: billorites

Wow!! Bickford's still exists?


18 posted on 01/09/2007 9:02:26 PM PST by Doc91678 (Doc91678)
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To: cogitator

FYI....IIRC we were discussing this a while back..looks like it's about to blow again


19 posted on 01/09/2007 9:03:03 PM PST by ken5050
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To: blam

All of the carribean volcanoes have some danger of local damaging tsunamis from flank collapses, and it's happened before, but none pose a tsunami threat to the US mainland.


20 posted on 01/09/2007 9:06:46 PM PST by Strategerist
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