Erupting Chilean volcano could spew ash for months

AP on Yahoo ^ | 5/7/08 | Antonio de la Jara

[NormsRevenge]

PUERTO MONTT, Chile (Reuters) - Experts believe Chile's Chaiten volcano could continue belching out vast clouds of ash for months but distraught people evacuated from nearby towns say they yearn to return as soon as possible.

Ash that has reached as far as Argentina continued to spew for a sixth day on Wednesday, disrupting flights to the southern Patagonia region with no sign of let-up.

"Everything is so uncertain," said Patricio Ide, 40, who was evacuated from the remote village of Chaiten to Puerto Montt, 125 miles away from the volcano.

"This could last a month, three months, maybe we can never return. We are so worried," the mechanic said through tears. A coating of ash over 6 inches thick has built up in places and has contaminated ground water supplies.

Chaiten village can only be reached by boat or by air and the navy took people out aboard warships.

The surprise eruption of the long dormant 3,280-foot (1,000-meter) Chaiten volcano has forced the evacuation within a 30 mile radius of the volcano, including more than 4,500 residents of Chaiten six miles from it.

After a surge in activity on Tuesday, when the volcano spat hot rocks and lava and the column of ash surged, officials said its two craters had fused, helping ease pressure.

But the eruption continued and experts said it would be weeks and possibly even months before residents who had to leave their belongings, pets and lives behind could return.

EVACUEES YEARN TO RETURN

Evacuee Maria Angelica Hermosilla said she would go back the first chance she got. "There is nothing like Chaiten," the 42-year-old said. "Everyone knows each other, we are like a big family, there is no violence, no muggings."

The village is nestled by a fjord some 760 miles south of the Chilean capital Santiago and is a magnet for adventure tourism, fishing and trekking.

Sparsely populated Patagonia is the southernmost swathe of Latin America that cuts across Chile and Argentina and is home to towering snow-capped peaks, some of them volcanoes, glaciers and fjords.

National Emergency Office official Rodrigo Rojas said winds were pushing the vast ash cloud into Argentina, but that it was no longer soaring miles into the air as it did when the eruption started on Friday.

"The reason the height of the eruptive column (of ash) is lower is due to the fact its two craters have fused into one, and that has produced a bigger area for the column to escape from," Rojas said. But he said there had been no lessening of the volcanic activity.

President Michelle Bachelet said it was the first time that Chile has had to evacuate entire towns. The last residents of Futaleufu further east were also being evacuated on Wednesday.

Luis Lara, a government geologist, said he did not expect a catastrophic collapse of the volcano, and said any eventual lava flow would not reach the town. But a cloud of dense, very hot material could coat the surrounding area.

"The activity could continue for quite some time," he said. "It could be weeks, months. It could even be years, but not with the same characteristics -- with ups and downs."

Neighboring Argentina canceled flights to Patagonia because of the ash cloud and closed some schools.

Chile has the world's second most active string of volcanoes behind Indonesia. It is home to 2,000 volcanoes, 500 of which experts say are potentially active. Around 60 have erupted over the past 450 years.

[NormsRevenge]

A gaucho herds cows down a road covered with volcanic ash in Argentina's Patagonian town of El Hoyo May 7, 2008. Experts believe Chile's Chaiten volcano could continue belching out vast clouds of ash for months but distraught people evacuated from nearby towns say they yearn to return as soon as possible. Ash that has reached as far as Argentina continued to spew for a sixth day on Wednesday, disrupting flights to the southern Patagonia region with no sign of let-up. REUTERS/Jorge Cortizo (ARGENTINA)

[Trueblackman]

Global Warming strikes again.

[Be_Politically_Erect]

Get algore within 20 yards of the mouth of the volcano and have him “inhale briskly”....problem solved.

[NormsRevenge]

But for a kid from Chile..
a volcano is about national pride and being a survivor.

A boy holds a national flag while being evacuated from Futaleufu, 1300 kms south of Santiago. Ash from the erupting Chaiten volcano in southern Chile spread across a growing swathe of South America on Wednesday, forcing flight cancellations across much of Argentina and threatening to blanket more towns in Argentina and Chile. (AFP/File/Christian Brown)

[Argus]

Volcanic eruptions cause global cooling. When Krakatoa blew, the result was “The Year Without a Summer”.

[RightWhale]

The effects should be restricted to the southern hemisphere.

[NormsRevenge]

Oh yeah!

This is gonna spew a lot of crud&stuff into the atmosphere at a most "Inconvenient Truths Time"...

If only we could cap politicos and volcanos emissions.

Darlington time too..
The Lady in Black

[ClearCase_guy]

Q: What does Hillary Clinton have in common with a Chilean volcano?
A: Both are expected to keep spewing for several more months.

[NormsRevenge]

/rimshot lol

[NewJerseyJoe]

Will the enviro-whackos be encouraging Americans to practice “volcano offsets” to mitigate the effects of volcanic gases?

[txhurl]

Mexicans burning their CROPS cause cooling. Ask any central Texan, in 1997 the mexican fires took the sun away for the whole summer in Texas.

[urabus]

The effects should be restricted to the southern hemisphere.

But they wont. Krakatoa affected weather globally, and the longer this one 'spews', the lesser the effects will be restricted only to the southern hemisphere.

[21twelve]

Yep. I have even heard the global warming types say things like “and if it weren't for Pinatubo, Mt. St. Helens, etc. - it would be EVEN WARMER!” (Almost like they are disappointed or something that the volcanoes DID blow).

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

I think that was Tambora in 1815.

Krakatoa was in 1883.

[The_Reader_David]

The ‘Year with out a summer’ was caused by Tambura in 1816. Krakatoa didn’t quite have so pronounced an effect because we’d pulled out of the Little Ice Age by then.

[urabus]

Krakatoa was in 1883.

Effects of Krakatoa:

“In the year following the eruption, average global temperatures fell by as much as 1.2 degrees Celsius. Weather patterns continued to be chaotic for years, and temperatures did not return to normal until 1888. The eruption injected an unusually large amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) gas high into the stratosphere which was subsequently transported by high-level winds all over the planet. This led to a global increase in sulfurous acid (H2SO3) concentration in high-level cirrus clouds. The resulting increase in cloud reflectivity (or albedo) would reflect more incoming light from the sun than usual, and cool the entire planet until the suspended sulfur fell to the ground as acid precipitation.[9]” -wikiped...

[stefanbatory]

“Ash that has reached as far as Argentina”

Is there any part of Chile that is far from Argentina? aside from the Atacama region, of course...Regardless, if you’re south of Valparaiso, you are not going to be far from Argentina...

[Argus]

I stand corrected.

[rarestia]

Seems to be a LOT of geothermal and tectonic activity going on right now. Seems that there’s another story about quakes in the midwest and mountain west. I truly do hope it kicks up more.

Been a drier than usual Spring in Florida. I actually enjoy driving home with the windows down, but it’s getting close to 90. I would welcome some volcanic eruptions to cool us all down.

And bump for cool pictures. The Earth kicks ass!

[stockpirate]

This is easy to stop.

Have Al Gore declare the area around the volcano a carn free zone; that way the volcano will stop.

Actually have B. Hussain Obama speak the words. scarasm off