After a 9000 year sleep, Chile's Chaitén volcano awakens (wow!)

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May 6, 2008—

After 9,000 years of silence, Chile's Chaitén volcano (pictured on May 3) is erupting with lava, ash—and lightning.

Since the volcano awoke on May 2, it has continued erupting intermittently, blanketing the area in ash and forcing more than 4,000 people to flee.

The mingling of lightning and ash seen above may be a "dirty thunderstorm."

The little-understood storms may be sparked when rock fragments, ash, and ice particles in the plume collide to produce static charges—just as ice particles collide to create charge in regular thunderstorms..

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/photogalleries/volcano-photos/index.html



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Santiago, Chile
Associated Press
May 6, 2008

Chile's Chaitén volcano spewed lava and blasted ash more than 12 miles (19 kilometers) into the sky on Tuesday, prompting a total evacuation of the provincial capital and other settlements.

President Michelle Bachelet interrupted a speech in the capital to announce that "the volcano is exploding, so a total evacuation of the town of Chaitén has been ordered."

Rains following the eruption have carpeted surrounding areas in ash and mud. Hard hit is Chaitén, a small provincial capital of wooden houses and cobblestone streets just six miles (ten kilometers) from the volcano in southern Chile.

More than 4,000 people had fled earlier and the few remaining residents were being transferred to two navy ships...cont'd

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080506-AP-chile-volca.html

Exactly what the apocalypse is lacking.

We can get started with some serious ecocide now.

C'mon, let's get extinct.

The volcanic ash in the atmosphere will block sunlight, cooling us off.

I think it's over do too.

Volcano in 1600 Caused Global Disruption, Study Suggests
By Andrea Thompson, Senior Writer

The effects of a massive volcanic eruption in Peru more than 400 years ago might have significantly impacted societies and agriculture world-wide, according to a new study of historic records.

Huaynaputina erupted in southern Peru on Feb. 19, 1600, driving volcanic mudflows that destroyed villages for many miles around and spewing a huge column of smoke and ash into the atmosphere.

The eruption of Huaynaputina represents the largest known eruption in South America in the past 500 years, said study leader Ken Verosub of the University of California, Davis.

Global cooling

Like many other volcanic eruptions, Huaynaputina injected a large amount of sulfur into the atmosphere. Sulfur reacts with water in the air to form sulfuric acid droplets, which reflect some of the sunlight hitting Earth, preventing rays from reaching the surface. The reduction in sunlight cools the surface for a year or so, until the droplets fall out of the atmosphere.

The most recent case of this cooling from a volcanic eruption occurred when Mount Pinatubo, in the Philippines, blew its top in 1991. Global temperatures dropped by about 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.5 degrees Celsius) the following year. (Scientists have proposed schemes to artificially inject sulfur into the atmosphere to counteract the effects of global warming.)

Cont'd

http://www.livescience.com/environment/080505-1600-eruption.html

We could have a very snowy winter coming up if enough dust and sulfuric compounds were shot into the atmosphere.

I've seen a couple of remarks about Yellowstone. THAT would cause a major change in the climate. Since ice appears to be a key factor (or at least sign) in climate, I wonder: have any geologists and/or paleoclimatologists ever studied supervolcano activity on glacial climate, even using proxy data?

--p!