Another beautiful remote sensing image. It is approximately 1000km wide.
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The long-dormant Chaiten volcano blasted ash some 20 miles (30 kilometers) into the Andean sky on Tuesday, forcing thousands to evacuate and fouling a huge stretch of the South American continent.
The thick column of ash climbed into the stratosphere and blew eastward for hundreds of miles (kilometers) over Patagonia to the Atlantic Ocean, forcing schools and a regional airport to close. Citizens of both countries were advised to wear masks to avoid breathing the dangerous fallout.
The five-day-old eruption is the first in at least 9,000 years for the volcano in southern Chile, according to volcanologists at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Chilean officials ordered the total evacuation of Chaiten, a small provincial capital in an area of lakes and glacier-carved fjords just six miles (10 kilometers) from the roiling cloud.
Full AP article...
Google Earth link...
Great image. Are volcanoes good or bad for global warming?
ReplyDeleteIn the short term large eruption cause a slight cooling due to dust and mostly sulfur dioxide. In the long run they contribute to global warming through CO2 emissions.
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