Im sure the k00ks will find a way to blame this on global warming but to the regular folks, this news is certainly far more of a threat than CO2!!
Volcano Activity Strengthening Around The World | The Costa Rica News
Would actually like to hear Ray's take on this.......coupled with all the earthquake activity in recent months in the ring of fire, are we looking at some large scale event here?
USGS: Volcano Hazards Program CVO Mount St. Helens
On March 16, 1980, the first sign of activity at Mount St. Helens occurred as a series of small earthquakes. On March 27, after hundreds of additional earthquakes, the volcano produced its first eruption in over 100 years. Steam explosions blasted a 60- to 75-m (200- to 250-ft) wide crater through the volcano's summit ice cap and covered the snow-clad southeast sector with dark
ash.
.Within a week the crater had grown to about 400 m (1,300 ft) in diameter and two giant crack systems crossed the entire summit area. Eruptions occurred on average from about 1 per hour in March to about 1 per day by April 22 when the first period of activity ceased. Small eruptions resumed on May 7 and continued to May 17. By that time, more than 10,000 earthquakes had shaken the volcano and the north flank had grown outward about 140 m (450 ft) to form a prominent bulge. From the start of the eruption, the bulge grew outward—nearly horizontally—at consistent rates of about 2 m (6.5 ft) per day. Such dramatic
deformation of the volcano was strong evidence that molten rock (magma) had risen high into the volcano. In fact, beneath the surficial bulge was a cryptodome that had intruded into the volcano's edifice, but had yet to erupt on the surface.
The reason I posted that is to demonstrate how rapidly, and with how much deformation, a stratovolcano can build up to an eruption. The siesmic profile for an immanent stratovolcano eruption, thanks to St. Helens and Pinatubo is fairly well known. Not so for the caldera volcanoes. So the one in Italy does bear careful watching.
I don't think the Alaskan volcanoes present any particular danger. The winds simply don't carry even a large eruptions ash that far for that latitude. Katmai is an example of that. Popocatepetl is a differant case. Situated where the ash and aerosols would quickly spread around the world. 25 million people in the immediate vicinity, a nightmare if an evacuation is required. Were it to do a Crater Lake number, the results would be catastrophic.
The only thing that we can do about volcanic eruptions is get out of there way. Where they are adjacient to heavily populated areas, that can be challenging.
By the way, in the lower 48, there are only two cities with active volcanoes in their city limits. Both in Oregon. Portland and Bend.
