It's not too often we get to witness one of the world's most interesting and unprecedented volcanic eruptions in a webcam. But here it is: The Chaiten Volcano in southern Chile.
http://www.aipchile.cl/camara/ftp/CH...e/C1_00028.jpg
Chaiten erupted in early May after being dormant for some 7,500 to 9,000 years. It offered very little warning. It was a very explosive eruption, producing an ash plume that reached 20 km high for a very short time. Then it calmed down but kept erupting, and just a couple days ago it roared back to life with a high ash plume again.
Why is this important to here? Volcanoes like this have the capability to cool the world climate for up to 3 years (as Mt. Pinatubo did, in 1991-94.) So far, Chaiten hasn't done enough to accomplish that. The fine print is that it's been full of surprises since it erupted over a month ago. Its behavior has proven beyond prediction. Since its last eruption was over 5,000 years BC, there's no modern record of its behavior.
That's what makes this cam so interesting. The volcano is the geologist's dream, something totally new, previously unstudied, unknown, off the radar, and has all kinds of unusual features, and it has the capability on a moment's notice to do something that will produce really thick lake ice for the next 2 or 3 winters. Whether it will or not is a matter of "wait and see." And we just happen to have a Cam pointing right at it.
The town in the foreground is the ruined, evacuated town of Chaiten. The volcano is straight ahead in the view. The cam is one of three at the town's airport, and has kept running through it all.
For coverage of this volcano, visit
The Volcanism Blog (it covers other volcano topics also.) Also read the
Eruptions blog, which is written by a geologist who's originally from MA. I found the blogs to be much more informative than any of the news coverage when it originally erupted.