Yes
FLBoater, yes we do. It depends, however. Many geologists think that what it has already emitted may be enough to affect the southern hemisphere a little.
To alter the world climate, like Mt. Pinatubo did in 1991, it would have to really blast its cap and get that ash plume into the stratosphere for more than just a fleeting photo-op. Most of the geologists whose blogs I've read online agree that it has the capability to do that, but they also agree that no one, even those on scene, can possibly know what it will do next because it's been so long since it last went off and people have never studied it at all until about a month ago.
In the web cam we will witness one of the following:
1) The volcano goes back to sleep and the town in the image starts looking cleaner as people move back in. We get no effects here.
2) The volcano keeps erupting steadily for months, with explosions and lulls. We get no effects here but the southern hemisphere could see some cooling effects depending on the intensity of the explosions.
3) Chaiten shows us what it can do. The present eruption culminates in a grand finale with ash plume sustained above 20 km in height, and our next three ice fishing seasons are extra-long as a result. Decembers like 1989, Januaries like 2004, and Februaries/Marches like 2007. Tuckerman Ravine could potentially keep a slab of snow through the summer, which would probably be similar to what we've had so far this year at the lake. The cooling effect would also be year round, and round the world. Oh yes, and this web site's photopost section would be filling to the brim with fantastic sunrise and sunset scenes.
And, in the unlikely but very possible event of #3, the mainstream media, which doesn't cover scientific topics like this very well, would probably take a while to get the message across - if it did at all. That would mean you could say you heard it first on Winnipesaukee.com!
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