Augustine Volcano

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#1

Just though that I would report that one of the many volcanos in my area has been acting up over the last week and more notably today.

We are expecting ashfall in about an hour or so acording to forcasts. The ashfall advisery is in effect till 7:00 pm local time.
Here are some intresting liks if you wish to follow.
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Augustine.php

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/webicorders/webicorder.php?volcname=Augustine

http://www.arh.noaa.gov/zonefcst.php?zone=121

I hope to do some ash collection

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/ashfall.php

I will keep you all updated if there is intrest.

Oh yea I licve in Homer, Alaska.

#2

Don’t make an ash of yourself! :smiley:

But seriously, I would be interested in updates. I’ve never visited Alaska but I’ve always hoped to. I’m going to have to get out a map and find where this volcano is, and where Homer is.

#3

Also, http://www.gina.alaska.edu/ for satellite shots.

#4

The volcano is about 200 miles southwest of Anchorage. It’s an island. Homer is on the Kenai Peninsula, also south of Anchorage.

#5

It looks like your earthquake index is rising in that area too.
In 1980 I thought it would be so cool when St Helens erupted. After it happened, not so much. It makes everything dirty, you have to chew the air to get any oxygen at all, and you have to clean up after the darn thing.
The ash is great for next years garden, though. :smiley:

#6

That’s largely a myth. The only help that volcanic ash may contribute is that it can help to aerate the soil, much like vermiculite. Volcanic ash is mostly composed of silica, which has no nutritive value.

#7

Earthquakes are a natural byproduct of vulcanism. Earthquakes associated with volcanos are usually caused by the fracturing of the rock inside the caldera. Increased earthquake activity nearly always precedes an eruption.

#8

I also am interested so please keep us posted. Being here in Florida it is hard to imagine this happening and that one of our Dopers is on the scene.
Film at Eleven!

#9

I know, I’ve lived my whole life on the ring of fire, and my roommate in 1980 had come here from Australia for post graduate geology. It’s all he talked about… for months. I can spell lahar and pyroclastic flow

As far as the value of the volcanic ash is concerned, the apple farmers in Eastern Washington would certainly argue with you. The trees had just come into bloom and were buried in ash in 1980. They were moaning about losing the entire crop. The apples were bigger and sweeter that year than in years past. It may have been a coincidence. According to this explanation

(My bold) it did have organic matter in it close on.

#10

I have a friend who used to live in Fairbanks, while her husband was in the Air Force. He was then, and still is, a meteorologist. I sent her the link to this thread and she says he has been following this.

While they were in Alaska, in the early 90’s, Augustine erupted and there were air quality warnings. The paint on cars was being damaged, due to ash and gasses, the acidity I guess, and the military even moved a lot of planes on account of it.

#11

Ach, du lieber Augustin, Augustin, Augustin
Ach, du lieber Augustin, alles ist hin!

#12

Sorry if I sounded patronizing, but your initial post sounded like you weren’t very familiar with the subject. Living nearby doesn’t necessarily mean someone is knowledgeable or even interested. Volcanic ash does contain some nutrient value, but it is normally largely silica. Since it’s not water soluble, the best way to dispose of it is to mulch it into the soil. When this is done, the inorganic material in the ash acts as an aerator, which has a positive effect on gardens (and apples!)by increasing drainage.

Baker: Yeah, the stuff is incredibly corrosive and intrusive. If you turn on your windshield wipers with a layer of ash on the window, you will scratch the glass. Wiping is the worst way to get rid of the stuff. It’s recommended that electronics be covered with plastic wrap. We’re really hoping that the wind continues southerly. As a precaution, yesterday the AF launched all of their jet aircraft to a base further north.

We’ve had five eruptions in the past 24 hours, the latest at midnight last night.

#13

Chefguy, No offense taken.
You did remind me about a couple things that happened with St Helens. The ash wasn’t too bad in Seattle. Most of it went east. Even so, there was a huge increase in insurance claims for windshields. It rang true to some degree, since it was well known to cause abrasive damage. It took about a week before someone did some investigating. It wasn’t that people were trying to rip-off their insurance, it was a kind of mass hysteria.
You never really LOOK at your windshield. Since the media said that the ash could damage, people looked at them and found pitting and tiny scratches etc. Problem was, the older the car, the more damage. It was normal wear, that people just hadn’t noticed.

One more… As far as the ash being insoluble. My best friend’s brother lived in Spokane. We didn’t get along that well, so i was surprised to hear from him.
First day: Excited…“You should see this! It’s snowing black!”
Second day: Less so: Boy, its kinda hard to breathe , and I had to get a new air filter for the car… They’re using snow plows to scrape the ash up.
Third day: Close to tears: "CAN I COME SLEEP ON YOUR FLOOR?? Please?

I’m glad I was here not there.

#14

I was camping the day Mount St. Helens erupted. I was probably about 70 miles north of the mountain. It was quite interesting. As picunurse, mentioned, we didn’t see too much ash here on the west side of the Cascades, but it did come down here too. I was watching the ash land on my friend’s father’s shirt. Shortly thereafter we were all told to leave the campground.

I have noticed too, that the further away people are from the event, the larger it seems to grow. For example, my relatives were due to arrive from Germany. They called my mother in hysterics because they thought the whole state was black, that they wouldn’t be able to land on the whole West Coast. It was funny, really. We assured them all was well.

It will be interesting to see what Augustine does. Although these volcanoes may all be in the “ring of fire”, they all seem to act slightly differently.

I live about 50 miles away from Mt Rainier. God help us all if it blows.

#15

What is the path of the lahar? It seems to me that it would flow south of Seattle proper, and wipe out Puyallup, Tacoma, etc. Is that right?

#16

I live in Puyallup, well South Hill actually. About a mile or a mile and a half from the edge of the hill that overlooks the Orting valley, which is the path of the lahar. It would be much worse for the people in the valleys (Orting, downtown Puyallup, Fife, finally Port of Tacoma). However, I’m not naive enough to think that because I’m on a large crest or hill, that we would escape any damage.

#17

OK I am back for a small ground report.

It looks like all of you as I suspected will beable to find and hash out the obvious reports from the main sources so I will only place a few links in this post.
I live in a small toen and the fact that we are about an hour and a half from ther next biggest city Kenai/Soldotna, About 20k it can feel smaller.

So this is a big deal for us.

I think there were 6 eruptions yesterday. All with produced significand ash clouds. 30,0000 feet plus intoi the sky. We wehre under ashfall adviseries the whole day untill 8:00 am this morning. The sky is clear rightnow at about 9:07 local time.

It half-way snowed most of yeaterday so the cloudcover blocked the view of the ash chouds/plumes. So the addewd mystery of if ash would fall addded some stress to some poeple. Today and the next couple days should be clear so that will breing relief at least to me as I like to be able to see what is comming.

Most people are taking recautions to the ashfall. I dont know a person who does not have a dust mask. And most are covering the air vents on the hood of their car and have extra air filters. And all the other thisngs we have been told or read about.

All Schools were delayed 2 hours at first yesterday and then we had another eruption and they canceld the whole day. Then the banks closed the ATMs to protect them and a large dance production was cancelled as well.

Probally prudent ass if the wind direction changed just a bit we may have gotten hit with a significant amount ash. And the events just kept comming.

Some people half-way hope this activity continues and others are wishing for it to stop. I persoanlly like it and am hoping for some ashfall. Shoot the flaming arrows if you want but I love natural activity and as long as it is not overly damaging or deadly I dig on the excitement.

We are expecting addiional activity for the next couple days to weeks. Most people are close to their computers and are keeping a good eye on it.

There where ashfall report less than 15 miles from here.
Well today is clear and I hope to get some better pictures and maby even see and ash plume.
Other than that everyone is totally safe in my community and although at a heighened state of awarmenss and fomr some a littl emore the events have been anti climatice as far as localised ash and damage.

I have not heard any reports from the small communities across the bay.

All that has been said about ashfall and crops or gardens is true but this site seems to think that the amount is the major concerne

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/agric/
Well I will give you all some more reports if anything else happens.

#18

OK I am back for a small ground report.

It looks like all of you as I suspected will be able to find and hash out the obvious reports from the main sources so I will only place a few links in this post. the Major new carriers seem to hage gotten some things wrong so stick to the AVO and NOAA if you want facts about what and where things are happining.
I live in a small town and the fact that we are about an hour and a half from the next biggest city Kenai/Soldotna, about 20k it can feel smaller.

So this is a big deal for us.

I think there were 6 eruptions yesterday. All with produced significand ash clouds. 30,0000 feet plus into the sky. We were under ashfall adviseries the whole day untill 8:00 am this morning. The sky is clear rightnow at about 9:07 local time.

It half-way snowed most of yeaterday so the cloudcover blocked the view of the ash chouds/plumes. So the added mystery if ash would fall addded some stress to some poeple. Today and the next couple days should be clear so that will breing relief at least to me as I like to be able to see what is comming.

Most people are taking recautions to the ashfall. I dont know a person who does not have a dust mask. And most are covering the air vents on the hood of their car and have extra air filters. And all the other things we have been told or read about.

All Schools were delayed 2 hours at first yesterday and then we had another eruption and they canceld the whole day. Then the banks closed the ATMs and covered them with plastic to protect them, and a large dance production was cancelled as well, This saddened many.

Probally prudent as if the wind direction changed just a bit we may have gotten hit with a significant amount ash. And the events just kept comming.

Some people half-way hope this activity continues and others are wishing for it to stop. I persoanlly like it and am hoping for some ashfall. Shoot the flaming arrows if you want but I love natural activity and as long as it is not overly damaging or deadly I dig on the excitement.

We are expecting addional activity for the next couple days to weeks. Most people are close to their computers and are keeping a good eye on it.

There where ashfall reports less than 15 miles from here. But my collection get did not pick up any noticabe amounts.
Well today is clear and I hope to get some better pictures and maby even see and ash plume.
Other than that everyone is totally safe in my community and although at a heighened state of awarnenss and for some a little more, the events have been anti-climatic as far as localised ash and damage.

I have not heard any reports from the small communities across the bay. But it looks like there is a large dark cloud over there I will be inpecting in about an hour or so.

All that has been said about ashfall and crops or gardens is true but this site seems to think that the amount is the major concerne

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/agric/
Well I will give you all some more reports if anything else happens.

#19

I hope things remain safe for everyone living in the vicinity.

#20

Ahh double post.

The second one is the edited version. Maby not that great but less typos than the first.