3/3/15: VOLCANIC USGS ALERT CODES

After watching this morning in the news the eruption of the Chilean Villarica Volcano…ring of fire anyone?... and the evacuation of thousands of people, I thought this week’s Geol9 theme would be on target. We are exploring the volcanic hazards in different countries and their warning systems. There are several ways we minimize the danger of volcanic activity (apart from the obvious of ‘getting out of the way’…(:

·      Forecasting (earthquakes as early warnings (although in 2014 a Japanese volcano erupted without any previous seismicity (livescience article), land swelling before eruption, gas emissions, etc.)

·       Volcanic Alert Codes (USGS): the levels of alert and the aviation code levels commonly change at the same time (chart on right). A non-erupting volcano will have a green icon, and a red one indicates an imminent eruption (see USGS Alert Codes).

As this morning, the US hazards map shows (see map below):

• Kilauea in warning (orange) alert: from USGS website: ‘a major eruption is imminent, underway, or suspected but it poses limited hazards to aviation because of no or minor volcanic-ash emissions (e.g., an eruption with only substantial lava flows)’.

• Shishaldin in watch (orange) alert: from USGS website: ‘the volcano is exhibiting heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption, timeframe uncertain OR an eruption is underway that poses limited hazards including no or minor volcanic-ash emissions’.

• There is also advisories (yellow) for Cleveland and Pagan volcanoes.

Looking forward to what my students find out this week!

All for now-