Irazu

Gaua erupting in February 2010. Image courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory. As a certain famous Icelandic native would say, "there is more to life than this." Some other volcano news from around the world: The situation at Gaua in Vanuatu is worsening. Ash from the current eruption is contaminating water and food supplies on the island. Authorities are planning on evacuating 3,000 people from the island if the eruption that started in 2009 gets worse, but there has already been significant ash fall, mudflows and explosions. Shiveluch on the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia continues to…
Some news for a busy Tuesday: The crater at Poas volcano in Costa Rica, taken February 25, 2010. Image courtesy of OVSICORI by Federico Chavarria. After the MSNBC debacle, it is nice to see some good articles on why the Chilean earthquake was overall less disastrous than the Haitian earthquake, why the tsunami wasn't as large as predicted and why these earthquakes are not abnormal. There are a lot of factors involved - the location, depth, preparedness, wealth - so the comparison can be very telling in terms of both geologic and societal issues. The other scientific fallout from the Chilean…
Arenal in Costa Rica, erupting in July 2007. Image courtesy of Arenal.net. Arenal in Costa Rica is one of the most active volcanoes in Central America. It is almost one of the most picturesque (see above) and, dare I say, touristy, volcanoes in the world. However, even volcanoes that seem "benign" like Arenal require special precautions. Yesterday Arenal has two small eruptions that were accompanied by unusual tremors, (in spanish) according to Javier Pacheco of the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI). The tremor started at 7 AM and continued until 4:30 PM,…