Puyehue Ash: Patagonia Declared a Disaster Area

Patagonia mountain in SW Argentina has been declared a disaster area due to Puyehue ash

Argentine government has declared the Patagonia mountain range in SW Argentina an environmental disaster area because of the millions of tons of volcanic ash from Puyehue eruption that have blanketed the entire region.

The country’s air travel and tourism industries have been severely affected by the ongoing eruption that began on June 4.

The skiing resort city of Bariloche and Villa La Angostura in the Andean mountains have been among the hardest hit areas, with the airports in both cities remaining shut since the eruption began.

The two provinces of Rio Negro and Neuquen, located at the northern edge of Patagonia, have also been declared as disaster areas due to loss of livestock, crops and severe damage.

Some 4,300 Chileans who were forced to evacuate after the eruption were allowed to return to their homes on Sunday, reports said.

“In a speech broadcast on national television, Kirchner said $2.41 billion [pesos, or about 600million dollars] would also be awarded to 1,400 farmers and businesses in the affect area on the condition that they don’t fire their workers.” AFP reported.

However, the border crossing between Chile and Argentina at Cardenal Samore remains closed because large sections of the road on both sides of the crossing are buried under a thick layer of volcanic debris.

Movement of volcanic ash clouds from Puyehue-Cordon Caulle Eruption between 5 and 12 June, 2011. Credit: NOAA and EUMETSAT

Puyehue eruption has forced thousands of flight cancellations in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, New Zealand, Paraguay and Uruguay and, causing major disruptions in air travel throughout the Southern Hemisphere.

Related Links

• Puyehue-Cordón Caulle: ONGOING ERUPTIONS, ASH MOVING EAST
• Puyehue-Cordon Caulle Eruption Forces More Flight Cancellations
• Chile’s Puyehue volcano explodes

Puyehue-Cordón Caulle: ONGOING ERUPTIONS, ASH MOVING EAST

Australian Aviation Color Code Raised to Red

The latest ash advisory released by Darwin VAAC on June 22, 2011 at 11:55UTC has raised the Australian Aviation Color Code to ‘Red.’

According to the advisory the eruptions are ongoing, with ash clouds moving in easterly direction. 

IDD41290
VA ADVISORY
DTG:  20110622/1155Z
VAAC:  Darwin
VOLCANO:  Cordon Caulle  1507-141
PSN:  S4031 W07212
AREA:  Chile C
SUMMIT ELEV:  1,798M

ADVISORY NR:  2011/70
INFO SOURCE:  MTSAT, NOAA AVHRR, MODIS, AIREP
AVIATION COLOUR CODE:  RED
ERUPTION DETAILS:  ONGOING ERUPTIONS, ASH MOVING EAST

Toulouse VAAC – Concentration Charts

Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Ash – Surface to FL200 Chart.

Other charts:

FL200-FL350
FL350-FL550

BUENOS AIRES VAAC confirmed ‘CONTINUOUS EMISSION’ in their latest advisory (as of posting) released at 07:15UTC. It said

VA CLOUD AREA CAN BE IDENTIFIED IN MULTISPECTRAL SATELLITE IMAGERY –  AREA OF RESIDUAL LOW LEVEL ASH CLD MVG TO N AND NW 10/15KT FROM EARLIER ERUPTION.

Ash and sulphur dioxide (SO2) from Puyehue Volcano Complex eruptions. The Ash RGB is composed from data from a combination of the SEVIRI IR8.7, IR10.8 and IR12.0 channels. Copyright Eumetsat 2011. Click image to enlarge.

Related Links

• Puyehue-Cordon Caulle Eruption Forces More Flight Cancellations

Puyehue Eruption – Recent Satellite Images

Ash Clouds from Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Continue to Disrupt Flights in Southern Hemisphere

The ash clouds have severely affected airline operations in South America.
Among the hardest hit airlines are Chile’s LAN and Brazil’s TAM and Gol, media reported.

“There are no signs that the situation is going to change or stabilize in the short term,” said director of Chile’s national service of geology and mining (SERNAGEOMIN).

“Fine ash, like we have seen from this latest eruption, could last (in the air) for months. If the ash column continues to measure up to 5.5 miles, it can spread easily. The higher the ash, the more it is blown elsewhere.”

Continuous eruption from Puyehue-Cordón Volcano Complex in Chile continues to eject large plumes of ash and volcanic gasses into the atmosphere, depositing thick layers of ash east of the volcano, as shown in this image captured by MODIS on the Terra satellite on June 13. The large mountain of ash could lead to deadly landslide and lahars, NASA reported SERNAGEOMIN as saying. Meantime, the ash is disrupting flights as far away as Australia and New Zealand. Source: NASA-EO. Click image to enlarge. Download largest image (3 MB, JPEG)  

Related Links

• Ash from Puyehue Cordón Caulle over Australia and NZ
• Puyehue Volcano Ash Clouding SH Skies
• Puyehue ash raises river temp, kills salmon stock
• Puyehue Volcano Satellite Images
• Puyehue volcano update
• Chile’s Puyehue volcano explodes

FIRE-EARTH Volcano Watch

• A New Era of Intense Volcanic Unrest May Have Begun
• World’s Dormant Volcanoes Firing
• VolcanoWatch Weekly [16 September 2009]

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
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Ash from Puyehue Cordón Caulle over Australia and NZ

Ash clouds from Puyehue Cordón Caulle continue to disrupt Australia, NZ flights

The ash plume from Puyehue Cordón Caulle covers southern Australia and the Tasman sea (above), as well as New Zealand and the South Pacific Ocean (below).

Both images were captured by MODIS on the Aqua satellite on June 13, 2011. Source: NASA-EO. Click images to enlarge.

Credit: NOAA and EUMETSAT

Puyehue-Cordón Caulle in Chile exploded on June 4, 2011 sending an ash plume to a height of about 16km, towering above the local clouds. The top image is a false-color image captured by MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite. The image is rotated clockwise by 90 degrees.  The vertical profile of the atmosphere, captured by CALIPSO, is shown in the colored graph below the MODIS image.  Source: NASA-EO. Click image to enlarge.

Airline Flights

Australian airline Qantas said it was too dangerous to fly through the thick clouds of ash drifting over the Pacific Ocean from  continuous eruption at CORDON CAULLE volcano in the Puyehue Volcano Complex, Chile. Accordingly, it has cancelled all its flights to and from Melbourne. The decision follows earlier flight cancellations in and out of Tasmania and most of of New Zealand.

All other airlines, with the exception of Air New Zealand, have also grounded flights in the region.

The logic-defying Air New Zealand is risking the lives of its passengers by worming in out of the ash clouds, trying to dodge the worst of the plumes. The airline said it was adjusting flight paths to steer aircraft below the ash!!

The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand said they felt comfortable with Air New Zealand flight continuing below 20,000feet (6 km) because most of the ash appeared to be above that altitude.

“[Air New Zealand general manager airline operations and safety Captain] Capt Morgan said the MetService had advised that the ash cloud was now much higher and the Civil Aviation Authority was comfortable for domestic and trans-Tasman services to continue to operate.” a report said.

Air Travelers Don’t Seem to Get the Message!

Watch out for multiple planes falling out of the sky in the coming months due to “unknown” or “mysterious” causes.

One of the planes grounded in an Argentine airport after volcanic ash from the Puyehue Volcano eruption in early June 2011 disrupted air travel throughout the region. Credit: Reuters.

Related Links

• Puyehue Volcano Ash Clouding SH Skies
• Puyehue ash raises river temp, kills salmon stock
• Puyehue Volcano Satellite Images
• Puyehue volcano update
• Chile’s Puyehue volcano explodes

FIRE-EARTH Volcano Watch

• A New Era of Intense Volcanic Unrest May Have Begun
• World’s Dormant Volcanoes Firing
• VolcanoWatch Weekly [16 September 2009]

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links

Puyehue Volcano Satellite Images

Massive Eruption Covered Large Regions in Ash and Pumice

The Eruption Aftermath

The volcanic ash blanketed the Andes and Patagonia regions with a thick blanket of ash and pumice before reaching the Argentine Atlantic Coast. The cities affected by the ash included Puerto Madryn and Trelew, in Chubut, as well as the towns of San Carlos de Bariloche and Villa La Angostura, a report said.

“Local authorities assured there is a layer of ash that’s at least 30 centimetres high over the National Route 40 in the area close to Bariloche and Neuquén. Border patrol has discouraged residents from driving in the area.”

A fissure on Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic range opened on June 4, 2011, ejecting ash to a height of about 16km. Natural-color image captured by MODIS on the Aqua satellite moments after eruption began. Source: NASA-EO. Click image to enlarge.

Eruption at Puyehue-Cordón Caulle began on June 4, 2011. This natural-color satellite image was taken by the MODIS aboard Terra satellite on the early morning of June 6, 2011, when according to the Buenos Aires Volcanic Ash Advisory Center the ash plume was reaching an altitude of about 12km above the summit crater.  Source: NASA-EO. Click image to enlarge.

Click animation link to view the transport of the plume from 1:45 pm local time June 4, 2011, until 10:45 am June 6, 2011.

Related Links

• Puyehue volcano update
• Chile’s Puyehue volcano explodes

FIRE-EARTH Volcano Watch

• A New Era of Intense Volcanic Unrest May Have Begun
• World’s Dormant Volcanoes Firing
• VolcanoWatch Weekly [16 September 2009]

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links

Chile’s Puyehue volcano explodes

Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle erupted ejecting a 10-km high plume of ash into the air

“The Cordon Caulle has entered an eruptive process, with an explosion resulting in a 10-kilometer-high gas column,” state emergency office ONEMI reported.

The authorities were forced to evacuate at least 3,500 people from areas near the volcano.

A large cloud of ash was reported over the Patagonian ski resort town of Bariloche in the neighboring Argentina, about 160 km east of the volcano,   forcing the local airport to close.

“We’re trying to stop car traffic and ask that people stay at home and close their doors and windows to prevent the volcanic ash from coming in. The city’s airport was also closed,” an eyewitness told the local TV station.

“Ash was dumped like a snowstorm… The city is covered in grey ash.”

“Eyewitness Juli Kessler told the BBC she saw ‘big black clouds hanging over the Andes’ and ash dust lying on the road.”

Map of Chile’s volcanoes with the approximate  location of Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle volcano marked by FIRE-EARTH.

The governor of Chile’s Los Rios region was reported as saying that fire was seen in the volcano’s crater as a large plume of smoke billowed out.

“You can see the fire (in the volcano) and a plume of smoke, and there’s a strong smell of sulfur,” he told reporters.

The volcano is located about 840 km (522 miles) south of Santiago, the national capital. Its  last major eruption occurred in 1960, after a magnitude 9.5 earthquake struck Chile about 260km directly north of the volcano.

Chile is home to about 2,000 volcanoes (world’s 2nd largest volcanic chain after Indonesia), of which 500 of are classified as active, with about 55 of them having erupted historically. Llaima and Chaiten, two other Chilean volcanoes, have erupted in the past few years.

Puyehue-Cordón Caulle

Location: Central Chile
Last Known Eruption: 1990
Summit Elevation: 2,236m 7,336 feet
Latitude: 40.590°S
Longitude: 72.117°W
Source: GVP

The Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic complex (PCCVC) is a large NW-SE-trending late-Pleistocene to Holocene basaltic-to-rhyolitic transverse volcanic chain SE of Lago Ranco. The 1799-m-high Pleistocene Cordillera Nevada caldera lies at the NW end, separated from Puyehue stratovolcano at the SE end by the Cordón Caulle fissure complex. The Pleistocene Mencheca volcano with Holocene flank cones lies NE of Puyehue. The basaltic-to-rhyolitic Puyehue volcano is the most geochemically diverse of the PCCVC. The flat-topped, 2236-m-high Puyehue volcano was constructed above a 5-km-wide caldera and is capped by a 2.4-km-wide summit caldera of Holocene age. Lava flows and domes of mostly rhyolitic composition are found on the eastern flank of Puyehue. Historical eruptions originally attributed to Puyehue, including major eruptions in 1921-22 and 1960, are now known to be from the Cordón Caulle rift zone. The Cordón Caulle geothermal area, occupying a 6 x 13 km wide volcano-tectonic depression, is the largest active geothermal area of the southern Andes volcanic zone. Photo by Klaus Dorsch, 2001 (University of Munich); caption: GVP

Inches of volcanic ash 100 miles away

Argentine resort city of San Carlos de Bariloche, about 160 km (100 miles) east of Chile’s Puyehue, seen covered by volcanic ash from the June 4 eruption. Photo Credit: Reuters/Trilce Reyes. Image may be subject to copyright. More images…

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• Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN) March 2008
• 2010: The Year of Disasters
• Earth’s Human Induced Antiphase Nears Completion
• 2011 SIX TIMES MORE DISASTROUS THAN 2010

• FEWW Volcano Links
• Volcanoes
• FEWW Earthquake Links