Mexican volcano spews glowing rock

CNN.com ^ | 12/25/2005 | Staff

[Red Badger]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -- Mexico's giant Popocatepetl volcano threw up an ash column almost 2 miles (3 kilometers) high and spat glowing rocks down its snow-clad slopes on Sunday, but nearby towns were not affected, officials said. Popocatepetl, whose name means "smoking mountain" in the Nahuatl Indian language spoken by the Aztecs, spewed out the huge plume of ash and rocks in a three-minute exhalation. "The recent activity is within the expected scenarios, and there is no evidence of a major risk in the following days," said the disaster prevention center CONAPRED. "No reports of ash fall have been received." Sunday's activity was the latest in a recent series of disturbances that started December 1, when the 17,887-foot (5,452-meter) volcano showered ash on the nearby town of Amecameca. Popocatepetl, which on clear days can be seen from Mexico City, 40 miles (64 km) away and home to some 18 million people, reawakened in 1994 after decades of inactivity. It has sparked to life several times since then, most notably in 2000 when it tossed red-hot rocks far above its crater in a series of explosions. Tens of thousands of people living nearby were evacuated at that time. (Full story) Scientists say the volcano's last major eruption was more than 1000 years ago, while the Valley of Mexico's pre-Hispanic Aztec residents recorded minor eruptions. The volcano becomes more active during the cooler Mexican winter months as more ice expands and causes fissures in solidified lava in the crater, allowing smoke, ash or molten lava to spew out.

[Red Badger]

Happens every so often..........

[Phsstpok]

Happens every so often..........

So do ELEs

Extinction
Level
Events

Merry Christmas everyone.

[Red Badger]

I was thinking more like after trips to Burrito Bob's Taco Cantina........

[Travis McGee]

How many Mexico City residents could be killed or made homeless by that monster? Ten million plus?

[Strategerist]

There's really no credible mechanism by which it could destroy Mexico City. It's 40 miles away, not a Supervolcano, you're not going to have Lahars from there make it to Mexico City.

If you want to talk major urban areas with millions in danger you have to look at Vesuvius and Naples, especially.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

Bush's fault.

Actually, how much greenhouse gas is released in a major eruption, compared to human activities?

[Travis McGee]

Thanks.

[dalereed]

Don't know about greenhouse gas but don't feed it beans and hot peppers.

[308MBR]

Well, I'm glad the thing is shooting out glowing rock. If it were spewing cold, hard, solid rock it would be in violation of Mexican weapons laws and Vincente Fox would have it arrested.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[MetalHeadConservative35]

Mexico's giant Popocatepetl volcano threw up an ash column almost 2 miles (3 kilometers) high and spat glowing rocks down its snow-clad slopes on Sunday, but nearby towns were not affected,

i guess karl rove is at it again,

bush's fault, news at 11

[Strategerist]

Actually, how much greenhouse gas is released in a major eruption, compared to human activities?

People seem to have a difficult time believing this but humans release 150 times more Carbon Dioxide into the air per year than volcanoes (ALL of them in the world combined) do.

Due to the large quantities of Sulfur aerosols injected into the atmosphere, the net effect of large volcanic eruptions is to COOL the earth, not warm it.

There hasn't been a large volcanic eruption since Pinatubo in 1991, which I suspect has contributed to some of the record warmth in recent years.

[blam]

"There hasn't been a large volcanic eruption since Pinatubo in 1991, which I suspect has contributed to some of the record warmth in recent years."

There is tree-ring data show pertubations after volcanos, I've seen these defined as cooling events. In fact, I thought all volcanoes caused some cooling. Am I wrong?

[Strategerist]

I meant the ABSENCE of large eruptions has contributed to global warmth recently; Pinatubo cooled the Northern hemisphere by about half a degree celsius; but 1991 is a long time ago.

There haven't even been any medium-sized, much less Pinatubo-sized, eruptions anywhere in the world in the last 15 years or so; thus you haven't been getting much sunlight blocked at all.

[Ditter]

How far is the volcano from Cuernavaca?

[martin_fierro]

Popocatepetl.

I just like saying, "Popocatepetl."

[VOA]

There hasn't been a large volcanic eruption since Pinatubo in 1991, which
I suspect has contributed to some of the record warmth in recent years.

I'm no volcanologist or climatologist...
but I think the general observation is that major volcanic eruptions
that eject lost of material high into the atmosphere actually
LOWER temperatures.

A few examples:
1. Tamboura (sp?) in Indonesia in the early 1800s contributed to
"The year without a summer" in which there was frost in most of
New England during summertime for a year (and lots of crops failure).
2. Pinatubo: I know I heard that it was credited with lowering temps.
And I personally, I know that for about two years after that eruption,
we had noticeable relief from the blistering heat of the previous couple
of summers.
3. Anakrakatoa: IIRC, there's decent proof that a major eruption of
the Krakatoa group in the 500s AD caused major cooling (and drought due
to decrease in rainfall and shift of rainfall areas). A book was
written on it and a decent PBS special aired on the topic (titled
something like "Cataclysm" or "Apocalypse").

I don't know if this holds for all volcanoes...but it does appear
that major eruptions can at least sometimes have a noticeable cooling effect.

[VOA]

I meant the ABSENCE of large eruptions has contributed to global warmth recently

Hope you didn't spend much time on my wordy post 17.
We are on the same page.

The PBS special on the Anakrakatoa event in the 500s mentioned that
the last century was significantly lacking in major volcanic eruptions.
(the show left it to the alert viewer to wonder if this might be
a significant cause of "global warming")

[darkocean]

That's more air pollution than man has ever caused since Alley Oop.

[BIGLOOK]

The particulate matter in the atmosphere will contribute to cooling. Since the event took place in Mexico, it may also contribute to illegal immigration.