Starship Asterisk*

[i]NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC[/i]

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Puyehue-Cordón Caulle

On June 4, 2011, a fissure opened in Chile’s Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex, sending ash 45,000 feet (14,000 meters) into the air. The ash quickly blew eastward towards Argentina. Over the border, near the town of Bariloc, a layer of ash at least 30 centimeters (12 inches) deep covered the ground, the Buenos Aires Herald reported. Argentinian police collected golfball-sized pumice near the border, which is at least 21 kilometers (13 miles) from the eruption.

This natural-color image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiomter (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite shortly after the eruption began. The brown ash plume reaches high above the clouds covering much of the scene, and casts a dark shadow towards the southeast. Along the leading edge of the plume, it appears heavier material is falling out of the ash cloud, while finer particles remain suspended in the atmosphere.

[i]NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC[/i]

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Eruption of Puyehue-Cordón Caulle, Chile

After awakening on June 4, 2011, the eruption at the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex continued through at least June 6th. Located in Chile, just west of the border with Argentina, Puyehue-Cordón Caulle emitted a plume of light-colored ash that stretched along the edge of the Andes. Hours earlier the prevailing winds had shifted, forming the prominent kink visible in the plume.

This natural-color satellite image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard Terra on the morning of June 6, 2011. At the time the Buenos Aires Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) reported that the ash plume reached an altitude of 40,000 feet (12,000 meters).

[i]Image courtesy NASA/NOAA GOES Project Science[/i]

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Ash Plume from Puyehue-Cordón Caulle

Two days of continuous emissions at the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Volcanic Complex have created an ash plume the extends more than 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 kilometers): from Chile, over the coast of Argentina, and out into the Atlantic Ocean. Puyehue-Cordón Caulle began erupting on June 4, 2011, emitting ash to a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet (14,000 meters), according to the Buenos Aires Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC). The ash plume remained at or above 40,000 feet (12,000) for at least the next two days.

This image combines visible and infrared imagery from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-East (GOES-East) with color imagery from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). A complementary animation shows the evolution of the plume from 1:45 p.m. local time June 4, 2011, until 10:45 a.m. June 6, 2011.

• Spectacular Images and Video of the Puyehue-Cordón Caulle Eruption in Chile
  Puyehue-Cordón Caulle update, 6 June 2011. (The Volcanism Blog)

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Volcanic Lightning

In a scene no human could have witnessed, an apocalyptic agglommeration of lightning bolts illuminates an ash cloud above Chile's Puyehue volcano (map) on Sunday.

The minutes-long exposure shows individual bolts as if they'd all occurred at the same moment and, due to the Earth's rotation, renders stars (left) as streaks. Lightning to the right of the ash cloud appears to have illuminated nearby clouds—hence the apparent absence of stars on that side of the picture.

After an ominous series of earthquakes Saturday morning, the volcano erupted that afternoon, convincing authorities to evacuate some 3,500 area residents. Eruptions over the course of the weekend resulted in heavy ashfalls, including in Argentine towns 60 miles (a hundred kilometers) away.

Photograph by Francisco Negroni, Agenci Uno/European Pressphoto Agency
—With reporting by Christine Dell'Amore

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Apocalyptic Plume

A Lord of the Rings-worthy plume rises roughly six miles (ten kilometers) above Chile's Puyehue volcano (map) Sunday. As of Monday, activity at the volcano appeared to have tapered off, according to Telam, Argentina's government news agency.

Even so, danger remains. In a statement on website of the regional government of Los Rios, Chile, for example, Governor Juan Andrés Varas warned that ash and potentially poisonous volcanic gases are slowly rolling toward a nearby valley. "Fortunately, the valley doesn't drop abruptly, so we have time to evacuate," Varas was quoted as saying by CNN.

Photograph by Ivan Alvarado, Reuters

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Snap, Crackle, Pop

Lightning crackles around a miles-high ash plume above Chile's Puyehue volcano (map) on Saturday.

A volcanic lightning storm isn't "unlike a regular old thunderstorm," Martin Uman, a lightning expert at the University of Florida in Gainesville, told National Geographic News in 2010.

The same ingredients are present: water droplets, ice, and possibly hail—all interacting with each other and with particles, in this case ash from the eruptions, to cause electrical charging, Uman said.

Photograph by Ivan Alvarado, Reuters

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Back to Life

Dormant for decades, Puyehue volcano (map) crackles back to life Saturday.

All types of lightning, particularly volcanic lightning, are still largely mysteries to scientists, the University of Florida's Uman told National Geographic News in 2010.

Since people can't easily get inside thunder and lightning storms, no one knows exactly how they form, he added.

Photograph by Ivan Alvarado, Reuters