http://volcanism.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/chaiten-update-29-may-2008/#comments

Interesting delay in reporting by USGS.

http://my.opera.com/nielsol/blog/2008/05/20/toba-a-significant-geological-event

Just Monday a 5.8 earthquake occurred at its location. All right, I’m reaching.

here’s a very interesting report on Bloomberg about the man who owns this volcano. Yes, that’s right, owns. He’s Douglas Tompkins, the founder of North Face, Inc.

So his company can be sued for damages?

SERNAGEOMIN: The column exceeded 100K ft on four brief occasions prior to 5/12 and had ejected 2km^3 for a VEI of 5, but only some 10^3 tons of SO2.

The injection of ash and SO2 into the ’stratosphere’ would have a cooling effect were the eruption at lower latitude. The one caveat here is the jet stream overlies Chaiten at this time effectively distributing the ash.

geology.com

Chaiten Volcano: Videos, Pictures, Map, News and Background

EXCERPT:

Chaiten Volcano Summary:

On Friday, May 2, 2008, Chaiten Volcano in southeastern Chile erupted for the first time since about 7400 BC. Its initial eruption produced a plume of volcanic ash and steam that rose nearly 17 kilometers high. Winds carried the plume east, over the Andes Mountains and into Argentina. The plume then drifted out over the over the Atlantic Ocean. It was visible on satellite images for hundreds of kilometers over the Atlantic.

http://geology.com/events/chaiten-volcano/

This is a fantastic website covering the eruption in detail.

However I fail to see the effect go beyond the local region because the eruptive plume does not appear to be going high enough to get spread far and wide.It has to penetrate the upper TROPOSPHERE level before it can be carried around the world.

Can anyone shed more information about it?

Hat Tip to Watts Up With That? (additional information in comments)Excellent satellite loop of Chaitin Volcano:
…

And if you want to scare yourself with how bad it could be, read this.

http://www.ees1.lanl.gov/Wohletz/Krakatau.htm

In answer to Beano’s question about the link between the two volcanoes I would venture a guess that there is a reasonable probability that they both could share a magma source at depth. I doubt they would share a magma chamber closer to the surface though.

I noted in an earlier post that the terrain surrounding Chaiten did not appear to be that which typically surrounds strato volcanoes. My guess then was that perhaps Chaiten was a newer eruptive center.

I see that the USGS volcano disaster squad is on its way. They will get there just after the dome collapses and the final eruption occurs – as usual.

I think I would rather be more worried about that giant ice and snow covered volcano Michinmahuida just a few kilometers away from Chaiten. The initial seismic activity indicated that the eruption had taken place there. It was a little bit unexpected that Chaiten – considered almost extinct had been the eruption site.

Interesting to note that the US expert who had studied the previous Chaiten eruption 9000 years ago noted that this area did not produce that much SO2 in its eruption ejecta and as such even if there was another large event where the ejecta reached the Troposphere it would not have much of an effect on global weather.

The one thing that I notice is that although there are so many experts with PHD’s, Doctorates in Geology, geophysics or volcanology, none can tell us accurately what is going to happen or when. Or to put it another way, as Alan Sullivan puts it over at Fresh Bilge – This eruption is without modern precedent. Volcanology is new territory here.

Some Spanish speaking geophysist or volcanologist checked out the seismic data and concluded that Chaiten and Michinmahuida were linked underneath.
His translations appeared early on in the eruption but I haven’t seen them since. Anybody able to verify this?

From volcanolive.com

Saturday 17th May 2008
Chaitén Volcano, Chile
Continuous eruptions are occurring at Chaitén volcano in Chile. The airfield at Chaitén town has been covered by ash and water, and is currently not able to be used. Ash and pumice is floating northwards along the Chile coast. The bay near Chaitén contains run-off from rivers with a milky-green colour. A large amount of sediment has blocked river channels, and lahars will continue to overflow river edges. Over the past two days there has been a marked change in seismic activity at the volcano. Earthquake swarms indicate fracturing of the main conduit, and possible ascent of magma towards the surface. Increasing pressure from magma is creating a potential explosion hazard, and collapse of the dome, generating pyroclastic flows.

You can go here for small visible image loops.(Volacanes)
http://www.smn.gov.ar/?mod=satelite&id=2

The 10th of May is the last good image. Been real cloudy there.