Alaska: steam plume from Augustine 30 August 2009
Posted by admin in activity reports, Alaska, Augustine, United States.Tags: Alaska, Augustine, United States, volcanic activity reports
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Augustine Volcano, Alaska, has been releasing a prominent steam plume from its summit over recent days. The Alaska Volcano Observatory has released a brief news announcement which says that this plume represents normal behaviour for Augustine and is nothing to worry about: it has just been more visible over recent days because of ‘humidity levels and atmospheric conditions’.
Augustine’s largest historic eruption was a VEI=4 event in 1883-4 (see ‘Mount Augustine split in two’), and its most recent eruption (VEI=3) was in 2005-6. The AVO keeps a close watch on Augustine and will respond appropriately should the volcano show signs of renewed activity – that’s what volcano monitoring is all about.
In the meantime we have an excuse for reproducing this very nice picture, taken from Diamond Ridge near Homer, Alaska, on 25 August 2009, showing the steam plume very clearly, along with Augustine’s beautiful symmetrical profile. The image, which is available from the AVO website, is courtesy Dennis Anderson, Night Trax Photography.
Geothermal power from volcanoes 25 June 2008
Posted by admin in Alaska, Augustine, Nicaragua, San Cristóbal, Spurr, United States, volcanic resources.Tags: Alaska, geothermal energy, Nicaragua
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Reuters reports that the State of Alaska is preparing a geothermal leasing programme for Mount Spurr which would allow energy companies to exploit the volcano’s heat sources as a means of generating energy, and that a similar programme is being considered for another Alaskan volcano, Augustine. The Eruptions blog has more.
Only last week Nicaragua announced that it was inviting bids to develop the geothermal potential of San Cristóbal volcano.
An article in the UK Daily Telegraph for 26 June 2008 reports on the resurgence of interest in geothermal power in the United States: ‘According to experts, America is only just waking up to the ancient power source lying beneath dozens of states that has the potential to supply as much as 25 percent of the nation’s energy needs’. If the Telegraph is to be believed, Karl Gawell, executive director of the Geothermal Energy Association, when speaking of current geothermal energy projects and the potential for expansion, actually used the phrase ‘the tip of the iceberg’.
Information
Global Volcanism Program: Spurr – summary information for Spurr (1103-04-)
Global Volcanism Program: Augustine – summary information for Augustine (1103-01-)
Global Volcanism Program: San Cristóbal – summary information for San Cristóbal (1404-02=)
The plus side of volcanoes: geothermal energy – general information on geothermal energy from the Cascades Volcano Observatory
News
Harness volcano power, energy experts say – Daily Telegraph, 26 June 2008
Alaska plans geothermal leasing at volcano – Reuters, 24 June 2008
Nicaragua seeks bids on energy from largest volcano – Bloomberg, 19 June 2008
The Volcanism Blog 