Word: pinatubo
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...Mount Pinatubo's blasts came just one week after Japan's Mount Unzen blew its top, with more deadly results. The red-hot avalanches hurtling down the mountain's slopes killed at least 35 people. But the toll could have been much higher if scientists had not sounded the alarm that an eruption was imminent. In fact, many of those killed were journalists and volcanologists drawn to the mountain by the warnings, whereas most residents of the area fled to safety. They may have to stay away for a long while: Mount Unzen erupted again last week, and the worst...
...Both Pinatubo and Unzen lie along the infamous Ring of Fire, a crescent of volcanic activity that runs around the rim of the Pacific Ocean through the edges of Asia, North America and South America. Washington's Mount St. Helens, which exploded spectacularly in 1980, is part of the ring. It contains three- quarters of the earth's 540 historically active volcanoes. Since such mountains are erupting in one place or another almost all the time, it is merely a coincidence that Pinatubo and Unzen are exploding simultaneously...
...Japanese have donated instruments that will enable Mexico to keep a closer watch on Popocatepetl near Mexico City. And shortly after Pinatubo first showed signs of activity in April, the U.S. Geological Survey sent to the Philippines a team of scientists equipped with seismometers, tiltmeters (to measure tiny shifts in the slope of the mountain) and laptop computers to collect and analyze data. Several of the instruments, however, were obliterated by last week's eruptions, hampering efforts to figure out the volcano's next gambit...
...molten rock. Large numbers of such signals preceded Mount St. Helens' 1980 blast. They also appeared before the unexpected explosion of Mexico's El Chichon in 1982, the blowup of Colombia's Nevado del Ruiz in 1985 and 1987 and multiple eruptions of Alaska's Redoubt. Seismometers positioned at Pinatubo have recorded similar seismic patterns...
...greatest threats to human lives may come from overlooked, long dormant volcanoes. To monitor a volcano requires identifying it beforehand; as recently as 1981, Pinatubo was not even included in the worldwide registry of volcanoes maintained by the Smithsonian Institution. "When a nice little hill covered with lush vegetation finally wakes up," observes Smithsonian volcanologist Tom Simkin, "it's going to cause a lot of damage." Fortunately, scientists were able to see that some nice little hills in the Philippines and Japan were turning nasty while people still had time to get away...