https://www.earthmagazine.org/tags/vaac/ Recent content in Vaac on EARTH Magazine Hugo en-US American Geosciences Institute. All rights reserved. Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/tracking-volcanic-ash-helping-airplanes-avoid-catastrophe/ Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500 https://www.earthmagazine.org/article/tracking-volcanic-ash-helping-airplanes-avoid-catastrophe/ <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/tracking-volcanic-ash-helping-airplanes-avoid-catastrophe/i-396-7da-4-f.jpg" alt="Chaitén&#39;s eruption sent a cloud of ash wafting over Chile, Argentina and the Atlantic Ocean. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using EO-1 data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team" loading="eager" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Chaitén&#39;s eruption sent a cloud of ash wafting over Chile, Argentina and the Atlantic Ocean. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using EO-1 data provided courtesy of the NASA EO-1 team</figcaption> </figure> <figure class="earth-figure"> <img src="https://www.americangeosciences.org/static/earth/tracking-volcanic-ash-helping-airplanes-avoid-catastrophe/i-399-7da-4-f.jpg" alt="Alaska&#39;s Redoubt volcano erupted violently in the spring of 2009. Chris Waythomas, Alaska Volcano Observatory, USGS" loading="lazy" decoding="async"> <figcaption>Alaska&#39;s Redoubt volcano erupted violently in the spring of 2009. Chris Waythomas, Alaska Volcano Observatory, USGS</figcaption> </figure> <p>For more than 9,000 years, Chaitén volcano quietly towered 1,122 meters over southern Chile. The volcano seemed almost asleep: Its wide crater, shaped by layers of ash and pumice from an ancient eruption, held two lakes and a giant dome of obsidian &mdash; the same glossy black rock that was used in prehistoric times to shape artifacts found at archaeological sites as far as 400 kilometers away. Almost at the foot of the volcano, just 10 kilometers to the southwest, a small village grew into the town of Chaitén, population 4,200.</p>