Volcano Listserv Messages (1998)
- Subject: Grimsvotn eruption ends; Caribbean volcano cruise
- From: Jon Fink <JONATHAN.FINK@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 07:03:50 -0700 (MST)
Here are two announcements. For further information about either, please
compose a new email to the originators, Pall Einarsson or David Lea. Do
not use "REPLY" to respond to this message. Apologies to those who have
already received David Lea's note directly from him.
-JF
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Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 11:17:10 +0000
From: Pall Einarsson <palli@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Grimsvotn
End of Grimsvotn eruption
The eruption that began in the caldera of the Grimsvotn volcano on December
18 appears to have ended on December 28. The eruption was most vigorous in
the first two days. It then gradually declined and became intermittent in
the last few days. Continuous tremor stopped at 10 50 on December 28 as
recorded by the Grimsfjall seismograph at a distance of 3 km from the
eruption site. Small tremor bursts were recorded in the next 3 hours but no
activity has been detected after 14 h.
This eruption of Grimsvotn confirms the notion expressed after the 1996
Gjalp eruption, that this central area of the Iceland hotspot is entering
an episode of increased magmatic activity following an unusually long
period of relative quiescence, 1938-1996.
Pall Einarsson
Science Institute, University of Iceland
email: palli@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1998 07:49:23 -0500
From: David Lea <lead@xxxxxxxx>
Subject: Another kind of cruise
To: our many volcano-philes and friends,
From: David Lea
Montserrat, West Indies
Over the last few years, I have had the vision for a bigger project
beyond the scope of the Price of Paradise video series that was birthed out
of the eruption of The Soufriere Hills volcano in Montserrat. Through these
last few years I have become more and more interested in volcanoes and the
need for their documentation. This has led to other projects, such as the
educational video that I am involved in at the present time with Dr. Steve
Sparks, former head scientist of the Montserrat Volcano Observatory. He saw
the need for a teaching video for geology students at the university level,
that would instruct and inform them about Montserrat's volcano and related
scientific subjects.
I am also working on a volcanic hazards video born out of the deaths
that took place here in Montserrat on June 25th of 1997, in which I,
myself, could have perished but for the Grace of God, and a basic
understanding of the very real dangers of this type of volcano. This is a
video that could be used to show people living around other volcanoes, what
the hazards are, and the risks involved in remaining in the unsafe areas. I
have been attending some of the sessions of the inquest that has been
taking place here over the last few weeks, into the June 25th deaths. One
of the things that I think has become clear is the lack of use of our local
cable TV channel to inform the public of the on going events and the
accompanying hazards. This was done through ZJB over and over again, but I
think that video could have been used to great advantage. Hence: this
hazards video project.
This brings me to the reason for this letter. The, "bigger project",
that I referred to above is now coming on stream and it is time to let
folks know about it. The working title of this documentary is, "The
Volcanoes of the Caribbean", and I began working on it some time ago. I
have been visiting the other Caribbean volcanic islands with the purpose
of building an archive to be used in this project. I already have footage
of Saba, Statia, St. Kitts, Nevis, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, and, of
course, Montserrat. And this documentary will also include Guadeloupe and
St. Vincent. This is where you come in.
We are planning a voyage on the top sail schooner, Sir Robert Baden
Powell, that would start at the southern most volcanic island, Grenada, and
follow the path of the Arawak Indians up the islands to the northern most
volcano in Saba. The ship is an unbelievably beautiful 140 foot steel
sailing schooner. It can be seen at:
http://www.sir-robert.com
This cruise will be completely different than the one Chris Bolt has
been working on for so long and I have contacted him before emailing the
group. This has also been sent out to other scientific groups before
opening it up to the EE folks to try and involve those scientists that
might be interested.
What we are looking for is: a dozen other people that would also like
to go on this once in a lifetime journey. It would take place beginning
around November 15 of 1999. We already have a commitment from 6 folks that
would like to go, and there is only room for 18, plus 5 crew. We have been
notifying the scientific community and expect a good response from them.
What we would like to do is find out if there is anyone else out there that
might be interested? At this point we cannot guarantee a place, since the
response might be bigger than the room available, but we would like to put
together a list of those interested. It may be that we can schedule another
trip at a later date, or that this could become a regular journey for this
sailboat.
Last week the ship came to Montserrat for 2 days with 18 scuba-divers
from Germany. I saw first hand, for the first time, what Montserrat has to
offer to the adventure vacationer. We arranged an island tour for them and
at dinner on the ship that night, they raved about what they had seen.
Today I received a call from the Captain, informing me that a few of those
on that trip, had expressed a desire to come back next November for the
volcano journey. He asked me to move ahead with our plan and I said that I
would put the word out to various groups to see what the response might be.
My personal reason for putting this trip together is to complete "The
Volcanoes of the Caribbean" project. We would climb to the craters, take
the hikes, visit the important sites and hopefully have with us some
scientists to help us understand what we are seeing. We have already talked
with St. Lucia Helicopters for tours and aerial shots of the ship under
sail while we are around that area. We would like to spend 2 days at each
volcanic island, which equates to: 11 islands at 2 days a piece, (sailing
at night), equals 22 days or basically 3 weeks of adventure.
I will be meeting with Capt. Karston again sometime in the next week
or so in Montserrat to work out more of the details. This is about all I
can tell you at this time. If you are seriously interested, please let me
know as soon as possible, and I will give you more information. I should
have a cost figure for the trip after my meeting with Capt. Karston. I
think this will be the adventure of a lifetime and also the beginning of
a wonderful new relationship for tourism in Montserrat.
Sincerely,
David Lea
PS If you know someone that might be interested in this, please feel free
to forward it to them.
