Click on the map for a larger version (1280 x 898 pixels).

The Smithsonian Institution/United States Geological Survey Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 2-8 December 2009 is available on the Global Volcanism Program website. The following is a summary and not a substitute for the full report.

• The current report: Weekly Volcanic Activity Report.
• Previous reports: Weekly Reports Archive.
• The SI/USGS map of volcanoes discussed this week.

New activity/unrest: Llaima (Chile).

Ongoing activity: Ambrym (Vanuatu), Chaitén (Chile), Colima (Mexico), Dukono (Indonesia), Fuego (Guatemala), Karymsky (Russia), Kilauea (Hawaii, USA), Kliuchevskoi (Russia), Rabaul (Papua New Guinea), Sakura-jima (Japan), San Cristóbal (Nicaragua), Shiveluch (Russia), Soufrière Hills (Montserrat), Suwanose-jima (Japan).

Note: a.s.l. = ‘above sea level’.

NEW ACTIVITY/UNREST

Llaima (Chile). Steam-and-gas plumes were observed rising from the main crater and E flank during 14 November-1 December. Although seismicity generally decreased, a new type of long-period, low-frequency earthquake was detected. An overflight on 4 December revealed fumarolic activity and some sulphur dioxide emissions coming mainly from fissures on the N crater wall and outer E and W flanks. The Alert Level was raised to Yellow, Level 3.

ONGOING ACTIVITY

Ambrym (Vanuatu). A diffuse plume from probably largely composed of sulphur dioxide was visible on satellite imagery acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on 3 December.

Chaitén (Chile). Buenos Aires VAAC reported that emissions from the lava-dome complex drifted 15 km SE on 8 December.

Colima (Mexico). On 1 December a white plume rose 100 m above the crater and drifted E. On 2 December, incandescent tephra was ejected 50 m above the crater towards the SE. Later that day, a white plume rose 50 m and drifted SW.

Dukono (Indonesia). Darwin VAAC reported that during 5-6 December ash plumes from Dukono rose to 3 km a.s.l. and drifted 55-85 km NE and SE.

Fuego (Guatemala). Multiple explosions on 4 December produced ash plumes that rose to 4.2-4.7 km a.s.l. and drifted 15-18 km W. Ashfall was reported in communities downwind. Rumbling noises and incandescent block avalanches were also noted.

Karymsky (Russia). Seismic activity was above background levels during 27-30 November and 1 December. Data were not available during 2-4 December due to technical problems. Analyses of satellite imagery revealed a daily thermal anomaly and ash plumes that drifted 165 km E during 29-30 November and 1-2 December. The Level of Concern Color Code remained at Orange.

Kilauea (Hawaii, USA). During 2-8 December lava flowed SE from beneath the Thanksgiving Eve Breakout (TEB) and rootless shield complex through a lava tube system to reach the ocean at multiple locations between Waikupanaha and an area 700 m farther to the W. Thermal anomalies detected by satellite and visual observations revealed active lava flows on the coastal plain. Incandescence was occasionally seen from Pu’u ‘O’o crater; on 2 December, incandescence originated from vents on the E wall. The vent in Halema’uma’u crater continued to produce a white or off-white plume that drifted E, W, and SW, and dropped small amounts of ash downwind. Incandescence originated from multiple spattering holes in the deep floor of the vent cavity.

Kliuchevskoi (Russia). During 27 November-4 December seismic activity was above background levels and lava continued to flow down the ESE flank. Strombolian activity ejected tephra 300 m above the crater. Satellite imagery revealed a large daily thermal anomaly at the volcano. The Level of Concern Color Code remained at Orange.

Rabaul (Papua New Guinea). During 27 November-3 December dense white plumes and gray ash plumes rose from Tavurvur cone. Strong explosions produced ash plumes that rose 1.5 km above the summit and showered the flanks with lava fragments that were incandescent at night. Shock waves rattled windows in the Kokopo area, about 20 km SE. Incandescence from the summit crater was occasionally noted. During 2-4 December, ash fell in Rabaul town (3-5 km NW) and other villages downwind. Based on analyses of satellite imagery, the Darwin VAAC reported that during 5 and 7-8 December ash plumes rose to 2.4 km a.s.l. and drifted 45-55 km E.

Sakura-jima (Japan). Tokyo VAAC reported that explosions during 2-8 December produced plumes that rose to 1.5-2.7 km a.s.l. and drifted in multiple directions. On 4 and 8 December, pilots 30-65 km S of Kagoshima airport reported ash plumes that rose to an altitude of 1.8 km a.s.l. and drifted SW and NE.

San Cristóbal (Guatemala). Washington VAAC reported that on 6 December a gas-and-steam plume with possible ash drifted SW, and also noted smoke from local fires.

Shiveluch (Russia). During 27 November-4 December seismic activity was above background levels, possibly indicating that ash plumes rose to an altitude of 4.5 km a.s.l. Fumarolic activity was seen with a video camera. Analyses of satellite imagery revealed a large daily thermal anomaly from the lava dome and gas-and-steam plumes, possibly with ash, drifting 70 km E on 27, 28, and 30 November. The Level of Concern Color Code remained at Orange. Tokyo VAAC reported that on 4 December an eruption produced a plume that rose to an altitude of 5.8 km a.s.l.

Soufrière Hills (Montserrat). During 27 November-4 December activity from the lava dome continued at a high level. Pyroclastic flow activity was concentrated to the NE and W. The largest pyroclastic flows traveled NE down Tuitt’s Ghaut on 27 November and 2 December, reaching within 200 m of the sea. Associated ash plumes rose to altitudes of 4.6-6.1 km a.s.l. Pyroclastic flows also traveled W down Gages Valley, S down the White River valley and Gingoes Ghaut, and into the upper reaches of Tyers Ghaut (NW). One descended the Tar River valley to the E. Rockfalls cascaded directly from the summit of the lava dome into Tyers Ghaut. Ash venting from the S part of the lava dome was noted several times. Ashfall containing accretionary lapilli, reported from Salem, Old Towne, and parts of Olveston on the evening of 27 November, was associated with a pyroclastic flow down Tuitt’s and White Bottom Ghaut. The Hazard Level remained at 3.

Suwanose-jima (Japan). Tokyo VAAC reported an explosion from Suwanose-jima during 5-6 December. Details of possible resulting emissions were not reported.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DISCLAIMER

The foregoing is a summary of the Smithsonian Institution/United States Geological Survey Weekly Volcanic Activity Report covering 2-8 December 2009. It is provided for information only, and is based on but not a substitute for the full report, which comes with its own criteria and disclaimers. The map base is derived from the Smithsonian Institution/USGS/US Naval Research Laboratory This Dynamic Planet website.

For all our coverage of the SI/USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Reports: Weekly Volcanic Activity Reports « The Volcanism Blog.

This coming Thursday come into De La Concha, New York’s first certified retail tobacconist and get some great deals on La Aroma de Cuba and San Cristobal Cigars. Click on link for full details.  http://alturl.com/2mnb.

Ron Melendi, CRT

General Manger- De La Concha

Since this is the inaugural post in the “stuff to look at” category, I’ll briefly explain what that means.

You take more photographs than you will ever “finish.” Many more. On any given day you go out shooting, you might snap 100 photos. These all get filed dutifully in your digital archive. They pile up. Some afternoon you’re looking for 45 minutes worth of procrastination, and you go gleefully hunting through your electronic storage closet, looking for some lost or forgotten treasure you can pull into Photoshop, either to transmogrify it into something bizarre, or simply to spruce it up and declare it “finished.”

It’s like getting to the final draft of a poem, except in the scenario where you have a backlog of about 24,000 drafts of different ideas waiting to become poems. It’s always a little exciting, because with 24,000 things in the pile, you forget about a lot of hidden favorites.

I don’t do a lot of weirding up in Photoshop. I don’t add flying kittens to my landscapes. I do a lot of what probably seems to the layperson like “tweaking.” But I’ve decided to use the blog as a place to showcase my newest finished photos, and to pull back the curtain on how they got that way. Some of this might only be interesting to other photo-types, but who knows. I was always curious about this stuff before I learned.

This one goes a ways back. I dug it out of the Mexico 2007 file, and here’s the finished version. At the moment I title it “39.” Clever, no?

I rather like the way this turned out. Understated and shot through with (a)symmetry. It may be a bit of a “safe” photo for me, since this is more or less my stylistic wheelhouse. I’m not going out on any limbs here.

And here’s the original:

So, first I straightened it up. This is not always easy when you’re dealing with Latin American architecture. The painting lines are not always parallel to the door frames, which are not always perpendicular to the roof overhangs. Sometimes you have to pick your horse. Here I used the center paint line as my vertical.

Clearly I also changed the aspect ratio from rectangular to pseudo-square. I have a kind of OCD thing about squares. I think if you’re anywhere near a square format, you should be precisely square. But precisely square would not give me a pleasing crop, so the final draft ended up being a little bit wider than it is tall. I don’t think you can tell, though.

Oh, in case you’re playing spot-the-difference, yes, I moved the house number away from his head.

The rest of the edits fall under brightening, contrast, and deepening the blacks. Small edits.

I’m still torn on whether to clone out those white plastic buckets. Part of me thinks it might be a good idea, and part of me thinks it’s too much work. But they are distracting to the eye, I admit.

So there you have it. I’d love feedback on these entries if you feel like it. Hasta la próxima.

(see this photo in a slideshow with others from the Mexico trip.)

Un detalle de las ventanas que dan a las faldas del cerro San Cristóbal.  No siempre es una suerte que los ojos, que son las ventanas sino los ojos de los edificios, estén condenados a la vista inmortal de las faldas, pero en el caso del San Cristóbal sí, sobre todo si la falda no es la nor poniente. Esta, la que da al sur oriente, es una falda privilegiada en cuanto a vecindario, un barrio “a bien”, vista reservada entonces para aquellos que no son de la ciudad, pero que la visitan intentando encontrar en ella una de las tantas sucursales del mundo de avanzada, la primera línea, la vanguardia, los enrumbadores, los que la llevan, los que señalan, indican, regulan, asienten o eliminan. Menos mal que no les ha dado contra el Cerro. Menos mal que las ventanas dan al cerro y no están en el cerro. De entre las ramas, saco pica a los encerrados entre esos muros. Yo tengo los pies en la naturaleza ¿Quién está afuera?

Juntos mejoramos nuestra ciudad.

Queremos estar en tu calle, en tu barrio. Queremos conocerte y que nos conozcas. Queremos que nos hagas llegar tus aportaciones, sugerencias y propuestas sobre Vitoria.

Por ello, cada semana visitamos cada uno de los barrios de la ciudad. Hasta el momento, hemos conocido de cerca muchas de las necesidades de los ciudadanos de Vitoria. Y todas las aportaciones que nos habéis realizado en estas visitas, las hemos trasladado una a una, al seno del Ayuntamiento de Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Desde este blog, te queremos animar a mejorar juntos nuestra ciudad. Por medio de este canal de comunicación, puedes hacernos llegar tus iniciativas y todo aquello que te interese, te preocupe o sepas que se puede mejorar de Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Muchas gracias.
Javier Maroto, portavoz de PP Vitoria.

Javier Maroto, portavoz de PP Vitoria

• Ir a todos los barrios
• Ir al mapa de visitas

As the rainy season comes to an end, the gray skies come into effect. No problem for us because they signal cooler weather for the next 2 months. We like it!!!

Ahora que el invierno llega a su fin, los cielos gris dominan el panorama. No hay problema porque señalan un clima más fresco y agradable por los siguientes dos meses.  Nos gusta!!!

As the rainy season comes to an end, the gray skies come into effect. No problem for us because they signal cooler weather for the next 2 months. We like it!!!

Ahora que el invierno llega a su fin, los cielos gris dominan el panorama. No hay problema porque señalan un clima más fresco y agradable por los siguientes dos meses.  Nos gusta!!!

Pues sí. Que resulta que mis panas sancristoberos del Círculo Creativo Alter estarán celebrando su primer aniversario (y el primer centenario del natalicio de Juan Bosch) muy a su modo: rebeldía literaria hasta rabiar. Como parte de estas fiestas, se trasladan hacia la capital a realizar una tarde de “poesía, música, performance y par de fallos matemáticos” (no era así, Isidro?) y han tenido la gentileza de invitarme a participar (y yo el atrevimiento de aceptar)

Alter O Ritmo 09, será, pues, un reencuentro con el hacer poesía a partir de códigos físicos (de llevar las palabras a las acciones, pues). Conmigo estarán: de la capital los Erranticistas (Glaem y corillo), Isis Aquino (del taller literario “El Viento Frío“), el colectivo vegano Urbit (desde la culta y olímpica, mi amiga Mashy Taveras estará haciendo bulla) y Daniela Cruz desde Santiago.

Sea pues válida la ocasión para invitarles. Este 3 de noviembre a las 5:30 PM en la Sala “Ramón Oviedo” de la Secretaría de Cultura. Para los que llevan anotaciones, eso es en la George Washington (Malecón) frente al obelisco “macho”… y muy cerca de la remozada plaza Juan Barón. No prometo des-amor-dazar secretos, pero sí compartir silencios. Valga la indirecta.

Catarsis, catarsis.

This is a brand owned by Ashton. Don Pepin was hired to blend this line. The cigar is a Nicaraguan puro with a maduro wrapper. The robusto size is 5×50. Cold aroma is of hay, wood, moss and dark chocolate. Sorry for the blurry photo.

Long ashes from San Cristobal

The light brought some pepper and medium to thick smoke with a bit of cedar and a roasted nut flavor that was indistinguishable (to me) at first. The burnw as perfect, as you can see in the phone, for a long time. In the first third the notes were a dank, mossy, earthy note with roasted nuts, woody aroma and a touch of leather and spice.

The midway point didn’t change anything. The cigar had a free draw that gave me lots of smoke with each puff. The smoke was dense and flavorful. I’d say a medium to full body with full flavor. The spice and pepper was there but not overpowering and it mingled well with the other notes and aromas.

The final third didn’t change much. The burn stayed even and the ash was solid with gray and white. The body and heat kicked up a bit when there was about an inch and ahalf remaining.

I thought this was a great cigar. For ~$7.00 – $8 per stick it’s a tad steep for me since there are similarly good maduros with this level of flavor and body for about ~$6 and sometimes less on deals from certain websites. I’d recommend trying this.

HOLA MUNDO

Venta de la Andaria de la Santisima Virgen de Dolores

Templo San Cirstobal el Bajo, Antigua Guatemala

PRAE: propuesta para una discusión ambiental.

Los colegios de Antioquia, Amazonas, Bolívar, Boyacá, Caldas, Cauca, Córdoba, Guaviare, Magdalena, Nariño, Quindío, Risaralda, Valle del Cauca y Norte de Santander han implementado los Proyectos Ambientales Escolares (PRAE).

Los PRAE son proyectos desarrollados desde el aula de clase y la institución escolar, que se vinculan a la comprensión y búsqueda de alternativas y propuestas de solución de una problemática ambiental.

A su vez, pretenden el reconocimiento de potencialidades ambientales locales, regionales y/o nacionales, con el propósito de contribuir al mejoramiento de la calidad de vida, desde una concepción de desarrollo sostenible.

Los Proyectos Ambientales Escolares (PRAE) se vienen posicionando como una de las estrategias de la Política Nacional de Educación Ambiental (SINA).

Esta iniciativa ha sido desarrollada y acompañada por los Ministerios de Educación Nacional y de Ambiente, Vivienda y Desarrollo Territorial, que han logrado la participación de las Instituciones Escolares a las Corporaciones Autónomas Regionales (CAR), Juntas de Acción Comunal, organizaciones sociales, institutos de investigación, entre otros.

De acuerdo con lo propuesto en la Política Nacional de Educación Ambiental, el desarrollo de un PRAE debe tener en cuenta lo siguiente:

* Comprender las problemáticas ambientales desde los entornos naturales, sociales y culturales.
* Ser de carácter interinstitucional. Buscar la concertación con actores de carácter local, regional, departamental o nacional (Ministerios, SENA, Corporaciones Autónomas Regionales, Secretarias de Educación, Universidades, Fundaciones, etc.).
* Incorporar el PRAE en el Proyecto Educativo Institucional (PEI), es decir, que su currículo sea de carácter ambiental.
* Transmitir una visión pedagógica que permita la construcción de conocimiento significativo.
* Construir espacios de trabajo interdisciplinario que permitan el diálogo de saberes entre el conocimiento científico, tradicional y popular, entre otros.
* Desarrollar actividades de intervención directa que permitan la reflexión pedagógica didáctica y sus proyecciones en la transformación de la institución.
* Contar con dos o más actores de distintas áreas de conocimiento comprometidos en el desarrollo de la propuesta

Si desea conocer más sobre las experiencias del PRAE consulte aquí algunas experiencias reseñadas en el Web site de Colombia Aprende.

Hoy vine a la escuela comenzamos con el diario luego hicimos un problema en matemática, fuimos al cimpas hicimos un recorrido por la escuela, salimos al Descanso entre vine a sala decompuso y Salí para la casa .

‘The steady expulsion of gas and ash’ at San Cristóbal volcano in Nicaragua is causing concern for the surrounding population and the civil defence authorities, reports the Nicaraguan paper El Nuevo Diario: the volcano ‘has had three months of abnormal activity, although sometimes its behaviour is relatively calm’.

The inhabitants of communities affected by the volcano’s emissions – Chichigalpa, Posoltega, Chinandega and El Viejo – have expressed unease at the consequences for their health, and the local government has warned that the ‘fumes and ash could have dangerous consequences for the population’. The Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (INETER) is constantly monitoring the volcano, which last erupted, on a small scale, a month ago.

News
Sigue actividad de fumarolas en el San Cristóbal – El Nuevo Diario, 4 October 2009

Information
Global Volcanism Program: San Cristóbal – summary information for San Cristóbal (1404-02=)
Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales – INETER main page
INETER Comunicados Oficiales – INETER volcano bulletins (not up to date)

En la escuela Fabio zuluaga se vive un proceso interesante con los niños que hacen parte de la institución, y yo he podido ser participe del proyecto como profe de ajedrez, computo, en el periódico escolar y en las Tertulias del Saber.
Para mi es muy grato ver a los niños metidos tan de lleno en esto que es la educacion, interesados por la lectura, los juegos, los computadores, por ejemplo una de las activadas que se realizan en la escuela y de la que los niños son parte fundamental son las lecturas de cuentos a personas de la comunidad, actividad que se realiza los sábados en la tarde en la casa de cualquier persona que los reciba deseosa de que le cuente un cuento unos pequeños alegres y queridos.

Estos peques no solo son lectores y contadores sino también ajedrecista, entre ellos los más destacados son Jhon Alexander Maya y Santiago Cano.
Las tertulias de saberes son una de las cosas que me parecen mas interesantes y de las que he podido ser participe, ver como se expresan relatan su experiencias, como escuchan a sus compañeros y profesora y las conclusiones a las que llegan es algo que me alegra.
Sara, Cristian, Kelly, Nayelly, Maria Paula, Sebastián, Cesar, y Gloria son algunos de estos niños alegres e inteligentes de los que me siento orgulloso de ayudar.

Con un inicio de clases normal empezó un día normal, en la escuela Fabio Zuluaga, otro día en que los niños y niñas recibirían clase por parte de sus profes, era el día en que idee el nombre para el periódico escolar y el día que gomocie con la cámara fotográfica.
Como ha eso de las 10 AM empezó un aguacero de esos en que pareciera que hubiese llegado la noche, de esos que pareciera que alguien decidió que el agua de medio mundo cállese sobre un mismo punto, un aguacero que mas bien parecía una tormenta en tierra firme.