Categories > Celebrities > 30 Seconds to Mars > The Volcanologist
Returning to Villarrica
0 reviewsShannon and Jared return to Villarrica - the volcano from their childhood - and prepare for an eruption.
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Villarrica, Southern Chile - the volcano from our childhood that resulted in Jared's childhood nightmares and my fascination.
I never told you about that did I? For a year after the eruption of Villarrica, Jared suffered nightmares - flashbacks in the middle of the night that would make him relive every moment, and wake up screaming. Sure he recovered, but it must have been horrific for a 5 year old boy.
But, no matter how hard I tried to tell him, he wanted to come. He wanted to face up to the volcano - even face his own fears, and fears of me never returning - although he'd be keeping a very safe difference. I thought it was foolish at first, but a part of me was proud of him, especially for his determination.
We get on a flight within a week. Jared is nervous - not of flying, but of where we were landing. But he's brought his guitar and a few art things in his bag to keep him entertained and distracted.
When we reach the volcano, the first thing we notice is how unbelievably different it looks. Its grown so much in height and is now capped in snow and ice. Despite being rebuilt, the village looks much like we remember it. But that volcano looks nothing like the one we climbed when we were children, and its hard to believe it is the same one.
We do as we usually do - we call and check ash emissions before going up quickly in the helicopter, before its too late. Rather than stay on the ground alone, Jared opts to come up with us. It unnerves him even more - being so close to a volcano. Even looking inside the crater sends a chill down his spine. Even though I'm sitting closest to the window and he's sitting next to me, I can feel him shaking. But fairplay to him, he doesn't panic or freak out. He looks, and even with the snow-capped peak, the lava-lake still exists and is still visible, not hidden by the thick snow because of the immense heat. He silently shudders, as though he's still haunted by the memories, and remains quiet. The crater has changed too, its much deeper.
We continue with our work as we usually do. Dannielle sets up the earthquake equipment back in our new hotel room after placing another device in the ground. We haven't felt any tremors ourselves this time, but upon setting up the equipment, we know what we're up against.
The village is already experiencing the harmonic tremors, although they can't feel it. Sometimes its the animals that are more sensitive to these, until they eventually get worse nearer the eruption.
It takes some explaining to Jared, but I explain all types of volcanic tremors - A-waves and B-waves - before explaining that harmonic tremors are the final earthquake warning before eruption, representing the magma underground forcing its way through the final layer and towards the top of the volcano. And it doesn't seem to scare him. We felt a harmonic tremor years ago at the top of the mountain before I pulled him down. Now he seems grateful that we have warnings of volcanic activity such as this, as scary as they may be.
We know what we must do next. This volcano is in the final stages, and we are racing against it to evacuate people - Luke and Dannielle start that immediately. I stay in the hotel room with Jared and handle the rest of the business.
Jared watches with intrigue as I quickly call USGS - our fellow teams and our superior - and quickly bump the volcano ALERT to a RED - WARNING immediately. I also include that we are carrying out an immediate evacuation of the village and everyone in the affected areas.
As I carry on working, I take the time to explain the different warnings and why I've just bumped it to RED. "ORANGE - WATCH is a small eruption due with small ash emissions or activity that could get worse. RED - WARNING means there's a big eruption due with large amounts of ash." I don't feel I need to tell him GREEN - NORMAL or YELLOW - ADVISORY.
"So there's a lot of ash expected? Is that all?"
"Well, no. This volcano is known for Strombolian eruptions. This type of eruption is named after its similarities with a volcano called Stromboli. There's not a lot of ash due, but there are many people around that need to be urgently evacuated."
"Oh."
I won't tell him about different types of eruptions. He doesn't need to know yet. If he watches this one with us, I can explain it to him then. He'll understand the difference quickly.
But there is another thing I won't tell him yet. I've been honest with him about not bumping the alert to RED - WARNING because of a large amount of ash. Strombolian eruptions do not typically emit much ash. They can be violent - shown at regular intervals during the eruption - the lava is thick and does not run very far, but pressurised gases can cause it to explode in arcs from the mountain. There may be lava bombs. Because of the snow and ice, there is also a ski resort on the slopes. We've had to close that too. But its the snow and ice that is posing the biggest danger, resulting in our choice of the RED - WARNING alert. The heat of the mountain would melt the snow and ice, causing mud-slides and widespread flooding.
Jared pulls out a sketchpad and pencil, and decides to draw the mountain.
I never told you about that did I? For a year after the eruption of Villarrica, Jared suffered nightmares - flashbacks in the middle of the night that would make him relive every moment, and wake up screaming. Sure he recovered, but it must have been horrific for a 5 year old boy.
But, no matter how hard I tried to tell him, he wanted to come. He wanted to face up to the volcano - even face his own fears, and fears of me never returning - although he'd be keeping a very safe difference. I thought it was foolish at first, but a part of me was proud of him, especially for his determination.
We get on a flight within a week. Jared is nervous - not of flying, but of where we were landing. But he's brought his guitar and a few art things in his bag to keep him entertained and distracted.
When we reach the volcano, the first thing we notice is how unbelievably different it looks. Its grown so much in height and is now capped in snow and ice. Despite being rebuilt, the village looks much like we remember it. But that volcano looks nothing like the one we climbed when we were children, and its hard to believe it is the same one.
We do as we usually do - we call and check ash emissions before going up quickly in the helicopter, before its too late. Rather than stay on the ground alone, Jared opts to come up with us. It unnerves him even more - being so close to a volcano. Even looking inside the crater sends a chill down his spine. Even though I'm sitting closest to the window and he's sitting next to me, I can feel him shaking. But fairplay to him, he doesn't panic or freak out. He looks, and even with the snow-capped peak, the lava-lake still exists and is still visible, not hidden by the thick snow because of the immense heat. He silently shudders, as though he's still haunted by the memories, and remains quiet. The crater has changed too, its much deeper.
We continue with our work as we usually do. Dannielle sets up the earthquake equipment back in our new hotel room after placing another device in the ground. We haven't felt any tremors ourselves this time, but upon setting up the equipment, we know what we're up against.
The village is already experiencing the harmonic tremors, although they can't feel it. Sometimes its the animals that are more sensitive to these, until they eventually get worse nearer the eruption.
It takes some explaining to Jared, but I explain all types of volcanic tremors - A-waves and B-waves - before explaining that harmonic tremors are the final earthquake warning before eruption, representing the magma underground forcing its way through the final layer and towards the top of the volcano. And it doesn't seem to scare him. We felt a harmonic tremor years ago at the top of the mountain before I pulled him down. Now he seems grateful that we have warnings of volcanic activity such as this, as scary as they may be.
We know what we must do next. This volcano is in the final stages, and we are racing against it to evacuate people - Luke and Dannielle start that immediately. I stay in the hotel room with Jared and handle the rest of the business.
Jared watches with intrigue as I quickly call USGS - our fellow teams and our superior - and quickly bump the volcano ALERT to a RED - WARNING immediately. I also include that we are carrying out an immediate evacuation of the village and everyone in the affected areas.
As I carry on working, I take the time to explain the different warnings and why I've just bumped it to RED. "ORANGE - WATCH is a small eruption due with small ash emissions or activity that could get worse. RED - WARNING means there's a big eruption due with large amounts of ash." I don't feel I need to tell him GREEN - NORMAL or YELLOW - ADVISORY.
"So there's a lot of ash expected? Is that all?"
"Well, no. This volcano is known for Strombolian eruptions. This type of eruption is named after its similarities with a volcano called Stromboli. There's not a lot of ash due, but there are many people around that need to be urgently evacuated."
"Oh."
I won't tell him about different types of eruptions. He doesn't need to know yet. If he watches this one with us, I can explain it to him then. He'll understand the difference quickly.
But there is another thing I won't tell him yet. I've been honest with him about not bumping the alert to RED - WARNING because of a large amount of ash. Strombolian eruptions do not typically emit much ash. They can be violent - shown at regular intervals during the eruption - the lava is thick and does not run very far, but pressurised gases can cause it to explode in arcs from the mountain. There may be lava bombs. Because of the snow and ice, there is also a ski resort on the slopes. We've had to close that too. But its the snow and ice that is posing the biggest danger, resulting in our choice of the RED - WARNING alert. The heat of the mountain would melt the snow and ice, causing mud-slides and widespread flooding.
Jared pulls out a sketchpad and pencil, and decides to draw the mountain.
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