A trio of Vancouver-based volcanologists will return today to a dangerous volcano on a densely populated island in Indonesia.
John Pallister, Jeff Marso and Andy Lockhart will carry seismometers and other sensors to replace equipment destroyed by Mount Merapi. The team will join other international experts providing insight and relief for Indonesian volcanologists.
Pallister, Marso and Lockhart visited Java Island four years ago, when searing gas clouds and burning rocks began tumbling down its slopes. At that time, a lava dome teetered on the edge of the conical volcano.
Now, the dome has collapsed.
“They have the same sorts of hazards that we had at Mount St. Helens,” said Carolyn Driedger, a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Vancouver. “But just imagine if there were some small cities at the base of (St. Helens.)”
Mount Merapi began spewing lava, hot clouds and volcanic gas more than two weeks ago, killing 151 people and forcing 320,000 people to abandon their homes, according to a news account by Reuters.
“A significant amount of Mount Merapi’s monitoring system is destroyed,” Driedger said. “Our team will bring seismic monitoring equipment, a Web cam and a data acquisition system. They’re going to be working in the observatory and in the field as conditions allow.”
Merapi is considered the most dangerous of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, largely because of its proximity to populated areas. A cloud of superheated gas incinerated 60 people in 1994, and about 1,300 people died in a 1930 eruption.
It also presents a hazard to aircraft.
The threat of volcanic ash clogging the jet engines of Air Force One hastened the departure of President Barack Obama.
Pallister, Lockhart and Marso are part of the USGS Volcano Disaster Assistance Team, which was formed in 1986 to lend expertise and equipment to foreign nations experiencing volcanic hazards. The team became established at the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, which had compiled extensive expertise in the aftermath of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
The U.S. State Department instigated the team in 1986, after 23,000 people died in a mudflow that inundated low-lying valleys below the erupting Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia. The team is jointly funded by the State Department and the USGS, with the idea of helping to minimize disasters abroad while bringing valuable experience back home.
Driedger noted that scientists in Indonesia have trained in Vancouver and are well-regarded. The Americans don’t want to be seen as the calvary riding in to save the day, Driedger said.
“We are just being of assistance to an accomplished group of scientific experts,” she said. “They have a solid group there.”
Erik Robinson: 360-735-4551 or erik.robinson@columbian.com.
