Thursday, June 04, 2015

"Steam plume" from Sunset Crater is likely just smoke from forest fire



A report of a purported "steam cloud" from  Sunset Crater near Flagstaff appears to be mis-identification of a smoke plume from a Forest Service prescribed burn near A-1 Mountain a few miles to the southwest that passed over the crater, or possibly an orographic cloud formation in the lee of San Francisco Peak.

County, state, and federal officials in the Flagstaff area all report that there is no steam or any other activity at the Crater.  There is no earthquake activity in the area on the state seismic network that we maintain.

An internet site from Missouri and its YouTube post is getting a lot of online attention and prompting calls to AZGS as well as to local and national government offices over its "Arizona Volcano Alert" posting based on seeing a smudge on a low resolution satellite image.  That claim is being spread across the web as a volcanic "ash cloud" or actual volcanic eruption.

Sunset Crater erupted about a thousand years ago, and there is no evidence of modern activity.    So, as exciting as it might be to have an eruption in our backyards, it just ain't the case folks.

Thanks to our colleagues at the National Weather Service, Coconino National Forest, Coconino County Emergency Services, National Park Service, and State Forester's Office, for tracking down the real story.


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16 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:19 PM

    Hmmm...seems like I have seen this movie before. Yep, same answer the government gave in that movie..HAHA

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown4:59 PM

    Lol, his report was not even covering the same areas on the map, he really should check for prescribed burns in the area before getting excited over a smoke plume. This just shows you how fast people will turn a story.

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  3. Anonymous6:37 PM

    Really wish this geologist knew the difference between "its" and "it's". Misuse just makes him look ignorant.

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    Replies
    1. Half-Hearted Fanatic8:25 PM

      Punctuation at the end of a sentence goes inside the quotes, Anonymous English Prig.

      Delete
    2. Chaparral Earth12:14 AM

      Probably a Dutchsinse tin-foil hat follower attempting to deflect criticism from his leader's webpage. Apparently being a "Grammar Nazi" was just such a ploy.

      Delete
    3. Leah7:50 PM

      Sadly, that person also is incorrect about their grammatical complaint. "Its" is the possessive form; which is what the writer intended. "It's" is really "it is." Common mistake, but it's sad to complain about grammar when you are not correct. :(

      Delete
  4. Greg7:56 PM

    Sunset Crater National Park is visited by hundreds of people each day, and many thousands more drive by on Hwy 89 just two miles away. Not ONE person reported a giant plume of steam roaring into the sky? C'mon! If there was anything at all to this absurd story, pictures and reports would be all over youtube, twitter, FB, etc.

    Dutchie is in the business of selling hype and outright lies to the tin-foil hat crowd. The 'Steam Blast' is just the latest in a LONG string of made-up stories. Tomorrow, he'll be back to Nibiru, HAARP, the 'imminent' eruption of Yellowstone, or some other nonsense.

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    Replies
    1. Chaparral Earth12:11 AM

      I totally agree, he has some sort of god complex problems and is an Agent Mulder on steroids

      Delete
  5. Lee Allison7:57 PM

    Thanks for catching the typo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:41 AM

      I appreciate you owning the typo and responding politely to the person who rather rudely pointed it out and used it to demean your intelligence. Too bad there isn't a “like" button anywhere...

      Delete
    2. Leah7:56 PM

      Lee, am I missing something? There was no typo. "Its" was used correctly. Sadly, the person who pointed it out was not correct.

      Delete
    3. Lee Allison8:11 PM

      I corrected the typo. I had used "it's" when I meant "its." Initially posted it before reading it thoroughly and missed it. I usually catch those kinds of mistakes before my readers do. I was rushing to get the post up to respond to all the inquiries we were getting.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous8:59 PM

    Don't worry. Be happy.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous12:58 AM

    It seems the crater in Baja expells enough to be caught on the sat image from years ago, but wonder if they all have occasional fumes. The time scale on the bottom of the sat images are at midnight and go for several hours if I'm reading the scale correctly. It wouldn't seem odd that no one saw these- they are all remote areas and at midnight easily gone unnoticed. The wide image of the flumes occurring at the same time is spooky. Excellent imagery!

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  8. travis crawford6:10 PM

    I was not a burn. It was a plume of steam coming from the cone. Pull you heads out of your asses sheeple

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  9. Nankoweap12:26 AM

    The plume in the New Mexico panhandle reported by Dutchie was caused by the Geronimo fire started on June 2 by lightning and obviously flared up with visible smoke on June 3 the date of the satellite imagery. So Dutchie was in error. This fire was reported on InciWeb as well as the prescribed fire at A-1 mountain also began June 2. See http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/state/3/

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