It's just amazing that humans can take lessons learned in all of this, both scientific and social, and turn it in to something so ugly. Stop the insult exchange, it's taking away from the lessons to be learned. God bless the Chaiten villagers and God bless our own citizens of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and all points midwest that are dealing with devastation I pray I never know.

Seriously, folks, it's gotten a bit out of hand. Any more comments that are primarily religious (or anti-religious) will be deleted. Please, ignore the trolls.

Alan, I mean no disrespect and I truely admire what you are doing with this site, but isn't the point of a comment board to express opinions? I understand they stray a bit from the meaning of these pictures, but if you don't want people to post their opinions then you shouldn't have a comment board in the first place.

And to make this post relate to the pictures, I find mother nature to be beautiful in every display, even her wrath. There is beauty to be found in every one of these pictures, even that of the cow. Its humbling to know that no matter what technology advances we discover it can all be taken away from us in a heartbeat through the sheer fury of nature. It has a way of really putting things into perspective

Debra - agreed, the point is to allow people to express their opinion - within reason. Once it devolves into trolling, name-calling and spite, it serves no purpose, and takes away from the original post.

Apologies for not having a clear commenting poilcy in place yet - as I've said, this is still a young venture. I'll have one ready shortly. It's terribly subjective, but I'd hope to keep the quality of discourse as high as I try to keep the quality of the potographs.

Also, thanks again so much to everyone who has taken the time to participate.

Nature rocks!!

WOW! Sure glad I do not live in Chile! The weather here is New Jersey is bad enough.

Forget global warming. Get ready for a bloomin' cold winter. When this thing blows properly in a month or two, it'll be big. Not Yellowstone big, but probably at least Pinatubo size.

I worry for the food shortage it could cause on a global scale, especially with the already rising prices of basics like rice and corn.

why deos volcano erupts

G'day im from Oz and the way we would of evacuated was ride a kanga outa the place
poor cow
g'day USA

1. Once again, breathtaking photography. Tremendous public service you are providing here. Copious kudos are in order.

2. Agree on the comments. They're a little distracting, like trying to have a conversation with a friend on the street with a hysterical fearmonger yelling from a soapbox three feet away. Save it for Sunday.

3. Don't do away with the comments altogether, if you can help it. I like to hear from people with a science background (apparently) like Larry #14; and people who are living in the area like Sofia #56. Those actually add a lot to the site. Lot of work to edit the freakazoids, though.

Thanx again for a fantastic site.
-tc

Hate when that happens.

Those photos of the lightning bolts are just... amazing. Beyond amazing actually, words can't describe how fantastic they look. My jaw went to my feet, I never thought that something like that was possible.
Then I saw the cow, and my hand went to my mouth instead. =[ I hope he (or she) didn't suffer.

pretty pictures poor cow

That was just gorgeous

Loving the photos, they are off the hook!!

All of you should chill..............and have some compassion for the people and country enduring this tragedy........You know Sharon Stone would say its just bad Karma........

hello, this natural diaster was not the work of god, he was sleeping in his giant chair in the clouds.
It was a purely natural thing.
And i am a child and i object to that comment, i will NOT burn in hell, so take it back please :) they are REALLY cool pics
Poor cow, peace to the tree hugers hehehe (I'm a tree hugger)
Merry Xmas hohoho

i feel really sorry for the poor cow i cannot belive how many volcanoes have erupted

More cowbells!

OMG, THE PICTURE WITH THE LIGHTENING WAS AWSOM

sad cow

SMOKED COW OM NOM NOM

great great blog

wow I am from "down under" and I whole heartedly agree with Stella, Amen and Amen, God is real , and Hell is real. Thank God I am going to Heaven , maybe you unbelievers all ought to stop and turn to Him before it is too late , as what you will endure "forever" in Hell , will be far far worse than anything seen here, and will as stated be forever. The time to repent and beleive on the son of God , Jesus Christ is now, later is too late . Now is the day of Salvation....Preach it Stella. Amen

Good on the government to save those people. Sad the people will probably loose their homes and livlyhood there.

Some awe inspiring pictures.

As for the cow, it's udderly disgusting.

hi i am sorry what happen to you guys

let angels guard the ppl who don't deserve this and let those ppl be safe and happy again.

OMG these pictures are so cool! exept for the cow dead!!!

Been to Chaiten and Futaleufu. Incredibly scenic. Wonderful people. The area has very few people. To look at some 'before' pictures:

http://www.pbase.com/faerie_39/image/56927435
http://www.pbase.com/faerie_39/image/56927439

Town of Futaleufu
http://www.pbase.com/faerie_39/image/56927744 (in the lower right is the statue of Arturo Prat in the pic from the article)
http://www.pbase.com/faerie_39/image/56927741

Rivers, including the Futaleufu River, which is widely considered the best whitewater river in the world
http://www.pbase.com/faerie_39/image/56927552
http://www.pbase.com/faerie_39/image/56926715

Feel free to browse the folders ... you'll quickly realize the volcano has hit a very special and unique region.

Lastly, this American company is taking donations to help the people there. They are very involved locally and hire many local people.
http://www.bbxrafting.com/page.php
http://biobioexpeditions.blogspot.com/

Eruption continues. Many people have already lost their homes and live stock and will never return to this region. Chaiten Volcano has been erupting ash for almost two months. Regional damage is extensive. Chaiten Volcanic ash may increase density of ocean waters off Southern South American and effect Atlantic, Pacific, and Ant-Arctic Ocean currents. Will all this ash slow ocean currents and affect climate by changing current patterns?

"Jesus is coming soon morning or night or noon many will meet their doom truphets will sound all the dead in christ shall rise righteous will meet Jesus in the skys going where no one ever dies heavenward bound"

Amen

OMG stop it with the preaching, a'ight? We've heard it all before. Just look at the photos (like we all are) and come to your own conclusions. Thanks :)

And I DO feel bad for the cow.

Re #36 - From Wikipedia on the Yellowstone supervolcano - "The volcanic eruptions, as well as the continuing geothermal activity, are a result of a large chamber of magma located below the caldera's surface. The magma in this chamber contains gases that are kept dissolved only by the immense pressure that the magma is under. If the pressure is released to a sufficient degree by some geological shift, then some of the gases bubble out and cause the magma to expand. This can cause a runaway reaction. If the expansion results in further relief of pressure, for example, by blowing crust material off the top of the chamber, the result is a very large gas explosion." Water has nothing to do with it.

SORRY THAT GOD UPSETS YOU SO MUCH, ESPECIALLY SINCE YOU DON'T BELIEVE THAT HE EXIST ANYWAY.

she should be preaching thanks no more comments like that we will do whatever we want jesus is coming soon !!!!

AMEN

Fantastic images!

If it wasn't for the mountains in the background, the homes look like they belong in Detroit.

Extreme weather patterns are happening ALL OVER THE WORLD. Al Gore and his team of scientists predicted this and if you haven't seen "an inconvient truth, you should"! take heed

Well, I was fishing at the Puma lodge last January and flew into Chaiten. Patrico and his five brothers, all fishing guides lived in town and took us to his house. When he finally evacuated, they drove all night to get to Port Mott only to have their car broken into and all their finances stolen. Its really a very sad story. I only hope they get to return to their great little town. The people who lived there are wonderful. You all should stop being so selfish and leave God the cow and Al out of it.

Truly amazing site. To see a volcanoe which has been dormant for 9000 years erupt is amazing. Great pictures, by the way. Now, on the Al Gore comment. Al Gore was a speaker of Global Warming. He isn't the one who predicted things like that -.-". There are many scientists over the world who have been working for a very long time on the subject of Global Warming. Another thing is volcanic eruptions are not caused by global warming. They have been happening before humans decided to live and pollute this earth. Next subject, God. God and the tribulation or whatever has nothing to do with volcanic eruptions, they happen no matter what. This is no sign, lol. And yes, poor cow - among all the other creatures that were taken away during this beautiful site :(.

Zach, thanks for finding that YouTube news report. It's an amazing story. And awesome pictures, very well done! Have there been any new reports on it? Are the residents returning and digging back out? I can't find anything about it.

It's over 9,000!!!

The picture of the village reminds me too of a place that I've been , Upstate New York. The volcano pictures remind me of some that I saw after Mt. St Helen's erupted. If we could have found the man who stayed as it erupted, he might have looked something like the cow. Aren't we fortunate that in so many areas we now have an early warning system. We do need to take heed of all warnings and remember that it could happen to us.Eruptions or floods or hurricanes.

powerful images

V nice pics; I think you could have stated your exposure time because it looks like the bolts of lightning happend all at once. On a more important point: God doesn't interfere with the natural order of events on the earth unless He is invited through prayer. As long as people don't want Him to intervene, He will not. He has given Christians the power and authority to control events on the earth. Of course for those who are skeptical of this power, it isn't widely seen at the moment but it won't be long before this truth is apparent. To Christians who are skeptical of this power there is much to learn. Also to my fellow believers: The gospel is about good news to all people without exception; for example to the poor, the gospel is that they don't have to be poor. To the sick they can be healed etc. If you talk about hell, are you helping anyone or are you trying to scare people? God's message is that He loves the world and anyone who believes in His son Jesus Christ shall not be put to shame and shall be saved. No one is forced to believe and God doesn't threaten anyone because His love is greater. For those of you who don't agree or don't believe, it's ok, you have a choice. What you do with your choice is very important because there are always consequences for every decision we make. But of course you know that . If anything find out what is the truth.

Awwwwwww pooor cow
i had you for my tea lmaoo !xx i love you cow

It's too bad so many church Christians do not grasp the fact that God created EVERYTHING, including of course volcanos and ash falls and seiche floods, and yes, even Global Warming and Al Gore. Church folks confuse themselves by attempting to separate God's creations into "good" creations and "bad" creations. They attribute "bad" creations to their Anti-God, Satan. The church Christian God is a mere shadow of His actual Self.

Those lightning bolts in the highly charged super-dry volcanic ash would be very educational if some church folks were to test their silly theory by stepping right up close to the action and "praying" for it to stop. God would correct their error.

Some one asked the question as to whether or not volcanoes would cause global warming. As I didn't see a direct response... when Krakatoa blew it's top in the 1880s, (as an example) snow fall was recorded in every month of the following year in New England. It is believed that the high amount of ash in the upper atmosphere prevents light and heat from reaching the surface causing global cooling. There are other examples of the same phenomena but Krakatoa is a good one ... well documented.

Mother Nature is awesome! Don't you just love it when you realize how small and powerless we are in comparison?

Carbon offsets? Too bad Al Gore wasn't down wind.

it was beautifull

i ask you how impact with lightning VS Volcano ???

what happen rain or what ???

i like that to see worderfull

nice piture

Oh my goodness, what a blog!
Awesome pics... such a tragedy.
Hey Ray #79 -- wanna go out? :-)

wow, what amazing pictures

you religeous freaks are nutso

this has nothing to do with god or anything like that - it just is what it is - foooking cool

its the earth cleansing......god bless the dead....

I pray for who ever wrote number 132. God has control over all things and who ever does not know that needs lots of prayers and understanding.

i'am a chaitenino citizen. Actually i'am livilg in Pto. Montt, because the volcano does not permit to entrance to Chaitén.

It is so terrible.

So i have photos, if anybody needs.

Ernesto

The lightning is caused by frictional forces generated by the particulate matter in
motion over the volcano. Particles impact and grind against each other at
tremendous velocitys and temperature. Beautiful to look at. Stone death up
close.

I love the lightining pictures!

And all the people who are arguing about the religious ordeal...Just because some people don't believe doesn't mean we can offend them by saying "Oh! You are going to burn in hell!" That's not what Christians do. We tell them about the Word of God and if they want to listen, then they can. No need to get upset. We know what will happen if they don't accept Him. No need to rub it in their faces.

I'd have to agree with all who said about the people who might have been caught up in this disaster, but you know there's always giong to be people who just don't pay attention to the whole warning signs, like the guy's who are standing smoking themselves to death, you couldn't not see that behind you right? Hey guys, why not just put a pipe into the erruption, have a drag and smoke it too? Morons.

Alan, it is truely appriciated that someone has taken the time to provide access to such awe inspiring pictures. I am just waiting for the lightening in the cloud to show up in the next dooms day movie from hollywood. :)

Would anyone know if the ash is moving north in the atmosphere? We are having some really bad ozone days in Texas and I wonder if it could be in part because of the ash from this volcano.

It is human nature to try to lighten a horrific incident with jokes, just ask any First Response person (police, fireman, EMT, etc.)

I was always taught that religous beliefs should be offered for consideration, not force fed to strangers. If you have said you piece and someone doesn't agree, let it go, especially on a forum such as this. Do not subject every person to your argument with a person you will probably never know. The state of their soul does not effect the state of yours.

Well, amazing photos....life is tough, Period.
Don't even think my hurricane proof hosue could survive this....
Concrete Cottage

FQuite Amazing Photography.

Some commenters just can't get politics or hate for Christianity out of their blood.

Poor cow.

World Peace...

Great pictures. I wish I could visit the place. Dangerous but I would take a risk to see this.

Pics are awesome...cows are food, but still, suffering is a very sad thing, for any creature!
As for God making bad things happen? Get a grip, The Bible says that he IS love.
Hell? Just a hole in the ground...ever heard of "helling" potatoes for the winter?
Hades? Mankind's common grave. Sheol means the same thing.
Oh, sorry....did I mention?...the pics are AWESOME!

IT IS BEAUTIFUL

i wish the cow could be saved and the scary man

It's not only poor cow... poor people, poor village.... they lost all their houses, animals, history, life, effort, work... por nature... poor all of us...

Chilean citizen... world citizen

these are the coolest pitchers of a volcano i have ever seen send more PLEASE

If God created all things, did God also create people who do not believe in God?

Well, maybe the extraordinary lightening is caused by the same law of static electricity we experience when lifting the blankets in the dark.

Supposedly the scheduled solar eclipse for August 2nd will also have a geophysical "rubber band snapping" effect that may lead to more volcanic activity around the world. Did I mention earthquakes?

I've been telling friends and family for years that Mother Nature has started taking back her Earth. She has started in the poorer countries and areas of the world and is working her way around.
Aids epidemics in Africa along with starvation. Tsunamis, Earthquakes, Floods, and yes, even fires in California and elsewhere. The ice is melting in the Arctic and probably will be melting in Antarctica before long.
Anyone got a plan?

omg im glad i dont live in that place i mean look at that plume

The clouds and smoke from it all is beautiful. That is Mother Nature.
Yes, God Bless the people and all life in that area. Everyone keep the Faith as He is coming soon.

wow

very nice.cool

Kudos to Mark #124, a voice of reason in this diatribe between crackpot fundamentalists and crackpot atheists/agnostics

The power of nature is absolutely breathtaking. It has nothing to do with "god" or any such force, it's just something that happens. So chill people, and stop hating.

~Ichigo

Everything I was thinking has already been said by reasonable thinking people but it really does bother me to think that anyone on this plannet could treat this as a joke or even find fun in the fact that people and animals alike could have suffered in this awful way. I endorse fully the comments made by S.Cassidy J.Belloni C.Mcnelly & M.Cortes + many others but the remarks made by L.June does sadden when me trying to figure out her state of mind and remember Camella, you don't have to be a Bible puncher to feel sympathy for others but believing in something would certainly help you.

So cool :)

I have spent no less than 40 hours studying these pictures, they are absolutely gorgeous in appearance, and in a funny way pleasing to the eye. There is another picture that is not posted on this site you must see, it is blue/grey in color with the static lightening (green) running thru it, an awesome photo. Never before in the history of man has something so breathtaking been caught on film or by digital capture.

However, there is much more happening in all of these photos then what you have viewed thus far perhaps some of you might already know what I am referring to....you know these photos to be a Chilean Volcanic Eruption that occurred in the beginning of May 2008...That being said I now challenge anyone and everyone that reads this posting to look deeper at the photos and to discover what this event is saying to the entire world.....if your like everyone that I know, you were taught that every picture tells a story, yes? And you should have been taught that, after all it is a correct teaching. That is certainly the case here and of course why I am posting.....by the way I have never in my life written something like this and posted it on the web, but I have been compelled to do so.

Metaphorically speaking, all creation has DNA, people, plants, animals, minerals, the earth and all things above and below, including a plume of smoke and ash from an active volcano impaled with static lightening. However, DNA from such an event doesn’t stay around very long unless it is somehow captured thru the taking of samples or in this case the capture was by way of photos. We have all seen CSI or shows like it, what does that DNA Lab Tech really do? He uses a scientific process to isolate collected DNA. He then sends this DNA thru a another scientific process that when completed will provide him with a conclusionary result....what do these results look like? They will ultimately appear in a picture looking like a bunch of lines and rainbow colored sections.... these results are literally a chemical map that can be displayed for comparisons and presentations....now here is what I am suggesting, when you re-look at the photo(s), do it in small sections, just as if you were cropping portions out of it, which isn’t a bad idea to do if you have the skills and software. When you begin to look small and deep you will begin to see individual images within the photo, these images will begin to appear right before your eyes, zoom in and out if need be.

I will give you one example to send you on your way...in the 5th photo from the top (see above) there is childlike looking face breaking out of the dark plume. Look at the top of the dark plume just right of the middle or locate it by finding the lighted area of the photo at the top that is surrounded by the dark plume..the characteristics you will see are that it has a large forehead, eyes, nose and a mouth round about a head...Can you see it now, it is very distinct? If you can’t your in denial.

Now all around this face (if you zoom in a bit) you will begin to see links (the type you would find in a chain)...Two (2) of these links appear to be coming right out of the top of the head (left and right side).... they look as if they were pierced thru the entire top of the head....these links form a connection that then wraps all around the face, continuing until there is a mass of them blending into one dark volcanic plume....it is as if this face or head has been placed in chains.

In each of these Chilean photos you will find a multiplicity of other images even some symbols that when combined as one create a human picture that we know and can understand. Know that each item you uncover relates to one common theme that runs throughout, it tells a story from long ago about an event that has been in reserve for such a time as this...your journey is now started, please don’t complete it alone, allow the Author of our lives to complete it with you.

If you would like to email me what you have seen or experience when you review these photos I would be grateful OR you may want to hear about my experiences first hand so please feel free to inquire, I can be reached at jntracing@yahoo.com. I would be glad to share my findings with you and even what I experienced 2 days prior to this calendared event taking place

Be enlightened for what you will be seeing when you look deeper is very much real.

hahahahaha pobres weonesss ajajajajajajajajja q tubieron aiii

Well, I had no idea of the eruption----somehow it never made the news I read.

My interest in Marie's disease (why this site came up) was that when I read Super Volcano--Yellowstone, was a fossil formation of hundreds of animals died together and while the scientists were examining the fossil bones, a local vet noticed that the bones showed a condition he recognized !!!! because he had examined horses that died in a barn fire that lived no longer than 2 weeks, dying agonizing as their tissues bloated. As they were valuable animals, his expertise was called upon to autopsy the animals. Do you know flouride was first lauded as a way to increase bone mass and discovered it just moved the calcium around...

hahahaha, these comments are so very entertaining. I'm all for Mother Nature, in all her glory, there is nothing so beautiful as what she creates for us to see everywhere each and every day. I'm thankful that it's pretty much impossible to cover the whole world with concrete and somewhere there will always be an amazing example of her work. Be it a huge event like this or a very tiny little bug on a dewy morning. A little preaching of my own - please recycle, please reduce your driving, please pick up garbage here and there, please don't litter, please grow things in your yard and buy locally and please stop for a moment and enjoy what is around you every day and appreciate it and respect it. Every little thing you do helps, you can't pick up all the cans, but picking up one can is better than leaving it on the ground... Every little thing helps.

god will make it so that wont happen

That is the best picture GREAT JOBB!!!!

Some truly "Amazing photo's" Pleasure to join in this blog.

Hey. I've been living in Chile since July. This is scary sh*t. I thought I was moving away from Mt St Helens for a reason (for those of you who haven't followed the non-political bullsh*t in the news in, oh I don't know, four years, Mt St Helens was having "hiccups" a few years back and everyone was shitting their pants hoping it wouldn't explode again).

In response to #77: Teehee. You made me giggle. I'm pretty sure God didn't raise His children to smite the likes of their fellow humans. If you really want to convince us that we are better off in the end by following the teachings of God or whatever, maybe trying to insult us or scare us into it isn't the most Christian way to go about it. And I'm just saying that as a born-again Agnostic. Oh, and yeah, I know you feel sorry for us poor suckers that don't step down off our personal high horses and accept the presence of a greater being...but if you truly believe one exists, I feel sorry for you for not looking into all the other religious candidates first, rather than getting sucked into one church. Why not test-drive other religions? That's what I did, and now I feel I have an informed enough decision to choose not to believe in anything. Cool how that works out. Do yourself a favor. Servants of God should be humble and friendly, not spiteful and arrogant. Maybe you missed that part of the Bible. Reread Revelations (you know, as a moral reminder of just exactly MIGHT happen to you if you keep living your life as a jerk) and reconsider the way you treat “non-believers” (or members of other faiths) before jumping to the conclusion that you're better than everyone else because you’ve “found the right idea”. Long story short: STFU.

To anyone else who feels upset by this comment: I recommend watching the "House vs God" episode in Season 2 of House MD. You'll feel much better. :)

Your all so caught up in your preaching on both sides of the equation. This area of the world is one of the most beautiful I've ever been to. The people here are absolutely amazing. Those homes your looking at are absolutely immaculate on the inside. If your walking around town In Futaleufu or Chaiten people invite you into their house for lunch. They all have more than most of us will ever be able to find through god or not. Your all typing away from your homes or offices preaching from your soap box. Go down and help out or go on to friends of the Futa website and save these areas from mining companies. This is going to really destroy their economy and give mining companies a foothold. Looking at what happened and listening to these comments that have nothing to do with the people and the place makes me sad. Please use your energy to help out or visit this beautiful place. I'll be going down this winter. I have many friends who have business there and will be going down to spend what money I have and clean up. thanksk

I love you with all my heart.

Amazing amazing shots.

Rock on Kelsey.

Stella you and your friends scare me.

Leaving now

God ( whatever you call him/her) bless the people of Chaiten. In the middle of the night in April of 2008, i stepped of the boat at Chaiten.. A local gave me a ride to town (for free) , to a wonderful hotel. I was treated to a great nights rest and a breakfast for my first day in Chile. What a heavenly place I thought. I remember meeting a merchant who ran a butcher/vegetable shop in the center of town. He had worked in Canada for many years. He had just bought a ranch nearby from his grandfather. I considered him very lucky. I wonder what he is doing now. ?He is one of the many faces I remember. I have fond memories of many people I met there. This is all with me speaking very little Spanish. I hope to get back there someday. I think it would be very sad, strange ...alien. I think the townsfolks are displaced and living whereever they can. .God bless the folks of Chaiten and the wonderful people of Chile.

as a news watcher, I'm wondering why this didn't make it to the US news? I'd much rather hear and see this stuff than which moviestar is cheating on what political celeb. Probably not enough people killed to make the media interested.

WHAT!? 9000!

God, Bah, Two plates have risen against each other / \ to cause a volcano.. but since this one pre-existed, the plate Chile is on has moved over a "Hot spot" which is a magma chamber underground, the volcano was a weak spot.. the lava came flying up with all the added fury of being trapped below and blew this volcano to bits, unfortunatlly several towns were nearby and got owned by nature, i do feel for them, but GOD DID NOT CAUSE THIS (if he did he would have saved the f-n cow... this is only a general overview of how this volcano was caused, if it never passed the "Hot spot" none of this would have happened

awsome picts feel bad for everybody

that is awsom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Fell bad for dem ppl !
I wuld be scared at a tym lyk dis !!
poor ppl =[

To 79
Well said Ray, solidarity should have no border.

I have never been scared of nature or anything but this was the most terrifying picture i have ever seen but it was cool to i love nature and every thing but this was awesome and scary at the the same time

that is so cool but scary and sad 4 the cow i guess i would say that cause i live on a fame but from al the deaths from volcanos rip