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Seismic stations on Anatahan malfunctioning
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Posted on Apr 21 2005
All seismic stations that were installed on Anatahan to monitor the volcanic activity on the island have been malfunctioning, hampering the Emergency Management Office’s monitoring capability.
“All seismic stations on Anatahan are down,” said Juan Takai Camacho, EMO’s geophysical seismic technician.
Camacho said he would soon fly to Anatahan to check on the condition of the only functional seismic station on the island. He said two other similar equipment that were installed on the island had earlier failed.
“We need to go there. I’m going there to fix it,” said Camacho, who added that the EMO would have to wait for the U.S. Geological Survey’s approval of the trip.
A joint report released by the EMO and the USGS stated that seismic monitoring on Anatahan has become unreliable since Monday afternoon.
“Despite the signal degradation, seismicity appears to continue at low, near-background levels seen since the explosive eruption of Anatahan on April 6,” the report stated.
It said that a thin plume of ash and steam was still rising to about 10,000 feet. The plume extended to about 100 nautical miles west-southwest of Anatahan.
Last April 6, the volcano spewed out about 50 million cubic meters of ash. The eruption sent clouds of ash to an altitude of 50,000 feet, resulting in the cancellation of international and domestic flights on Saipan.
