Mt. Redoubt alert level raised to WATCH

Alaska's Mt. Redoubt has been rumbling even more. The Alaska Volcano Observatory reports earthquakes numbering 40-50 per hour today. It's alert status has been raised to watch, which according to the AVO means

volcano is exhibiting heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption, timeframe uncertain.

Let's stay tuned volcano watchers!

This is why we monitor volcanoes Gov. Jindal!

Alaska's Mt. Redoubt in April 1990,
photograph by R. Clucas, USGS

I posted a few weeks ago discussing my annoyance with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and his concern about the price of "volcano monitoring". Wouldn't you know it, Alaska's Mt. Redoubt has rumbled recently and geologists have upped the alert level to "orange". It spewed out some ash and steam on Sunday.

Alaska's Mt. Redoubt on March, 15, 2009,
photograph by Bill Burton, courtesy Alaska Volcano Observatory/USGS

Mt. Redoubt is located about 100 miles from Anchorage. Residents of Anchorage could have problems with their car and plane engines if the ash got in them. Engine problems is of course minor compared to respiratory problems that volcanic ash might cause. Unless you happen to be flying commercial in the vicinity of an eruption, that is. Alaska volcanoes can shoot ash plumes tens of thousands of feet into the atmosphere.

Redoubt caused some damage (requiring four new engines) to a KLM aircraft in 1989, as well as some real fright in the passengers:

As the crew of KLM Flight 867 struggled to restart the plane's engines, "smoke" and a strong odor of sulfur filled the cockpit and cabin. For five long minutes the powerless 747 jetliner, bound for Anchorage, Alaska, with 231 terrified passengers aboard, fell in silence toward the rugged, snow-covered Talkeetna Mountains (7,000 to 11,000 feet high). All four engines had flamed out when the aircraft inadvertently entered a cloud of ash blown from erupting Redoubt Volcano, 150 miles away. The volcano had begun erupting 10 hours earlier on that morning of December 15, 1989. Only after the crippled jet had dropped from an altitude of 27,900 feet to 13,300 feet (a fall of more than 2 miles) was the crew able to restart all engines and land the plane safely at Anchorage.

Did I mention all the great information the USGS provides on its website?! Sorry Louisiana readers but your governor is even more annoying than mine!

Harry Potter's invisibility cloak?

The physics behind invisibility cloaks and Romulan cloaking devices is out there and getting more interesting every day. Cloaking means making an object invisible to electromagnetic radiation. Scientists Che Ting Chan, Yun Lai, Huanyang Chen and Zhao-Qing Zhang of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology recently published a paper in Physical Review Letters where they talk about cloaking an object by putting the device near the object, and not enveloping it.

Of course the device has not yet been built, but in theory it can be done. Neat stuff!

Extra cash? Buy Einstein's doctorate

If you have excess cash and want something to connect yourself to Albert Einstein, then head to Lucerne, Switzerland in June. Auctioneers Fischer Galerie will auction the doctorate certificate that Albert Einstein obtained from the University of Zurich in 1906. They will also auction an honorary doctorate received by Einstein from the University of Geneva.

Volcano monitoring?

Mount St. Helens eruption photo by Austin Post

Last week, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal gave the Republican response to President Obama's address to Congress. In his speech, he included the following comments:

Democratic leaders in Congress -- they rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history, with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a "magnetic levitation" line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called "volcano monitoring." Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.

Lately I have been thoroughly perplexed by tendencies of Republican party members to summarily dismiss science and technology because of the price tag. First, Senator McCain blasted Obama's request for the Adler Planetarium's - a $3 million "overhead projector". Now volcano monitoring is wasteful spending! I wonder if residents of Oregon and Washington state might disagree since they live right under those volcanoes.

I'm old enough to remember the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980, certainly Governor Jindal is as well. Needless to say, the mission of the USGS does matter, and I hope that Americans still realize that science and technology is important. And with over 150 active volcanoes in the U.S. right now, "volcano monitoring" can save lives!

Heading to the Joint Meeting of NSBP/NSHP

I will soon be heading to the Joint Annual Conference of the National Society of Black Physicists and National Society of Hispanic Physicists in Nashville, TN. This year I will have some students attending as well. It should be a well attended meeting and I hope to make some contacts at Oak Ridge National Labs as I am interested in getting into some research on alternative energies.

The economy trickles down to our university

It's been a long week. I have not posted much since our president announced the probability of workforce reductions coming to our university. No details yet, but I'm feeling a little discouraged. Physics departments are often vulnerable because they are small...