Idle question of the day...

[seawasp]

... how many of you have actually witnessed (as in, with your own eyes, not on TV screens, etc.) a volcanic eruption? I have, I'm just wondering how large a percentage of the population has.

(Mine was the 1970 eruption of Hekla on Iceland; we overflew the lava field and then circled the erupting cone for some time in a private aircraft)

Comments

[ckd]

Depends on your definition; I could see the ash plume from Mt. St. Helens on the southern horizon when it erupted in 1980. (Hmm...if I could see it from my house, I guess that would make me a vulcanologist by some standards.)

[seawasp]

That'd qualify by many definitions. I suppose I could be very restrictive and say you had to have been close enough to see the actual vent, which would cut you out.

[chuk-g.livejournal.com]

Same here. In fact, we flew over (not directly over, but in a flight path such that we could look out our window and see the mountain) on a flight from Vancouver to LA. This was a few weeks after the big blast, but there was definitely some kind of ash cloud coming out. Wasn't as close as it sounds like you were.