THE NEXT ICE AGE - NOW!

                      


16 Jun 11 - Puyehue volcano in Chile has been erupting since June 4th, sending up huge columns of ash that have shut down air traffic as far away as Australia.
 

This amazing footage, entitled Buceando en cenizas volcanicas - Incleibles Imagenes!, was taken at Argentina's Lake Nahuel Huapi, where the normally clear water has been turned into something that you might imagine on a totally different planet - more like quicksand than water. I'm guessing that the huge amounts of floating material are primarily pumice rather than ash.

Lake Nahuel Huapi, which covers some 150,000 acres (60.000 hectares) is - or at least was - considered one of the jewels of Argentina.

Argentina and Chile are huge (Argentina is about 2.7 million square km or about one third the size of the continental US and is “longer” North to South then the US is coast to coast), says reader Meir Zohar.

The western edge of the lake is located about 20 miles from the volcano, says Zohar, whereas the town of Bariloche is more than 60 miles (100 km) away, and more than 400 miles southwest of the city of Perito Moreno.

(As an aside, I might mention that Perito Moreno Glacier, the largest glacier in Argentina, is growing.)

"No word on how this natural disaster has affected Nahuelito, the Lake's resident monster, says reader Brian Payne, "though I'd imagine this can't be good for most wildlife. I get a little shiver just watching that diver go down at the end of the video. Hopefully, he or she came back up again."

Thanks for this video, Brian. Thanks for the distances, Meir.

Here's a video showing what the lake normally looks like:
http://patagoniamonsters.blogspot.com/2009/12/lake-nahuel-huapi-video-and-map.html

Map showing location of Perito Moreno Glacier
http://www.interhabit.com/el_calafate/map_194.htm