Satellite images illustrate ash runoff near Chaitén
The oceanography and commercial diving company Mariscope Chilena Ltda. maintains the largest and most consistent satellite image bank of Chile’s Tenth and Eleventh Region. The latest image captured on Monday 19 was made available on the Aqua.cl website today, illustrating the expanding delta of sediment and ash that has washed into the Corcovado Gulf and the southern half of the interior passage between Chiloé and the mainland, where the Chaitén volcano continues to spew. According to Cristina Rodríguez, head of the company’s oceanography department, the water turbidity surrounding the affected farm sites poses occupational safety risks in terms of navigation and diving operations, and poses complications in the feed management practices of these farms. “What’s important is to be able see what is happening from a regional level and to understand that in the next following days, if the eruption continues, the water turbidity will continue to increase throughout the first few meters of the water column,” states Rodríguez.
