Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001500 quweremmy NOFORN - HANDLE VIA SKEET CHANNELS ONLY PROJECT SUN STREAK (U) WARNING NOTICE: INTELLIGENCE SOURCES AND METHODS INVOLVED He ee ee ee ee anne ee en PROJECT NUMBER: 0126 SESSION NUMBER: § 1 DATE OF SESSION: 7 JUN 88 DATE OF REPORT: 7 JUN 88 START: 1434 END: 1507 METHODOLOGY: CRV VIEWER IDENTIFIER: 025 t. (S/NF/SK) MISSION: Stage 2 training. Site was the town of Armero, Columbia on the day of a natural disaster (town washed away by mud slide). Monitor intent was for the viewer to experience and describe percepts associated with moving mud. 2. (S/NF/SK) VIEWER TASKING: Coordinates 0126/1185. 3, (S/NF/SK) COMMENTS: Excellent session from beginning to end. 025 experienced the first strong Aesthetic Impact (AI). 4. (S/NF/SK) EVALUATION: QBg SG1J Quem NOFORN - SKEET CHANNELS ONLY CLASSIFIED BY: DIA-DT DECLASSIFY : OADR Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R001500610001-8
Dr iat bf B) Coes Jobo atk sme oe OvTiTs Silfa alu usualy are = first signs of an impending major eruption. The U.S. Geological Sur- vey said yesterday that Nevado del Ruiz suffered “two catastrophic eruptions” Wednesday. night be- tween 11 p.m. and midnight. ~ The back-to-back eruptions on . the northeast flaik of the mountain melted enough ice and snow on the mountaintop to trigger what the USGS called “two catastrophic mud . flows down the northeast flank,” which were channeled directly into the Lagunillas River in the broad valley at the base of the mountain. Eyewitnesses said. the mud in four Appravedibak PIVEUUY Ube ali C ¢ out in a line th AAU WU LIT TUL UAL SIX Voicanoes Strun ugh ‘the Andes Mountains, Nevado del Ruiz has also been the most de- structive of the six Coiombian vol- canoes, erupting in a “thunderous” explosion on March 12, 1595, and erupting again in 1828 and 1829, The volcano was “still smoking” in 1831 after its twoi 19th-century eruptions. The Colombian mountain was also the scene of a major earth- quake on Feb, 19, 1845, that shook -loose enough snow and ice on top of the mountain to trigger one of the em Gdn ge } § an JUL RUUL UU UU HU WO 2d Ut. Warre, down the valley to the Rio Mag- dalena, killing an estimated 1,000 people” then living in the valley. > Why did Nevado del Ruiz go al- — most 400 years without. a major eruption? Geologists say they.don’t - know, but many suspect it. is in the makeup of the magma that lies be- . low the volcanoes that formed the Andes Mountains. “The magmas in the Andes are very viscous and s ‘ickier, let’s say, ” than the magmas that lie beneath - the Hawaiian volcanoes,” Christian- .. ASSOCIATED: Mud surrounds and partially buries Armero, as seen from a nearby hill. The town center is inundated at lower right, SUL SdIU. LIS Uedib watly iUeaal en gases, allowing pressure to a Eeali stot AaB HELI, that builds up inside volcanoes, he ‘said. “Hawaiian volcanoes are al- ways blowing off pressure, which _ might be one reason they don’t erupt catastrophically.” Another reason lies with volca- . noes themselves, among the most unpredictable phenomena of nature. : Said Dr. Meyer Rubin of the USGS: “Volcanoes can go 1,000 years without an eruption. There's no way to predict their behavior.” The upward movement of magma can continue off and on for years, Voubalig ie Sarde ula OR CO. e weight of the rocks atove bi are hoiding it in. The resuit ca another eruption. The twin eru;f:: of Nevado del Ruiz Wedneq: night could thus signal the stagt an, eruptive period that -couic lia another 10 years. . There is also the chance fh Nevado del Ruiz will have-an imba on the world’s weather. Depentir on how much sulfur dioxide gas pumps into the upper atmospher the erupting volcano could seqd cloud of gas and dust around]t! world blocking just enough sung. from reaching the surface ‘to fo the earth by a degree or two,