Science

And the 2012 Pliny for Volcanic Event of the Year Goes to ...

The votes for the Eruptions blog's Pliny Award for volcanic event of 2012 are in, and the winner is...
  • Copahue ChileArgentina
  • 9 Popocatepetl Bezymianny White Island
  • 8 Tungurahua Ecuador
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copahue-chileargentina
The ballots are in, the results are counted and now its time to count down to the 2012 Pliny winner for Volcanic Event of the Year. The methodology for voting - I give 5 points for every 1st place vote, 4 points for 2nd place, 3 points for 3rd place and 1 point for every vote 4th place or higher. I received a lot of ballots this year and for the second straight year, the winner was by a sizable margin, both in terms of points ahead of the runner up (56) and number of 1st place votes (24). I've added the total number of points each volcano earned in parentheses next to its name. Here we go!

Honorable Mention

(all received at least 1 vote): Copahue, Chile/Argentina; Katla, Iceland; Kliuchevskoi, Russia; Laguna del Maule, Chile; Lokon, Indonesia; Nyamuragira, Congo; Poas, Costa Rica Copahue (above) might be garnering votes across two years if the recent activity is just a prelude to new activity in 2013. A number of the other honorably mentioned volcanoes definitely experienced significant eruptions. However, some merely kept people's attention or garnered new respect without actually producing a single fragment of ash. Image: Copahue erupting on December 22, 2012. NASA.