It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Airline catering workers at Vancouver airport issue 72-hour strike notice
An Air Canada Airbus A320 jet (C-FPDN) takes off from Vancouver International Airport, Richmond, B.C. on Thursday, September 24, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES/Bayne Stanley
Unionized workers with Gate Gourmet, the company that supplies meals, snacks and beverages to multiple airlines operating out of YVR, including Air Canada, Air France and KLM, have issued 72-hour strike notice.
Unite Here Local 40, which represents the workers, said the strike vote came after a series of “fruitless bargaining sessions,” and amid chronic understaffing for a growing workload.
The catering workers prepare and assemble meals for aircraft and load and unload beverage and snack carts before and after flights.
The union says pandemic layoffs led to a “significant” reduction in staff, which has not been replaced amid a renewed surge in air travel.
COVID-19: Canada to resume random mandatory testing at airports
COVID-19: Canada to resume random mandatory testing at airports – Jul 14, 2022
“Airline catering workers have been working day in and day out, serving travellers through the pandemic. As tourism came back this year and consumer prices hit 31-year highs, we are overworked and underpaid,” bargaining committee member and Gate Gourmet tray assembly worker Kiran Hundal said in a media release.
“We’ve attempted to address these issues in good faith with the company, but they continue to propose low wage increases and cuts to our health benefits.”
Global News has requested comment from Gate Gourmet.
The Hubble Space Telescope captured bright turquoise plumes and nebulous strands of the Tarantula Nebula, which is located within the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Bright turquoise plumes ripple through the Milky Way's companion galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, like waves in the ocean in a spellbinding new view shared by NASA.
The venerable Hubble Space Telescope captured this stunning view of the Tarantula Nebula, which is within the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite dwarf galaxy of the Milky Way located about 163,000 light-years from Earth. The LMC is among the closest galaxies to Earth and is visible to the naked eye as a faint cloud in the Southern Hemisphere sky.
The photo, taken by Hubble in 2014, captures bright, glowing plumes of gas and glittering stars. The turquoise plumes and nebulous strands of the Tarantula Nebula appear to flood the LMC like ocean currents cascading into space.
"The Hubble Space Telescope has peeked many times into this galaxy, releasing stunning images of the whirling clouds of gas and sparkling stars," NASA officials wrote in a statement.
However, "in most images of the LMC the color is completely different to that seen here," the statement says. "For this image, researchers substituted the customary R filter, which selects the red light, and replaced it by a filter letting through the near-infrared light. In traditional images, the hydrogen gas appears pink because it shines most brightly in the red. Here, however, other less prominent emission lines dominate in the blue and green filters."
This image of the LMC was taken as part of an initiative called the Archival Pure Parallel Project (APPP), which comprises more than 1,000 images taken using Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 and the telescope's other science instruments.
In turn, the APPP data can be used to study a wide range of astronomical features and effects, including gravitational lensing, cosmic shear, stars of varying mass, and distant galaxies. The data can also be used to supplement observations collected in other wavelengths to paint an even more detailed view of the cosmos.
'Grand Canyon on Mars': ESA clicks Martian feature that's bigger than the original thing
Edited By: Manas Joshi New Delhi Updated: Jul 26, 2022, (Image: ESA) Valles Marineris, the 'grand canyon on Mars'.
We may have not found proof of life on Mars yet, but the red planet is full of interesting geological features
We Earth-dwellers have Earth-centric idea of the Universe and that's probably fine. From sunrise to sunset (and beyond), we eat, drink, work and sleep on one single planet. Human colonies on Moon and Mars are still in the concept stage. Till then, its one blue planet for us.
Due to our Earth-centric thoughts, its hard to imagine that the largest canyon in the Solar System is not on Earth. Sorry Grand Canyon but a canyon system on Mars takes the cake here. And European Space Agency has clicked a picture of it.
Valles Marineris, the canyon system on Mars, is longer, wider and deepr than Grand Canyon. It is 4000 kilometres long, 200 kilometre wide and upto 7 km deep. These dimensions are much greater than the Grand Canyon. To put things in Indian perspective, the length of Valles Marineris is greater than the distance between Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
Image of the Valles Marineris has been captured by ESA's Mars Express. The image shows two trenches, called Chasma in the western region of Valles Marineris. Left portion of the image is southern direction. 840-kilometre-long lus Chasma is visible there and 805-kilometre-long Tithonium Chasma is visible in the right side of the image. Incredible surface details are present in this high resolution image that captures Valles Marineris that is up to 7 kilometres deep.
The blackened portion in the Tithonium Chasma is black sand. Scientists think that the sand must have come from Tharsis volcanic region.
See the Solar System’s Biggest Canyon Up Close: Mesmerizing Mars Photos
A view of the Tithonium Chasmata generated from imagery taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on the ESA Mars Express. Photo: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
Recently released images from the European Space Agency (ESA) furnish an awe-inspiring new perspective of Mars.
The photos combine digital terrain models and color channels from the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board the ESA’s Mars Express Spacecraft. The razor-sharp, breathtaking images focus on two trenches, the lus and Tithonium Chasmata (in this context, trenches are also called chasma).
The two chasma form a part of the Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars. And together, they’re the biggest canyon in the solar system.
Photo: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
Looking at the lus and Tithonium Chasmata without something for scale can be deceiving. The sizes at play are actually titanic. The Valles Marineris is the largest canyon in our solar system at 4,000km long, 200km wide, and 7km deep in places. That’s deep enough to swallow the biggest mountain in the Alps and larger than the Grand Canyon by many orders of magnitude.
In fact, it contends with the United States itself in some dimensions.
A color-coded topographic map of the lus and Tithonium Chasmata. Photo: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
A history of discovery
This isn’t the first time that the Mars Express has delivered the goods. In 2018, the spacecraft famously discovered evidence of liquid water hidden underneath the Martian polar ice caps. The Mars Express has been orbiting Mars since 2003.
SILVER LINING
Terrawatch: how mass extinctions can spur on evolution
Evidence from 252m years ago shows surviving animals bounced back stronger, fitter, faster and smarter
The asteroid impact believed to have led to the death of the dinosaurs was one of Earth’s many mass-extinction events. Photograph: Science Photo Library/Alamy
Mass extinctions are not all bad news: survivors bounce back stronger, fitter, faster and smarter than before. Palaeontologists studying the most deadly mass extinction of all time – the end-Permian, 252m years ago – have shown that predators rapidly became swifter and more deadly, while prey animals adapted and found new ways to survive.
Incredible fossil fish assemblages from China reveal that new hunting modes emerged earlier than previously thought, including fish with masses of teeth, adapted to crushing shells, and streamlined “lizard” fish that specialised in ambush, shooting out from murky lairs. Meanwhile, the animals that they preyed upon had to develop defences. “Some got thicker shells, or developed spines, or themselves became faster in order to help them escape,” said Feixiang Wu, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, whose findings are reported in Frontiers in Earth Science.
On land the reptiles became faster, while mammals and birds became warm-blooded, enabling them to move faster for longer periods of time. “Mass extinctions of course were terrible news for all the victims. But the mass clearout of ecosystems gave huge numbers of opportunities for the biosphere to rebuild itself, and it did so at higher octane than before the crisis,” says Michael Benton from the University of Bristol.
UK Rail strike: Rail workers walk out over pay dispute, as train drivers announce new strike
Jul 27, 2022
As a fourth day of strikes by members of the RMT brought many rail services to a halt, there was news of more disruption next month with the announcement from Aslef that train drivers at nine companies will stage a one-day strike on 13 August.
Passengers today were advised not to travel because only around one in five trains were running - and in some areas no trains at all.
The Transport Secretary Grant Shapps floated the idea of new measures to curb industrial action, but his suggestions provoked fury from union leaders.
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
CBC Investigates
Royal Bank ordered to reveal who's behind 97 offshore accounts
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CRA won't say why it's taken 6 years to pursue companies
Royal Bank wouldn't answer CBC's questions about nearly 100 offshore corporations it administered that are now in the CRA's crosshairs. It said that in general, it always follows the law. (Reuters)
Royal Bank of Canada has been ordered to divulge the real owners of 97 offshore corporations that used its services, but a critic is wondering why it's taken the Canada Revenue Agency six years to acquire a fount of information that could help detect tax cheats.
In submissions to the Federal Court of Canada, the CRA says most of the companies used tactics to "obfuscate the identities of the persons who truly control and beneficially own these entities," and it wants to check whether the real owners are Canadians hiding money in tax havens.
"The CRA is concerned that any or all of these 97 Bahamian corporations may be controlled and/or beneficially owned by persons resident in Canada," the agency says in a court filing.
Canadian individuals and corporations have $23 billion in declared, known funds held in or invested through the Bahamas — more than France, Spain and Portugal combined. A 2018 CRA study suggested Canadians have another $76 billion to $241 billion in undeclared, hidden wealth stashed in all offshore jurisdictions combined, but it didn't break it down by country.
In May, a judge granted the federal government's request for an order for Royal Bank and its RBC Dominion Securities subsidiary to provide any information that would help the CRA identify the owners of the 97 Bahamas corporations. The bank did not oppose the government.
The CRA says in its court filings that all the companies had investment accounts at Royal Bank or RBC Dominion at some point, "which suggests that they might be or have been controlled by persons resident in or situated in Canada."
It's not inherently illegal for Canadians to have an offshore account or company, but any assets over $100,000 and any income have to be reported for tax purposes.
CRA mum about other banks
CBC/Radio-Canada originally reported in 2016 that the Bahamas Leaks revealed that three Canadian banks had provided services to nearly 2,000 offshore companies in the Bahamas since 1990. The banks were what's known as "registered agents" — licensed intermediaries who pay the annual fees to the Bahamas corporate registry, manage the paperwork and in many cases also incorporate the offshore companies.
The leaked files showed that Royal Bank acted as agent for 847 Bahamian companies listed in the leaked data, companies with names from Abbatis 1 Inc. to Yellow Jacket Holdings Ltd., while CIBC registered or administered 632 and Scotiabank handled 481.
Royal Bank didn't answer questions from CBC News about the Bahamas corporations, but did provide a statement saying that in general, it has "high standards and an extensive due diligence process to detect and prevent any illegal activity occurring through RBC."
Neither the CRA nor RBC would explain how the number of offshore companies of interest was whittled down to 97 from the 847 number. Some of that reduction is likely because even back in 2016, nearly half of those companies were already dormant or dissolved. It's possible the CRA also determined that many of the companies had no Canadian shareholders or other ties to Canada that could lead to tax obligations.
Toby Sanger of Canadians for Tax Fairness says the Bahamas is a notoriously secretive jurisdiction where people often route money in order to keep hidden. (CBC)
There is no indication in the docket of the Federal Court that the CRA has also gone after any of the companies managed by CIBC or Scotiabank. It's possible the tax agency obtained information directly and confidentially from those two banks using powers under the Income Tax Actthat don't require it to first get a court order, but it wouldn't say.
"The CRA does not generally release information related to our compliance approaches, as it could provide a roadmap to non-compliance," the agency said in a statement to CBC News. "As such, we are unable to confirm if the CRA will be seeking authorization to retrieve third party data from CIBC and Scotiabank."
'Very frustrating'
Toby Sanger, a senior policy adviser to the advocacy group Canadians for Tax Fairness, said the lack of transparency doesn't help the impression that the CRA "seems to be more focused on going after the easy targets, the small-time individuals," rather than the bigger and more complex cases of offshore tax evasion and avoidance.
"We shouldn't just kind of write these carte blanche cheques allowing wealthy corporations and individuals with money in whatever jurisdiction they decide to park it in to avoid taxes," he said in an interview.
The CRA, which proclaimed in the wake of other leaks, such as the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers, that it was cracking down on offshore tax shenanigans, also wouldn't explain why it's only seeking ownership records for the 97 offshore companies now — six years after the Bahamas Leaks brought them to light.
"It's very frustrating and disappointing that it has taken the CRA so long to act on these leaks," Sanger said. "The slow action in this instance on the Bahamas Leaks means that they're just kind of crying wolf, and that it's more bark than bite."
The Bahamas Leaks records were obtained by Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the same German newspaper that was leaked the Panama Papers, which then shared the files with the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its network of global media partners, including CBC/Radio-Canada.
The Panama Papers emerged a few months earlier in 2016, but the CRA has yet to lay any criminal charges against anyone named in that leak. Other countries have already brought hundreds of charges and secured convictions.
The CRA received nearly $1 billion in extra funding between 2016 and this year to combat tax evasion and tax avoidance. In an email to CBC, the agency couldn't point to a single criminal conviction it's obtained in the last 4½ years that had to do with offshore tax evasion.
The agency said last week that at one point, it had five open criminal investigations stemming from the Panama Papers, but it subsequently dropped three. The two remaining cases appear to be ongoing probes into $77 million in alleged withholding-tax evasion in Vancouver, and an investigation into an Alberta oilpatch financier.
Zach Dubinsky is an investigative journalist. His reporting on offshore tax havens (including the Paradise Papers and Panama Papers), political corruption and organized crime has won multiple national and international awards.
Twitter: @DubinskyZach Email zach.dubinsky@cbc.ca
Alice the tunnel-boring machine reaches Montreal airport, then bids adieu
A wonder of modern technology, 430-tonne machine dug REM tunnel and erected concrete walls at the same time.
A REM worker returns to the people mover vehicle used to shuttle staff to the tunnel boring machine, seen during a media tour of the REM tunnel in Montreal on Wednesday, July 27.
PHOTO BY ALLEN MCINNIS /Montreal Gazette Article content
When Alice was going full bore, she was a wonder to behold.
She was the first tunnel-boring machine of her kind to be used in Quebec, her 430-tonne bulk transported from the Robbins plant in Ohio to Montreal aboard 60 trucks.
Unfortunately for Alice, when tunnelling began in October 2020 there were few good days to be had. The first 350 metres were “terrible,” Lefebvre said. Unstable soil conditions at the start of the dig, with a mix of clay, rock, soil, water and air pockets, led to cave-ins that clogged the machine and stopped its rotating cutting head from carving a path.
Below ground, engineers came up with a solution. They injected liquid nitrogen at a temperature of minus -196 Celsius, to freeze the earth, stopping the cave-ins and allowing the cutting discs to break and excavate the earth.
Montreal’s boring machine was named after Alice Evelyn Wilson (1881-1964), a scientist and the first female geologist with Geological Survey of Canada. (The consortium building the REM turned to the public to choose a name, but wisely reserved veto power, thus avoiding the indignity foisted upon Britain’s $375-million polar research naval vessel that the public voted to name “Boaty McBoatface.” It was eventually named “Sir David Attenborough.”)
Alice has 47 disc cutters that can exert 25 tonnes of pressure to cut through the bedrock and limestone, propelled by 19 pistons that are eight metres long and nearly a metre in diameter. Rock, dirt and sludge is collected by the front rotating cutter head and moved onto a conveyor belt and out of the tunnel.
As the machine digs, prefabricated panels built at a concrete factory erected at the Technoparc are affixed to the wall, seven slabs bolted to each other to form a ring 1.7 metres wide. In total, 10,115 slabs were used to build 1,445 concrete rings, creating a tunnel 2.5 kilometres long. Electricity and other utility cables will run along the bottom of the tunnel, and the rails of the train will be placed above them.
A crew of 28 working 12-hour shifts along with a further support crew of 10 engineers accompanied Alice, ensuring the cutter could run 24 hours a day. After one-and-a-half years, it finally made its way under the wetlands, the runways and the airport itself to the underground area where the REM station will be built in the airport’s basement level.
The station is not expected to be finished before the end of 2024. The train connecting to the airport won’t run until 2025, CDPQ Infra said.
And as for Alice? She finished her Montreal work in mid-July. Now she’s being dismantled, her used up components will be discarded and workable parts will be used in new tunnel machines, forging connections elsewhere in the world.
To see a video of tunnel-boring machines at work, visit the Robbins company website at www.robbinstbm.com/ and click on the “Products” link, then the “Tunnel Boring Machines” link. Alice is an “Earth Pressure Balance” tunnel boring machine.
PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVES
Former Republicans and Democrats to form new third U.S. political party
Hope to appeal to millions of voters they say are dismayed with what they see as America’s dysfunctional two-party system.
Tim Reid Publishing date:Jul 27, 2022 •
In this file photo taken on November 20, 2019 Democratic presidential hopeful tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang speaks during the fifth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season.
PHOTO BY SAUL LOEB /AFP via Getty Images
LOS ANGELES — Dozens of former Republican and Democratic officials will announce on Wednesday a new national political third party to appeal to millions of voters they say are dismayed with what they see as America’s dysfunctional two-party system.
The new party, called Forward, will initially be co-chaired by former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang and Christine Todd Whitman, the former Republican governor of New Jersey. They hope the party will become a viable alternative to the Republican and Democratic parties that dominate U.S. politics, founding members told Reuters.
Party leaders will hold a series of events in two dozen cities this autumn to roll out its platform and attract support. They will host an official launch in Houston on Sept. 24 and the party’s first national convention in a major U.S. city next summer
The new party is being formed by a merger of three political groups that have emerged in recent years as a reaction to America’s increasingly polarized and gridlocked political system. The leaders cited a Gallup poll last year showing a record two-thirds of Americans believe a third party is needed.
The merger involves the Renew America Movement, formed in 2021 by dozens of former officials in the Republican administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Donald Trump; the Forward Party, founded by Yang, who left the Democratic Party in 2021 and became an independent; and the Serve America Movement, a group of Democrats, Republicans and independents whose executive director is former Republican congressman David Jolly.
Two pillars of the new party’s platform are to “reinvigorate a fair, flourishing economy” and to “give Americans more choices in elections, more confidence in a government that works, and more say in our future.”
The party, which is centrist, has no specific policies yet. It will say at its Thursday launch: “How will we solve the big issues facing America? Not Left. Not Right. Forward.”
Historically, third parties have failed to thrive in America’s two-party system. Occasionally they can impact a presidential election. Analysts say the Green Party’s Ralph Nader siphoned off enough votes from Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000 to help Republican George W. Bush win the White House.
It is unclear how the new Forward party might impact either party’s electoral prospects in such a deeply polarized country. Political analysts are skeptical it can succeed.
Public reaction on Twitter was swift. Many Democrats on the social media platform expressed fear that the new party will siphon more votes away from Democrats, rather than Republicans, and end up helping Republicans in close races.
Forward aims to gain party registration and ballot access in 30 states by the end of 2023 and in all 50 states by late 2024, in time for the 2024 presidential and congressional elections. It aims to field candidates for local races, such as school boards and city councils, in state houses, the U.S. Congress and all the way up to the presidency.
`THE FUNDAMENTALS HAVE CHANGED`
In an interview, Yang said the party will start with a budget of about $5 million. It has donors lined up and a grassroots membership between the three merged groups numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
“We are starting in a very strong financial position. Financial support will not be a problem,” Yang said.
Another person involved in the creation of Forward, Miles Taylor – a former Homeland Security official in the Trump administration – said the idea was to give voters “a viable, credible national third party.”
Taylor acknowledged that third parties had failed in the past, but said: “The fundamentals have changed. When other third party movements have emerged in the past it’s largely been inside a system where the American people aren’t asking for an alternative. The difference here is we are seeing an historic number of Americans saying they want one.”
Stu Rothenberg, a veteran non-partisan political analyst, said it was easy to talk about establishing a third party but almost impossible to do so.
“The two major political parties start out with huge advantages, including 50 state parties built over decades,” he said.
Rothenberg pointed out that third party presidential candidates like John Anderson in 1980 and Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996 flamed out, failing to build a true third party that became a factor in national politics. (Reporting by Tim Reid, editing by Ross Colvin and Cynthia Osterman)
The biggest volcanic eruption in Japan since 1914 happened this past weekend. Kyodo News reports that Sakurajima in southwestern Japan had an explosive eruption on Saturday and Sunday. One rock from the volcano flew 2.5 kilometers(a little over 1.5 miles) from the crater. On Monday, a smaller eruption occurred at 6:30 a.m., with the plumes rising 2200 meters. This led to the two nearby towns being evacuated, but luckily no deaths or injuries have been reported so far. The Japan Meteorological Agency rated the volcano alert as a five, which is the highest score possible.
Sakurajima is a stratovolcano that’s located around six hundred miles away from Tokyo. The summit elevation is 3665 feet, and it has three distinct peaks. It was once on an island, but the continued eruptions made it located on a peninsula. The volcano is one of the most active in Japan, as it drops ash on the surrounding areas. Some videos of the wild situation are below.
Sakurajima volcano erupts as Japan raises highest alert level for mass evacuation
Volcanic eruption in Japan forces evacuations in 2 towns
TOKYO (AP) — Dozens of people have evacuated two towns on Japan’s main southern island of Kyushu where a volcano spewed ash and large rocks into the nighttime sky.
Large rocks fell as far as 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the Sakurajima volcano Sunday night in the southern prefecture of Kagoshima. Footage on Japan’s NHK public television showed orange flames flashing near the crater and dark smoke with ash billowing high above the mountaintop.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency raised the eruption alert to the highest level of five and advised 51 residents in two towns facing the volcano to leave their homes.
By Monday morning, 33 of them left their homes for a nursing care facility in a safer part of the region, according to Kagoshima city. NHK said others subject to evacuation might have evacuated to other locations.
“We will put the people’s lives first and do our utmost to assess the situation and respond to any emergency,” Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki told reporters. He called on residents to pay close attention to updates from local authorities to protect their lives.
A dusting of ash was visible on cars in Kagoshima, but no damage or injuries have been reported. Schools in the area are on summer recess but closed Monday for clubs and extracurricular activities.
JMA warned of the potential for falling volcanic rocks within 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) of the crater and possible flow of lava, ash and searing gas within 2 kilometers (1.2 miles).
The chances of more explosive violent eruptions were low, but residents still should be watchful for falling rocks, mudslide and pyroclastic flow, said Tsuyoshi Nakatsuji, a JMA official in charge of volcano watch. He also advised residents to close curtains and stay away from windows, which could break by the force of an eruption.
Sakurajima on the main southern island of Kyushu is one of Japan’s most active volcanos and has erupted repeatedly. It used to be an island but became a peninsula following an eruption in 1914 that killed 58 people.
Sakurajima is about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Tokyo.
The 1914 Taisho eruption of Sakurijima volcano was Japan’s highest intensity and magnitude eruption of the twentieth century. After a 35-year period of quiescence, the volcano suddenly rewoke a few days before the eruption, when earthquakes began to be felt on Sakurajima Island. The eruption began on January 12, 1914, from two fissures located on opposite sides of the volcano, and was characterized by a complex time evolution and changes in eruptive styles. The eruption began with a subPlinian explosive phase in which two convective columns rose from the two fissures. Both plumes were sustained for at least 2 days. This resulted in deposition of a widely dispersed tephra sequence. After this phase, the eruption evolved to a final, waning phase, shifting toward effusive activity that lasted until April 1914. During the first weeks, effusive activity was also accompanied by ash emission. The complex sequence of events, characterized by contemporaneous explosive and effusive activity, is typical of several recently observed mid-intensity eruptions, such as during the 2011 eruption of Cordón Caulle, Chile. The stratigraphic sequence of the eruptive deposits from the Taisho eruption comprises alternating coarse-to-fine lapilli beds with ash beds dispersed toward the ESE and SE. These deposits can be subdivided into three lapilli-bearing units (Units T1, T2 and T3, which correspond to the subPlinian phase) and one ash-bearing unit (Unit T4, which corresponds to the final ash venting, accompanying the first day/weeks of lava flow activity). Grain size analyses from each unit reveal a marked polymodal distribution generally described by the sum of two or three Gaussian subpopulations. Both the modes and the relative amounts of the coarse subpopulations vary with distance from vent, with those of the fine subpopulation remaining nearly constant. Within the vertical sequence, component analysis shows a progressive increase in lithic fragments, suggesting that conduit enlargement continued until the final stages of the eruption. The estimated volume of the tephra deposit of the subPlinian phase of the eruption is 0.33 ± 0.11 km3 (dense rock equivalent (DRE) volume = 0.09 ± 0.03 km3). The height of the eruption column was also assessed by using four different isopleth maps compiled based on different strategies for the characterization of the largest clasts. The maximum height attained by the eruption column is estimated at 15.0 ± 1.2 km above the vent, resulting in a maximum mass discharge rate of 3.6 ± 1.2 × 107 kg s−1 (calculated taking into account the strong effect of wind advection). Finally, different classification schemes were applied to classify the eruption, which generally straddles the fields between Plinian and subPlinian.
