Eruptions turns 3!

It has been a busy week for me – mostly thanks to it being the last week of teaching the semester (ah yes, but there is still plenty exam-giving and grading to go). However, I did want to mark one anniversary coming up over the weekend, namely the third anniversary of this blog!

Eruptions first appeared on WordPress on May 1, 2008 as a response to the lack of information, or at least accurate information, on the eruption at Chaiten in Chile that has just begun (and much like this blog, Chaiten is still steaming away). I have to admit, I started it on a whim and never (ever ever) expected the blog to become what it is today. Some fun stats: 943 posts, 4 million+ page views, 934 twitter followers and most important to me, the 40,000+ comments left by you, the readers of Eruptions. This blog wouldn’t be what it is today without the constant interactions I have with you all and hopefully the interactions that you have with each other. I have to talk about “internet communities”, but Eruptions seems to have spawned quite a healthy, active one – and I have all of you to thank for it. Lots of things have changed on the blog since I started it. Looking back it seems that my posts have become longer and back in 2008, there were actually posts that didn’t get any comments (if you can believe it). I did try to find the earliest comment by some of the current “regulars”, and it seems that some of you have been following since at least the summer of 2008.

I was trying to think if I had any particular favorite moment from the three years I’ve been blogging about volcanoes, but it is hard to identify a specific event. It is mostly that thrill when I can post on a new eruption – or I find out about one from a comment left by one of you. Volcanic eruptions are such dynamics and sometimes ephemeral events, to be able to capture the activity on the blog can be quite exciting.

So, congratulations to all of us for three great years of Eruptions – and hopefully many more to come.