Volcano Erupts in Alaska

Augustine Volcano in Alaska Erupts
By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer
9 minutes ago

A volcano on an uninhabited island erupted early Wednesday, spewing an
ash plume about 5 miles into the sky.

The ash from Augustine Volcano was expected to steer clear of
Anchorage, the state's most populous city nearly 200 miles to the
northeast, meteorologists said.

"Fortunately, it's not going to Anchorage this time," said Bob Hopkins,
in charge at the National Weather Service office in Anchorage.

Two explosions at 4:44 a.m indicated an eruption at the volcano, said
geologist Jennifer Adleman of the Alaska Volcano Observatory. Satellite
images and radar later confirmed the eruption, Hopkins said.

Residents on the Kenai Peninsula, east of the volcanic island,
confirmed the eruption and reported seeing ash, Adleman said.

Air service in south-central Alaska, a main source of transportation,
had not been disrupted by the ash cloud, the Federal Aviation
Administration said.

A weather service flight advisory was issued for pilots for an area 20
miles east and west of the volcano and about 50 miles north.

The cloud, moving at about 20 mph, appeared to have low concentrations
of ash, Hopkins said.

The few residents in the area were warned to reduce outdoor activity,
keep windows and doors closed, and avoid outdoor exercise. They also
were warned not to burn wood in stoves or fireplaces if the wood had
volcanic ash on it.

The 4,134-foot volcano last erupted in 1986. Ash from a 7-mile-high
column drifted over Anchorage and kept flights out of the skies over
Cook Inlet.

Rumpelstiltskin...

I think I've seen that Volcano. I've been down the Kenai
Peninsula as far south as Homer, and I do remember seeing,
and talking with my friend, about the beautiful volcano on an
island distantly south, near the shoreline on the opposite side
of the bay that looked, as far as I can tell from the atlas, just
about how Augustine island and the surrounding terrain
would look from the perspective of Homer.

Alvin Toda...

I wonder if this volcano would affect a cruise from Seattle to Alaska?
I'm thinking of going with some friends in September.

Rumpelstiltskin...

It should be over long before then. The passage is pretty wide
and the island is close to the west bank, so unless it's turns into
something like Mt. St. Helens, I wouldn't think there'd be a
problem.

Alvin Toda...

If it's like a Hawaiian volcano, then it could keep flowing for years.
But if it's the explosive type like Helens or Vesuvius, then it's
probably just about over.

Rumpelstiltskin...

It's not like a Hawaiian volcano though. The southern Alaskan
coast is on a plate border, but the Hawaiian Islands are over a
"hot spot" in the middle of the Pacific plate. The Hawaiian islands
were formed in succession as the plate drifted away from the hot
spot, but the hot spot remains in place and creates new islands
when the current batch of volcanos have has drifted far enough
away from the hot spot. Only the Big Island has active volcanos
now, not counting the new, still submerged, island southeast of
Hawaii that's extremely active and will eventually rise above
sea level.

When I make scrambled eggs, the edges bubble pretty
regularly, but hot spots appear in the middle of the pan that
are continually active, because they have to dispose of the
built-up gas from a much larger area. St.Helens and Vesuvius
and Etna were dandy explosive events, though, but not
continuous to the degree the Hawaiian volcanos are/

Here's a map:

You can see on that map where the center of the big tsunami
was, too, with a plate boundary just west of Sumatra, presumably
created by a plate movement earthquake, which, like volcanos
are common at plate boundaries. I just noticed that the Alaskan
coast doesn't seem all that close to a plate boundary though.
I'd hazard volcanos tend to occur along a wide area where a
plate is sliding under another one, not exactly at what looks
like the boundary of the plate from seabed level, which is just
the line where one plate starts to slide under the other.

over where one plate is sliding under another.