Volcano on Alaska island erupts
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, January 11, 2006
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A volcano on an uninhabited island erupted early Wednesday, spewing ash about five miles into the sky and prompting air traffic authorities to warn planes to steer clear of the cloud.
The ash from Augustine Volcano was not expected to reach Anchorage, the state’s most populous city nearly 200 miles to the northeast, meteorologists said.
Flights were restricted temporarily in a five-mile radius around the volcano and for 50,000 feet above it, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus. The ash can clog jet engines.
Cargo or passenger traffic from Asia usually fly through the area to Anchorage but could be easily rerouted, Fergus said. “It’s not posing any significant traffic problems,” he said.
The cloud, moving about 20 mph, appeared to have low concentrations of ash, said Bob Hopkins of the National Weather Service office in Anchorage.
Residents on the Kenai Peninsula, east of the volcanic island, reported seeing ash, said geologist Jennifer Adleman of the Alaska Volcano Observatory.
The few residents in the area were warned to reduce outdoor activity, keep windows and doors closed, and avoid outdoor exercise.
The 4,134-foot volcano last erupted in 1986. Ash from a seven-mile-high column drifted over Anchorage and forced flights to avoid the skies over Cook Inlet.
The explosions, with magnitude 2.6 seismic activity, occurred at 4:44 a.m. local time, and the observatory upgraded the level of concern from orange to red, meaning a significant eruption was occurring or an explosive eruption was expected at any time.
About eight hours earlier, the observatory had upgraded the level of concern from yellow, or restless, to orange, meaning an eruption could occur at any time.
For the previous six hours, the observatory had detected that “markedly” increased earthquake activity.
