Mount Redoubt

From Boston.com Mount Redoubt Photos, a wonderful photo essay of Mount Redoubt's eruption. Some of the photos I'd seen before, others were new to me.

Thanks go to Rich Legg's Twitter for leading me to those great images.

Mount Redoubt - more photos

On one level, I wish I could be in Alaska right now. I'd want to be on the opposite side of Cook Inlet so I could get a chance to get some of these amazing lighting shots. In my more "right mind," I know that people who study and photograph volcanoes have inherently dangerous jobs and there have been fatalities over the years. So it is probably just as well that I'm still home in Texas and I can enjoy the photographs of this volcano from the safety of my home. But we've driven that road from Anchorage to Homer . . . I can picture this in my mind's eye . . .

Since watching nature's forces is amazing and very interesting to me, I've been watching the images coming from the Alaska Volcano Observatory regularly this week. There are 17 pages of images so far.

On March 28, Bretwood Higman captured an amazing series of lighting shots in the ash cloud:




Today's images from the Alaska Volcano Observatory Webcame are beautiful as well:





It will be interesting to see how long this eruptive phase lasts.

Alaska's Mount Redoubt - more images

The Alaska Volcano Observatory and the US Geological Survey continue to post new images of the current eruptive phase of Mount Redoubt.

My favorites:

Mount Redoubt's ash cloud Thursday March 26, 2009
Credit: Robert Cole and Peninsula Airways



Lower reach oif Crescent Glacier and view down the ash-covered Crescent River Valley - March 26, 2009 Credit: McGimsey, Game and the Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey




View northeast over the piedmont lobe of the Drift Glacier and down the Drift River valley showing the effects of the flooding caused by Mt. Redoubt's eruptions. March 26, 2009 Credit: McGimsey,Game, Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey




Ash cloud seen in the geostationary MTSAT data, courtesy of National Weather Service, processed by the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From the extreme edge of the view for the satellite which is over the equator in Asia. Image Creator Dehn, Jonathan. Taken March 26, 2009 17:30 UTC


Our planet, earth, is truly amazing. When you get a chance to see these natural processes at work, it is truly humbling. We can only study things like hurricanes and volcanoes. We can't control when they happen, where they happen, how strong they are, or what kind of disruption they cause to their surroundings. Nature is always in a state of change, never static. As Ecclesiastes says:

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven . . . a time to tear down and a time to build . . ."

We have natural process that on the surface appear to tear down - wildfire, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes . . . In reality they are just changes. All of these things create change on our earth, but also prepare the way for new and beautiful things. Everything is cyclical . . . It is fascinating to watch nature at work at Mount Redoubt.

Mount Redoubt March 26

These images are posted at the Alaska Volcano Observatory Site:


The ash cloud from Mount Redoubt approaching Homer taken by Dennis Anderson on March 26 at 12:39 AKDT



Ashcloud moving over and ashfall occuring at Homestead Lodge 35 miles south of Mount Redoubt on March 26, 2009. Photo taken by James and Sheila Isaak.


Mount Redoubt's Eruption Plume taken from Diamond Ridge near Homer on March 26, 2009 by Dennis Anderson



These last two images were taken this afternoon (March 26) from the Mount Redoubt Hut webcam. You can check this cam regularly during daylight hours to get a view of what is happening now. The camera is battery powered, so there can be outages.





For more information (and the latest information as well) go to the Alaska Volcano Observatory-Mount Redoubt.

The Los Angeles Times also has a good article about todays eruption noting that there has been a mudflow down the Drift River. There were flash flood warnings out for the Drift River because of the rapidly melting ice.


The Internet Newspaper, The Huffington Post, also has an article about today's eruptions.

Mount Redoubt

Mount Redoubt in Alaska has had two explosive episodes today. One threw ash 30,000 feet up.

The second one threw ash 65,000 feet into the atmosphere.

Check the Alaska Volcano Observatory's website for more details.

I'll post links when I get home.

Alaska's Mount Redoubt Finally Erupts

My husband and I have been followin Mount Redoubt for the last several months. There was a window when I was getting updates every two hours. It released one explosive burst about a week ago, but had gotten very quiet. I had guessed that all those tremors and earthquakes and the burst had relieved the stresses. The alert code had gone back to Yellow . . .

This two month chart shows how the activity level had gotten high in February and then tapered off. Then it was very quiet the first two weeks in March, but look on the far right. WOW Such strong activity, so suddenly, and now the big eruption the volcanologists were waiting for:



This is the chart from the last seven days. Note that after the spikes on the right, there is no more data. It sure looks like that the monitoring equipment has been damaged or destroyed by the eruption.



Here is the link to: Alaska Volcano Observatory - Mount Redoubt Click here to follow their Twitter.

From Yahoo News and the Associated Press, Alaska's Mount Redoubt Erupts 5 times.

While air traffic to and from Anchorage has been halted, it looks like the ashfall is going to be worse west of Anchorage than in Anchorage proper. It will be interesting to see how long this eruptive phase lasts.

Alaska's Mount Redoubt Update

RSAM stands for Real-time Seismic Amplitude Measurement. It summarizes seismic activity during heightened volcanic activity. RSAM calculates and stores the average amplitude of ground shaking caused by earthquakes and volcanic tremor over 10-minute intervals. RSAM values increase as tremor amplitude or the rate of occurrences and the size of earthquakes increase. Because it tallies all the signals from all the events during the 10-minute interval, it provides a simplified measure of the overall level of seismic activity. (From the Alaska Volcano Observatory's site AVO)





This is today's posted chart of RSAM from AVO. While I'm no volcanologist, it is easy to see that there is some sustained vibrations that are well above the activity from earlier in the week. I wish that I had saved some of these charts from the last week or so, because I think it would be interesting to compare the changes.

Other reports from the AVO twitter, there has been a steam plume, but no actual eruption.

I suspect for the scientists who are studying this volcano, it is a little like waiting for the arrival of a baby. You know it's coming, you just don't know when. And for a volcano, you may know that something is getting ready to happen, but right now I don't think we have any way to know in advance what level the eruption is going to be or how long it will last. But it must be very interesting to be a volcanologist in Alaska right now.

More Volcanoes in the news

Japan's Mount Asama erupted today. It threw a plume of ash about a mile high above its crater. It apparently had a minor eruption in 2008 and a more major eruption in 2004. The article also noted that Mount Sakurajima had a minor eruption a week ago.

The latest news from Mount Redoubt - "A high intensity burst of volcanic tremor occurred from about 2:44 through 2:50 AST this morning at Redoubt. The tremor episode appears to hve ended for now. There was no eruption associated with this tremor. " from the Alaska Volcano Observatory. The ASO has posted recent photos of the volcano.


Photo by Chris Waythomas from the ASO site taken January 31st


Photo by Kristi Wallace during an ASO observation flight taken on January 30 - also from the ASO site

The ASO also has two webcams of Mount Redoubt -one from the "hut" and one from Cook's Inlet. With the long Alaskan winter nights, they are dark for much of the day, however, they do give a great view during daylight hours. With the images from the hut we are likely to get some amazing views if the volcanic eruption starts during daylight hours.

Alaska Volcano Observatory's Twitter

I am now following the Alaska Volcano Observatory's Twitter with it set to send the message to my Iphone device. That way I hear a "ding" when they make their posts.

To get the most information you need to follow their TinyUrl - the latest one mentions an observation flight (no . . . I would not want to be in THAT plane right now) that reported no ash emission, significant steaming from a new melt depression near the vent from the 1989-1990 eruption.

I googled Volcano Alert Systems and got this info from: Volcano Live John Search.

Alaska Alert System

Green
Volcano is in typical background, noneruptive state or, after a change from a higher level, volcanic activity has ceased and volcano has returned to noneruptive background state.

Yellow
Volcano is exhibiting signs of elevated unrest above known background level or, after a change from a higher level, volcanic activity has decreased significantly but continues to be closely monitored for possible renewed increase.

Orange
Volcano is exhibiting heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption, timeframe uncertain, OR eruption is underway with no or minor volcanic-ash emissions.

Red
Eruption is imminent with significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere likely OR eruption is underway or suspected with significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere.


The Volcano Live site has lots of interesting information about what is going on with volcanoes around the world.

Nature is indeed fascinating!

Mount Redoubt -Alaska Volcano Observatory Report

From the Alaska Volcano Observatory's January 29th report
Their site is getting a lot of hits such that they are having a hard time staying up.

Redoubt Volcano
60°29'7" N 152°44'38" W, Summit Elevation 10197 ft (3108 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: WATCH
Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE

Currently we have no indication that an eruption of Redoubt has occurred or is occurring.

Unrest at Redoubt Volcano continues. Seismicity has remained at a relatively constant level for the past 24 hours, and is still well above background.

Staff are currently monitoring the volcano 24 hours a day. We will issue further information as it becomes available.

Alaska's Mount Redoubt

When our kids were little, we took them to Alaska. When we were driving from Alaska to Homer, we noted a mountain on the other side of the Cook Inlet that was "smoking." We suspected a volcano and were pleased that we had guessed correctly when just a few miles up the road we came to the roadside sign that told us all about Mount Redoubt. We had been to Mount St. Helens and Mount Ranier a couple of years before which was one of the reasons that we were so quick to leap to the conclusion we were seeing another volcano.

In my morning news web surfing, I came across the news that an eruption is eminent at Mount Redoubt. Yahoo News article reports beginning in early November, the volcano changed its emissions and there was some snow melting at the top of the summit. At that point, the scientists raised the volcanic threat level from green to yellow. This past Sunday there was a sharp increase in earthquake activity below the volcano that led scientists to increase the threat level from yellow to orange - signaling that an eruption is imminent.

I remember the scientists who were studying the quakes around Mount St. Helens before it erupted in 1980. It was an amazing time as volcanologists were learning how to accurately predict an eruption.

Mount Redoubt last erupted in 1989-1990. An airliner flying through the ash had all four engines stall out. Fortunately they were able to get them restarted before a crash. But now they issue warnings so that jets won't fly through the ash.

When I was looking at the world wide earthquake maps in the last week, I had noted some in southern Alaska. This week's earthquake list shows several earthquakes in Alaska.

People in Alaska seem to be taking the warnings seriously, stocking up on protective eye gear and masks. The particulates in the air after an eruption are very abrasive and can damage eyes and the air passages in your nose, throat, bronchial tubes, and lungs.

Interestingly enough, the change in status for Mount Redoubt occurred January 25th, but only today did it make the front page at My Yahoo. It will be interesting to see if the mountain settles down or goes into an eruptive phase.

Polar Bears

From Reuters: Alaska to sue to block polar bear listing

Not even the scientists can predict what will really happen in terms of global warming. But there is too much evidence from the melting of the ice sheet in Greenland (New York Times) to the escalating ice loss in Antarctica (Washington Post) for us not to recognize that our polar regions are in trouble. Polar Bear International has some good information on the current status of polar bears. Studies seem to show that the population has declined and that cub survival rates are down.

The polar bear is already listed as a "vulnerable species" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Endangered Species. The Alaska governor is worried that if the United States lists it on the federal endangered list that it will impact development in Alaska.

With the price of oil going up at such a rapid rate, there will certainly be a hue and cry for further oil exploration in Alaska. While some of that would help the local economy (and perhaps the national economy as well), Alaska is a priceless national treasure. So much of Alaska is pristine, undeveloped wilderness. At some point in time, the world needs to wean itself from its dependence on the fossil fuel, petroleum. When push comes to shove, humans are inventive, creative, and capable. Sooner or later we have to move to alternative fuels. If we go ahead and drill for oil in Alaska wilderness areas, it only postpones the inevitable. The arctic tundra is fragile, growing seasons are short. Land that is disturbed will take a very long time to recover its natural vegetation. If we resist the urge to drill in these pristine areas, perhaps the new technology will be forced to be developed more quickly.