Mount Redoubt blows ash, steam

The Alaska Volcano Observatory yesterday downgraded the concern level of Mount Redoubt to alert level advisory and aviation code yellow after seismic activity declined back to levels before the volcano blew ash and steam on Sunday. The brief burst of activity had caused scientists to increase the concern levels back to watch and orange for three days.

For about four hours starting 1 p.m. Sunday, seismographs on Redoubt showed continuous and increased tremor. Redoubt spat out an ash and steam cloud about 15,000 feet high that fell on the volcano's south slope. The ashfall did not last long, but was the first documented during the latest unrest. Ice and sediment also fell for about 1,500 feet on the upper Drift Glacier.

"The volcano remains restless with abnormally high rates of gas emission and continued melting of the summit glacier," AVO scientists said in a release Wednesday morning.

AVO had been doing a gas-collection flight Sunday when Redoubt started steaming. A trip was planned this week to put in more instruments and to try and collect ash samples and determine if the ash came from new magma or was a redeposit of previous eruptions.

Two possible outcomes could happen, said Stephanie Prejean, a U.S. Geological Survey seismologist with AVO.

If new magma moving up has stalled, Redoubt could see a gradual decline in activity over the next few months. If more magma moves up, the volcano could become more active.

For updates, visit www.avo.alaska.edu.


Source: homernews.com