TUES. 11:00 pm AKDT 3.31.09 – As today comes to a close, Redoubt has not erupted again since 4:15 pm this afternoon. In scouring varying sources of news in the last few minutes, there are no immediate reports of ash fall from this afternoon’s smaller eruption. Photos from AVO’s overflight this afternoon show steam and ash plumes, with ash covering the flanks of the volcano.
Volcanic tremor seems to have increased somewhat in the last two hours and there have been 2 small earthquakes, as confirmed by the Alaska Earthquake Information Center. Usually there are quite a few very small discrete earthquakes in the vicinity of the mountain on a daily basis.
Tonight, Alaska Airlines has cancelled most all of their flights due to safety concerns. Volcanic ash has a tendency to sandblast aircraft engines and coat them with melted volcanic glass, rendering them inoperable as evidenced by the KLM 747 which flamed out all 4 engines after accidentally flying into the 1989 ash cloud emitted by Redoubt.
The airliner fell 2 miles with 231 terrified passenges on board. Finally after more than 4 minutes and falling to within about 2,000 feet of the mountain tops, the crew was able to restart all 4 engines and land safely in Anchorage. Anyone who says that volcano monitoring is unnecessary, just did not manage to get out of bed with their head screwed on quite right!
Not only airlines are being affected – grocery stores are not able to receive shipments of speciality foods flown into Anchorage. This is definitely not the growing season here either so it’s not like we can go grow our own! It makes me wonder how long before some food prices go up! As for mail…..good luck on getting anything out of here in a hurry. In fact…good luck on just getting out of here!
Fortunately, Alaskans are a pretty tough breed of cat and as a whole…we shake our heads …and go on about our day!
Night all. Morning comes too soon!
1arctic-home
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php
Photos courtesy of AVO overflight today 3.31.09
