Alaska - Mt Redoubt Volcano could erupt within days

FEMA Situation Report - Monday Feb 9 09:

Volcanic Activity – Redoubt Volcano, Alaska

Unrest at Redoubt continues at elevated seismicity. The seismicity is dominated by nearly continuous volcanic tremors. FAA continues to restrict air travel in a 10 mile radius around Redoubt to 60,000 MSL. (Anticipated concern) if an eruption occurs creating an ash event that will cause respiratory concerns for local populations and interruption of international air traffic.

Staff at the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) is currently monitoring the volcano 24 hours a day.
The Aviation Color Code remains at ORANGE and the Volcano Alert Level remains at WATCH

Also interesting in relation to Alaska and it's Volcanoes:

Earthquake Activity

A magnitude 3.9 earthquake occurred Sunday, February 8 at 5:28 p.m. EST in the North Pacific Ocean 35 miles north east of Kiska Volcano, Alaska (1,330 miles west southwest of Anchorage) at a depth of 62 miles. There have been no reports of damage or injury and no Tsunami was generated.

FEMA

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Latest update from AVO:

2009-02-09 13:20:13
Unrest at Redoubt Volcano continues, though no eruption has yet occurred. Volcanic tremor is ongoing with variable amplitudes, and small discrete earthquakes are occurring at a rate of one to several events per hour. Clear webcam images today show a steam plume rising up to several hundred feet above the crater.

AVO

[edit on 9-2-2009 by violet]

events per hour. Clear webcam images today show a steam plume rising up to several hundred feet above the crater.

Yes, today steam seems to be going higher than usual.
I wonder though if it isn't just due to the almost perfect weather there's at the moment.

[edit on 2009/2/9 by Shirakawa]

reply to post by Shirakawa

I believe you're right!

Alaska's Mount Redoubt is puffing a steam plume out several hundred feet above the volcano's crater, but still hasn't erupted.

But volcanologist Dave Schneider at the Alaska Volcano Observatory says the activity Monday is largely due to atmospheric conditions, such as winds and humidity, that make steam more visible.

Stephanie Prejean, a seismologist at the observatory, says Redoubt's ongoing earthquakes have shifted in recent days to a higher frequency, which could signify actual rock breaking.

Prejean says Redoubt continues to emit large quantities of volcanic gas, indicating the presence of new magma in the earth's crust.

KTUU

From AVO:

Unrest at Redoubt Volcano continues, though no eruption has yet occurred. Volcanic tremor is ongoing with variable amplitudes. Today AVO personel are in the field to make visual observations and improve the monitoring network.

AVO staff members continue to monitor the volcano 24 hours a day.

FEMA update

Same as yesterday's update, with this added:

# The FEMA Alaska Area Office (AAO) has AVO/USGS as of Feb 7, 2009 established communications with federal and state agencies to mobilize within Alaska to handle the first 12 to 48 hours of federal coordination and situational awareness
# The exclusive purpose of this team is to establish a FEMA presence at the Alaska State Emergency Coordination Center (SECC) and maintain situational awareness with the RRCC located in Bothell, WA
# If the situation dictates, follow-on resources will be mobilized from the lower 48 and deployed to Alaska

FEMA

Still here. Have not blown up yet. Redoubt has increased the activity a bit today, but no visible steam on the Webcams.

I'm getting bored with the whole thing, so I suspect when I stop paying attention it will go

For the Volcanophiles -

reply to post by Blaine91555

You must be getting bored by now.
That's what'll happen, as soon as you quit paying attention to it, it will blow ... or not !

Just for a side-note: Sunday afternoon drive 65 miles north saw some very strange bird activity. First was packed baldies 100+ (strange for these parts) then a secondary cluster of soul bringers; recieved a call derived from second hand info that the same was happening elsewhere.. Just a note of observation..

New status report from AVO:

REDOUBT VOLCANO (CAVW #1103-03-)
60°29'7" N 152°44'38" W, Summit Elevation 10197 ft (3108 m)
Current Aviation Color Code: ORANGE
Current Volcano Alert Level: WATCH

Unrest at Redoubt Volcano continues. No eruption has yet occurred. Volcanic tremor with variable amplitudes is ongoing and has changed little over the past 24 hours. Yesterday, AVO field crews installed GPS equipment north of the volcano and collected water samples and temperature data with an infrared camera. Exposed rock in the active fumaroles is warm (about 80 F)and the outflow stream on the west side of the Drift Glacier was frozen. Vapor emissions during the day yesterday also were low.

AVO continues to monitor the volcano 24 hours a day.

Originally posted by akjen
Just for a side-note: Sunday afternoon drive 65 miles north saw some very strange bird activity. First was packed baldies 100+ (strange for these parts) then a secondary cluster of soul bringers; recieved a call derived from second hand info that the same was happening elsewhere.. Just a note of observation..

By elsewhere, do you mean around Alaska?

Animals and birds seem to have a sense for coming events. Did you note which direction thee flew away to - North, south ?

I converted to audio a 4 hour segment from today (14:00-18:00 UTC) at RSO sesismic station and analyzed it with an audio editing program. There's an almost constant drone of 3.375 hz peak (at 1x speed). This mp3 version is sped up by 40x, so here it's 135 hz:

MP3 Download link

From FEMA

Volcanic Activity – Redoubt Volcano, Alaska

As of February 11th, unrest at Mount Redoubt continues with little change over the past 24 hours. Volcanic tremors with variable amplitudes are ongoing and the FAA continues to restrict air travel in a 10 mile radius around Redoubt to 60,000 MSL. Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) collected water samples and an infrared camera recorded temperature data. Current observations reveal that exposed rock in the active fumaroles was warm (approximately 80 fahrenheit) and the outflow stream on the west side of the Drift Glacier is still frozen.

FEMA

Exclusive: Mount Redoubt Volcano B-Roll Now Available


USGS Press Release

New b-roll footage of Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano shows its current state of unrest, including vapor plumes emanating from holes in the newly deformed Drift Glacier near the volcano summit. This footage was shot from an aerial observation and gas measurement flight initiated in Anchorage. A digital file of the b-roll is available as a direct download by visiting the following address:

www.usgs.gov...

Direct download from USGS

Originally posted by akjen
Just for a side-note: Sunday afternoon drive 65 miles north saw some very strange bird activity. First was packed baldies 100+ (strange for these parts) then a secondary cluster of soul bringers; recieved a call derived from second hand info that the same was happening elsewhere.. Just a note of observation..

The only place I've ever seen 100 Bald Eagles at once was Homer when the Old Lady was feeding! She died recently I guess. I sure liked her. Went to the Lands End Resort many times to take photo's in the early spring.

No shortage of Ravens around my office but they left my garbage alone this week which is different. They never miss a chance to spread the cheer(io's).

Interesting fact. Thank you.

Edited to add that I asked some people with me if they have seen the normal amount of Ravens and they responded it seemed like not as many as usual around the dumpsters.

[edit on 2/12/2009 by Blaine91555]

Well now they say the eruption could be anywhere from mere HOURS to MONTHS.

Excerpts from the new Information Statement:

2009-02-13 10:12:10 - Information Statement

It is not currently possible to determine exactly when such an eruption might occur. Based on observations of past eruptions of Redoubt, ongoing analysis of the current activity, and studies of similar volcanoes worldwide, the current period of elevated unrest could persist for some time, possibly many months. However, as long as substantial volcanic-gas emission, prolonged periods of tremor, and intermittent discrete, shallow earthquakes occur, notable escalation of activity immediately prior to an eruption might only be on the order of hours or less.

Analysis of Current Unrest

Analysis of monitoring data suggests that the current episode of unrest results from the intrusion of new magma beneath the volcano. The main evidence for the presence of this magma is: (1) measurement of substantial amounts of magmatic gas (thousands of tons per day of carbon dioxide) being emitted from the volcano’s summit area; (2) visual observations of high heat flux such as intermittent steam plumes, melting of the upper Drift Glacier (as much as 5-6 million cubic meters through February 10), and increased water discharge from the lower Drift Glacier, (3) elevated seismicity since 23 January 2009, including continuous shallow tremor that is consistent with the movement of fluids (including heated ground water) and gases within the volcano, and (4) deep earthquakes in December 2008 and January 2009 that may have marked magma movement.

AVO

cool flyover from USGS

link: www.usgs.gov...

takes you on the plane and around.

Sorry if this was already posted, didn't go through all of them.

Tick Tock. Redoubt is still suffering from indigestion and ready to make the run to the outhouse, but no cigar yet.

I predict it will start erupting next Friday or Saturday. If it does I'll tell you why at that time.

Tremors have increased over the last two hours, reaching levels close to those of past days.

2009-02-16 11:04:38
Redoubt Volcano has not erupted. Elevated seismicity is continuing and is dominated by ongoing volcanic tremor and occasional small earthquakes.

Starting around 9:00 AM AKST, the amplitude of tremor increased and has remained somewhat elevated. A regional earthquake at 10:50 AKST, located 45 miles NW of Anchorage, can be clearly seen on Redoubt webicorders. This earthquake has a preliminary magnitude of 3.6.

Web camera images are currently obscured by ice and clouds.

AVO continues to monitor Redoubt 24 hours a day.

AVO

I'm monitoring Redoubt seismic stations on GEE and in the last few minutes earthquakes have been increasing sensibly in quantity and amplitude.

[edit on 2009/2/20 by Shirakawa]

Also, looking at the Hut webcam at the moment, it appears there is quite a bit of steam and/or smoke emanating and flowing over the volcano. I check every day and this is the most I've seen so far.

Thinking of you all who live up there. Take care.