Monday, March 23, 2009

She Has Erupted



Have you ever wanted to see what a volcanic eruption looks like on a seismograph? Well, if you look closely at the above image, courtesy of the Alaska Volcano Observatory's page on Mt. Redoubt, you can see five discreet eruptions.

So far, we have no ash in Anchorage. Flights out of Anchorage and heading north, at this time, are not happening. As I have said before, ash and jet engines do not mix. Another interesting link to look at, again on the AVO website, is their puff predictor. What a wonderful tool! Please, Bobby Jindal, don't take it away!

I would post actual pictures from my house of the volcano, except after a week of gorgeous, crystal clear weather, Mt. Redoubt choose a perfectly cloudy day to erupt. We will just have to make due with webicorders.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Volcano Un-Erupted



Sometime the end of January Mt. Redoubt rumbled to life. It had been in state of repose, relative to active volcanoes. It hadn't erupted in many years. The national media picked up on it's activities. The state was at readiness for any issues arriving from an eruption. My workplace had contingency plans in place for routing aircraft due to an ash event.

We maintained this level of vigilance and readiness for over a month. Activity slowly quieted down. Here in Anchorage, we were feeling a bit of relief, but also kind of jilted. It was like getting all dressed and ready for a night on the town, then your date never shows. Oh well. The Alaska Volcano Observatory down graded Mt. Redoubt back to a level yellow last Thursday. No ugly ash for Anchorage.

Yesterday as the family drove to some friends' house, we had a chance to observe Mt. Redoubt. Hmmm....what is that large plume, going about three miles into the air? Ohhhhh....increased activity! We are now back up to an orange level. No one knows when or if Mt. Redoubt will erupt, however, with a level orange, there is a 24 hour watch on all the data and activity associated with this volcano.

Why would we need around the clock surveillance on a seemingly remote volcano? When Mt. Redoubt erupted in 1989 a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 747 with 231 passengers flew through the ash plume. The ash took out all engines on the aircraft. Luckily, after falling for more than two miles the crew was able to restart the engines. Air traffic has only increased into Anchorage in the last twenty years. Ash and jet engines do not mix. So, we are back to wondering if we are going to get an eruption. If we do, I sure hope I don't have to go anywhere.


On another note, I am working with this yarn. What a lovely yarn, it is 80% suri alpaca and 20% silk. Yummy! The only problem is I cannot find anymore of it.



If you have any tips where I can find one more hank of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Baby Suri Silk, dye lot #83406, let me know!