Alaskan volcano Redoubt erupted six times overnight Sunday and Monday. The eruption caused a huge cloud of ash which reached heights of up to nine miles.
The nearest city, Anchorage, which is also the most populated city in the region, escape the falling ash. Only small communities north of Anchorage saw fine gray dust fell. The ash resulted from Alaska volcanoes is quite dangerous because it can injure skin, eyes and breathing passages. Volcanic ash can also damage plane engines and cars.
Powerful winds blew the lower layer of ash into the Sustina Valley, so the state’s biggest city, Anchorage, was spared.
Since 10:38 p.m. Sunday Alaska Daylight Time until 7:41 p.m. Monday, Mount Redoubt erupted six times. These eruptions had a big impact on the region’s air travel. Alaska Airlines canceled 19 flights Monday morning as well as other flights from Anchorage later during the day.
The ash fall can also wreak havoc on several IT infrastructures, mainly on those which have moving body parts. IT providers in Anchorage sighed in relief after realizing that the volcanic ash did not fall in the city, the silica sand contained by volcanic ash is a conductive material and can cause destroying circuit boards, said Scott Thorson, CEO at Network Business Systems, an Anchorage, Alaska-based IT provider, according to ChannelWeb.
The Alaskan volcano started erupting late Sunday at about 11:38 p.m. local time (2:38 a.m. Monday EDT), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The eruption cloud is estimated to have reached 50,000 ft above sea level, the Alaska Volcano Observatory said. According to the USGS, the initial height of the eruption cloud was of only 20,000 feet above sea level. The eruption will most likely cause mudflows on the Drift and Crescent Rivers as well as ash fall in the region.
Volcano Redoubt is part of the series of volcanoes in the largely volcanic Aleutian Range of Alaska. Located on the Chigmit Mountains, which are sub-range of the Aleutians, west of Cook Inlet, about 180 km (110 miles) southwest of Anchorage, Alaska, Redoubt is the highest mountain within the range (10,197 feet) and has kept observers in suspense for quite a while before erupting.
Researchers had raised the monitoring status for Redoubt on Sunday after it showed increasing volcanic activity.
The last time Volcano Redoubt erupted was in December 1989 and then it sent an ash cloud 150 miles that flamed out the jet engines of a KLM flight carrying 231 passengers on its way to Anchorage. Fortunately, the pilots managed to land safely.
