Newly erupted: This view of Mt. Redoubt is looking south as the volcano begins to erupt and send an ash cloud into the sky.
Courtesy Alaska Volcano Observatory / U.S. Geological SurveyIt's been giving off warning signs for nearly two months now, but Mt. Redoubt in Alaska has erupted five times in the past days, sending an ash cloud nine miles high into the sky.
Here's the full Associated Press news account of the eruption.
Volcano eruptions are always interesting to those interested in science, but I'm guessing there will be even more discussion about the topic now as the federal government's volcano monitoring program was criticized as a "pork project" by Republicans in the aftermath of President Obama's recent budget proposal. And Buzz readers weighed in on that on this discussion thread.
Mt. Redoubt is about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage in a sparsely populated section of Alaska (but then again, isn't most of Alaska sparsely populated?). Prevailing winds are blowing most of the ash away from Anchorage, but people in the coastal city are feeling some of the impacts of the blast.
Also, the eruption has altered air traffic patterns in the area as ash suspended in the air can cause problems to passing planes.
This eruption is impacting lots of small towns in the ash fall of Mt. Redoubt. The ash from the eruption makes it impossible to operate planes or snowmobiles in the area and since many of these smaller towns are only accessible by airplane or snow mobile, they are effectively cut off. I'd never considered that aspect of a volcano eruption before.
There was one more eruption last night and according to this AP report, Alaskans can expect more eruptions for weeks or up to a month. There are some nasty details in this story, too, about what volcanic ash is doing to people's everyday lives.
And here's a link to more photos of the eruption, including a massive ash/mud flow.
Scientist recently documented the undersea eruption of an undersea eruption off the coast of Tonga in the South Pacific. The following website has some phenomenal photos of the eruption.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/undersea_eruptions_near_tonga.html
Discovery Channel has put together a list of the top 10 volcanoes in geologic history. Check them out.
http://dsc.discovery.com/earth/slideshows/top-10-volcanoes/index-10.html
So far this exhibit has been very interesting. I like the tornados. I have learned about lots of weather facts.
Science Buzz is supported by the National Science Foundation.
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