Seismic unrest continues at Bogoslof volcano. Scientists are watching the eruption around the clock — even though monitoring stations are far from the site.

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Chris Waythomas, of the U.S. Geological Survey, is observing a particular indication of increased seismic activity: volcanic tremors.

“You can think of it as the sort of signal you might get if you were to seismically monitor an organ pipe,” Waythomas said. “As air moves through the pipe, it resonates. When it impinges on the pipe, it produces motion and that’s what we’re kind of measuring.”

Waythomas said the problem is there’s a lot of wind and that can obscure the signal.

“It looked to us like there was increase in this tremor signal,” Waythomas said. “We wanted to alert everyone it was possible this could be accompanied by a large steam or ash emission.”

The Alaska Volcano Observatory also has access to satellites which they use to look for steam or ash plumes and thermal signals, but cloud cover is making it difficult to confirm.

Bogslof volcano began erupting last week.</s>Close

A sudden eruption of an isolated volcano in Alaska has led to a series of warnings and alerts in the region. Although the event seems to be a rather isolated one, the area continues to be closely monitored to avoid any problems a new eruption might create.

On Dec. 20, several airplane pilots reported an eruption on the small island called Bogoslof, which is along the Aleutian Islands chain. The event surprised everyone, as there was no indication that a new eruption was about to take place.

A Lucky Circumstance

Luckily, the island is quite isolated and the eruption itself had no effect on the lives of the local population, as only around 4,300 people live within 62 miles (100 kilometers) from the volcano.

Nevertheless, the eruption should not be treated lightly. The ashes of the short-lived event reached up 6 miles (10 kilometers) in the sky. The volcano itself is not exactly a small one, as it rises 4,900 feet (about 1,500 meters) above the seabed, more than 900 feet (about 300 meters) of which are above the water.

Even if no inhabitant of the area is directly jeopardized by such an eruption, not the same could be said about those flying above the Aleutians.

In fact, the area is rather well-known for the intense air traffic, especially when it comes to routes that tie America to Asia. Acknowledging these risks, the Alaska Volcano Observatory announced a red alert in the region and was further passed on to air traffic controllers and airlines.

The observatory does not have equipment on the island, but that did not prevent it from closely monitoring the activity of the volcano. The lack of activity observed after the eruption led to the decision of reducing the level of the alert to orange. The area continues to be monitored by the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

"We will monitor satellite images and data from distant seismic and infrasound instruments for indications of significant explosive activity," noted the observatory.

An Expected Eruption

The Bogoslof Volcano has erupted several times in the past, about six times since the end of the 18th century. The last known eruption took place in 1992. Some of these phenomena were quite impressive, the lava from the eruption led to the creation of several small islands, which were later covered by the sea.

The visible top of the volcano was also created through the same phenomenon, and scientists wonder whether the process is about the start again. However, according to the data covered so far, it seems unlikely for another eruption to happen very soon.

ⓒ 2018 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.</s>For the third time this week, a volcano on Alaska’s Bogoslof Island has erupted, sending yet another ash plume into the air. Bogoslof is located in the Aleutian Islands, a chain of mostly volcanic islands in the Bering Sea.

Volcano erupts for third time on Bogoslof Island in Alaska’s Aleutian chain

As reported by Alaska Dispatch News, the third eruption took place on the morning of Friday, December 23. The aviation color code has since been raised to red by the Alaska Volcano Observatory, with its status being updated to “warning” after reviewing reports that Bogoslof Island had experienced a short eruption defined as explosive. The volcano sits around 60 miles west of Unalaska, the largest city of the Aleutian Islands.

The eruption was reported to have lasted for just over an hour, according to VolcanoDiscovery. No visual observations have yet been recorded as the sky was quite cloudy at the time of the Bogoslof Island eruption, with the plume not having reached the regional cloud deck of 30,000 feet.

Lava and fragmental material were ejected from the volcano, with ash emission subsiding at around 10:37 a.m. Alaskan time, this according to the coast guard. The attempts of volcanologists to receive signals from monitoring stations near Bogoslof Island were interrupted due to a major storm in the area, the structure of which was already radically altered due to the first two storms. The island itself has changed dramatically in shape since its first cartographical record, which was in the 1700s. These changes are due not only to frequent eruptive activity, but also energetic wave action, according to KCUB.

Alaska communities have been assured that no ash will make its way into the state’s mainland, as forecast winds are expected to carry it over water into the northeast. A volcanic ash cloud forecast was nevertheless issued by The National Weather Service, with the area of concern located west of the Nunivak Islands. The NWS’s aviation desk, based in Anchorage, has been tracking weather issues related to Bogoslof Island since its first eruption on Wednesday, December 21. A major characteristic of this is said to be dozens of lightning strikes, which Alaska Volcano Observatory geophysicist John Lyons says are still being monitored very closely.

Michael Kutz, a NWS meteorologist based in Anchorage, announced that a single system is expected to be formed by three low-pressure systems in the Aleutian Islands come Sunday afternoon, Christmas Day. Stormy conditions, he continues, are the majority of the reason why ash from the volcano on Bogoslof Island has and will not land on the mainland of Alaska post-eruption.

By Lorelai Zelmerlow

Share On</s>The Latest on the eruption of a volcano in Alaska (all times local): 1:40 p.m.</s>The Latest on the eruption of a volcano in Alaska (all times local):

A volcano on a remote island in Alaska's Aleutian chain has simmered down after erupting and prompting an aviation alert.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Friday the Bogoslof (BOH-goh-slawf) volcano sent an ash plume about 20,000 feet in the air in its eighth explosion detected since Dec. 16.

The latest eruption caused the observatory to issue its highest alert for aircraft, but the Federal Aviation Administration says the eruption has had no effect on flight operations.

Observatory geologist Chris Waythomas says the volcano has quieted down, but the alert remains in place.

He says most of the volcano's vent is underwater, which adds steam to ash plumes when magna is dislodged.

The volcano began erupting shortly before midnight Thursday. It is located on an island in the Bering Sea about 850 miles southwest of Anchorage.

A volcano on a remote island in Alaska's Aleutian chain has erupted again, prompting an aviation alert.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory says the Bogoslof (BOH-goh-slawf) volcano sent an ash plume about 20,000 feet in the air by early Friday morning.

The eruption caused the observatory to issue its highest alert level for aircraft.

During an eruption of the volcano last week, the Federal Aviation Administration said flights were rerouted around the plume.

The center says the volcano began erupting shortly before midnight Thursday and its activity was recorded by seismic data and in satellite images.

The volcano is located on an island of the same name in the Bering Sea about 850 miles southwest of Anchorage.</s>ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A volcano on a remote island in Alaska’s Aleutian chain has erupted again, prompting an aviation alert.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory says the Bogoslof (BOH-goh-slawf) volcano sent an ash plume about 20,000 feet in the air by early Friday morning.

The eruption caused the observatory to issue its highest alert level for aircraft.

During an eruption of the volcano last week, the Federal Aviation Administration said flights were rerouted around the plume.

The center says the volcano began erupting shortly before midnight Thursday and its activity was recorded by seismic data and in satellite images.

The volcano is located on an island of the same name in the Bering Sea about 850 miles southwest of Anchorage.</s>ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A volcano on a remote island in Alaska’s Aleutian chain has simmered down after erupting and prompting an aviation alert.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Friday the Bogoslof volcano sent an ash plume about 20,000 feet in the air in its eighth explosion detected since Dec. 16.

The latest eruption caused the observatory to issue its highest alert for aircraft, but the Federal Aviation Administration says the eruption has had no effect on flight operations.

Observatory geologist Chris Waythomas says the volcano has quieted down, but the alert remains in place.

He says most of the volcano’s vent is underwater, which adds steam to ash plumes when magma is dislodged.

The volcano began erupting shortly before midnight Thursday. It is located on an island in the Bering Sea about 850 miles southwest of Anchorage.</s>John Haile Cloe, whose encyclopedic knowledge of the military history of Alaska made him the leading expert on World War II in the territory, died at his Anchorage home on Dec. 26. He was 78 years old.

Born in Virginia on May 11, 1938, Cloe was a student at the Virginia Military Institute prior to joining the Army. In a recent interview with Alaska Dispatch News, he said he came to love stories of the past while at VMI.

"I'm not good at math and I can't spell, so that left history," he said in his customary low-key, mildly self-deprecating manner.

As an infantry officer, he served two tours in Vietnam and was later assigned to the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. In 1970 he drove to Alaska and became the Alaska Air Command historian at Elmendorf Air Force Base.

His office at Elmendorf contained copious and detailed records of U.S. military actions in Alaska during World War II, when Japan bombed, invaded and occupied parts of the Aleutian Islands, as well as records of the Cold War era. In retirement, he used knowledge he'd acquired on base and information gleaned from repositories outside Alaska to produce fastidious research on the Alaska front, a part of the war that remains little known to most Americans.

He led tours to Attu Island, the site of the only land battle between American forces and an invading army since the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812. He was due to lead one such tour in 2015 but was advised by doctors to avoid the trip due to heart issues.

Cloe worked with the National Park Service to preserve the history of Alaska's war years. He served on the board of the Alaska Humanities Forum and was an elder at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Anchorage.

In October, he completed the first major history of the Battle of the Kurils, a long-running air and sea assault on northern Japan that followed the Battle of Attu. "Mission to the Kurils" (Todd Communications) was the result of nearly 30 years of research and writing. Cloe described it as a "retirement project."

"I never learned to play golf, so that was not an option," he told Alaska Dispatch News. "Plus I was tired of writing classified histories and studies on the Cold War that ended up in the safe, where they still remain, and wanted something out in the public for a change."

According to aviation historian Ted Spencer, Cloe was recently diagnosed with advanced cancer of the lymph nodes.

Survivors include his wife, Susan. Services are pending for some time in January.

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 ©2016 the Alaska Dispatch News (Anchorage, Alaska)

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 Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</s>Volcanoes Campi Flegrei in Italy, Sakurajima in Japan, Pavlof in Alaska, Popocatépetl in Mexico and Iturrialba in Costa Rica among others showed signs of reawakening in the last semester of 2016,Throughout history, volcanoes have inspired fear and admiration as well. Vesubio (Italy), Mount Tambora (Indonesia), Laki (Iceland), Mount St. Hellen (USA) and Nevado del Ruiz (Colombia) are just some of the volcanoes that have ravaged entire populations in different periods of time, killing thousands of people and turning vast areas into a desert of fire, ashes and sulfuric gases. But, strange as it may sound, volcano activity has become an item of the so-called eco/adventure tourism, thanks to the unmatched, unique spectacle of lights and sound that offers a moderated eruption.According to experts, it takes 500 years for a supervolcano to reawaken, even less. And this seems to be the case of Campli Flegrei in the west of Naples, Italy, an extensive volcanic that boasts 24 craters and its cauldron-like depression was formed 39,000 years before as part of the biggest eruption that Europe has experienced in the last 200,000 years.A team of researchers led by volcanologist Giovanni Chiodini from the Italian National Institute of Geophysics in Rome assures thata sign that could be read as announcing of an imminent eruption. The research team says that Campi Flegrai has registered an "uplift" since the last decade, what it means that the volatile gasses inside are rising to the surface at an unexpected rate, turning the alert level from green (or quiet) to yellow (or monitoring mode).Another colossus, Sakurajima volcano at Japan's Kyushu island, had a 'bad awakening' last April 29after that two earthquakes shook that Asian country, daily Asahi said. Again, a team of experts considered, a growing potential to trigger an eruption within 30 years - or much less. Sakurajima volcano's last deadly eruption occurred in 1914 with a toll of 58 dead, gaining the infamous nickname of the Naples of the Eastern World.The American continent doesn't escape from this latent risk. Consider Pavlof volcano in Aleutian islands, Alaska, that erupted last March 28. Since its burst, police, and geological service has kept the alert about "risk of air and land pollution".causing no injuries nor damages.Similar moments of fear and confusion lived people of Puebla, Mexico, when the giant of fire Popocatepetl awoke with a concert of explosions and fume columns, daily El País reported in its March 19edition. Last new of its activity was made last December 1when Puebla's International Airport was reopened after being closed due to falling ash from the volcano. Mexico's National Center for Disaster Prevention informed thatCosta Rica, land of well-reputed volcanoes that attract thousands of visitors each year, is not novelty the news about fumes columns, ash rain or eviction alerts. Nevertheless, Turrialba, the biggest of its volcanoes, started to spew smoke and ash 9,840 feet into the sky last May 21, causing breathing difficulties to hundreds of people who required medical attention.In fact, operations of main Costa Rican Airport should be suspended on September 21after a Turrialba's eruption sent a thick cloud of ashes and poisonous gasses, urging local residents to wear protective masks in order to undertake their daily tasks. This trend of Turrialba's sporadic ashes-spewing has kept until December 2016.It is important to remember that Turrialba volcano registered its last 'big' eruption in October 29, 2014, a night to remember for hundreds of local residents who were urged to flee their homes as a security measure after a rain of fume and heavy ashes came out of its crater. According to recent researches, that event would be mainly responsible for a rise in 10 meters of its central crater in the last two years and increased by the eruptive activity between September-November of 2016. Last reports say that Turrialba has kept "a passive but constant activity", adding that volcanic movement was registered on December 25The main answer, though, is what people must do? Should nearby residents from volcanic areas panic? Unfortunately, there is nothing they can do but being alert and attend to the authority's recommendations. "In general, volcanology is not a precise science. We have many uncertainties and long-term provisions are at the moment not possible! For example, the process that we describe could evolve in both directions: toward pre-eruptive conditions or to the finish of the volcanic unrest, Giovanni Chiodini warns.In this respect Costa Rica boasts a very complete Emergency Plan of Action for Volcanic Eruption, created on March 23th 2015 by International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies with the aim of mapping the areas of risk around Turrialba volcano in order to increase the number of response strategies at the moment of an imminent major eruption, as well as to raise awareness among the communities' members with regards to risks and hazards, acknowledging evacuation routes and encouraging the creation of volunteers' helping groups.
A volcanic eruption continues on Bogoslof Island near Unalaska, in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. The eruption has impacted air transportation routes.