Mount Shiveluch in ‘active phase’ and could erupt again, says UAF Alaska Volcano Observatory scientist
Alaska Airlines canceled 10 flights statewide Wednesday because of ash drifting over the state from an erupting volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula.
An Alaska Airlines spokesperson said in an email that the cancellations disrupted the travel plans of about 1,100 passengers.
The flights were canceled because volcanic ash can damage airliners’ engines.
David Fee is the coordinating scientist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He says the ash came from an eruption that occurred Tuesday on Mount Shiveluch. And he said the volcano may spew more ash in the coming days.
“Shiveluch is a pretty active volcano,” he said. “I would say definitely one of the more active explosive volcanoes globally. And it looks like right now it's in an active phase.”
Fee says a lava dome formed inside the volcano, and its intermittent eruptions have blasted ash skyward.
“And when that happens, it produces ash that goes in the atmosphere and the kind of dominant wind direction is eastward, so it blows that ash towards Alaska,” he said.
The series of eruptions ended Wednesday morning Alaska time, and by late afternoon the ash had drifted across the state and into the Yukon Territory. More eruptions are likely, but he says that doesn’t necessarily mean more ash is headed to Alaska.
“ I'd say it's possible,” he said, “and will just depend on how big the eruptions are and what the winds are doing.”
Fee says the wind direction may change before Shiveluch erupts again. Or the jet-stream winds at around 30,000 feet blowing at 100 knots could change direction while the ash is on its 1,500-mile transit from the volcano to Alaska.
The 10,800-foot peak erupted again late Wednesday afternoon, says Prince Balal, a meteorologist with the Anchorage Volcanic Ash Advisory Center.
“We just had an eruption, another Shiveluch eruption, that went off two hours ago,” he said. “And that one is currently not quite headed for Alaska at the moment, but that could change depending on what the wind does.”
Despite that uncertainty, Balal says analysts with the Tokyo Volcanic Ash Advisories Center think ash from Wednesday afternoon’s eruption is unlikely to make it to Alaska.
“ So looking at the current volcanic ash advisory by Tokyo issued from the eruption just a couple hours ago, we do not have any volcanic ash expected within our airspace in the next twenty-four hours,” he said.
