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With the sudden eruption of Mount Pavlof in Alaska, the National Weather Service has issued warnings for local flights to avoid the area.
Pavlof’s eruption, which began on Wednesday, is currently spewing ash into the atmosphere 16,000 feet into the air. Combined with the natural elevation of Pavlof, the ash cloud reaches 30,000 feet above sea level, with wind currents sending ash to the west and southwest of the volcanic eruption.
Alaska Volcano Observatory geophysicist Dave Schneider confirmed the timeline of the eruption, adding that early Saturday morning the eruption intensified, pushing the ash cloud past its initial 16,000 foot height. How long the eruption will last is currently unknown remarked the scientist, adding that as the most active volcano in Alaska, Pavlof may end up erupting for weeks or even months at a time. The volcano has erupted more than 40 times since records began to be kept on its activity. Pavlof is also one of the most subtle volcanoes in the state, as the build-up to eruptions almost never trigger the multitude of seismic sensors that have been deployed around the mountainside in order to serve as an early warning system for geologists.
Thankfully there is little direct human impact by Pavlof’s eruptions. Cold Bay, the closest community, is relatively safe at 40 miles distant from the volcano; the closest major city, Anchoragem is more than 600 miles southwest of the mountain as well. There are some possibilities that a few minor mudslides might occur on the northern face of the volcano as superheated rock rains down on the ground, but Schneider was confident that the effects would be minor at best.
However, communities living in other parts of the world aren’t nearly as lucky. In Hawaii, the village of Pahoa is slowly but surely being threatened by a lava flow from the Kilauea volcano, which has been erupting constantly since 1983. The volcanic eruption of Mount Ontake in Japan earlier in 2014 resulted in the deaths of several tourists and local residents as well, as the community was covered in choking ash. Like the Pavlof eruption, Mount Ontake wasn’t preceded by any earthquakes or other seismic activity.
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