Augustine Volcano (Alaska) May Be Rumbling To Life

[hatrack]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- A sulfurous steam plume, hundreds of miniature earthquakes and a new swath of ash on snowy Augustine Volcano have scientists looking for a possible eruption in the next few months.

The 4,134-foot volcano hasn't shown such signs since it last erupted in 1986, when ash from a 7-mile-high column drifted over Anchorage, the state's most populous city, and kept flights out of the skies over Cook Inlet. "It's steaming more vigorously right now than it has at any point since 1986," Steve McNutt, research professor of volcano seismology with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, said Wednesday.

The observatory has been monitoring the uninhabited volcanic island more closely since bumping its status up to code yellow from green on Nov. 29. Code yellow means the volcano is restless and showing signs of an eruption.

Steam mixed with sulfur dioxide gas has been billowing vigorously since late last week from a space between lava domes formed during Augustine's most recent eruptions, in 1976 and 1986. The presence of sulfur, one of the main magmatic gases, is a sign that molten rock has moved closer to surface, McNutt said. Residents on the Kenai Peninsula about 50 miles across Cook Inlet have reported the rotten-egg smell of sulfur fumes floating into their communities.

EDIT

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AUGUSTINE_VOLCANO?SITE=MIDTN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Submariner]

1. I was having a beer on the beach in Homer

in front of the Salty Dog Bar (1991 I think it was) when I heard a loud explosion in the distance. I turned around to see Augustine belching. We got on the next plane to Anchorage before they closed the airports due to the engine-eating silica dust being thrown up into the atmosphere. That night my hotel bed shook from a local earthquake. I'm convinced Alaska can't be beat for magnificent mother nature events.