Amazing night photos of Mt. Redoubt erupting...

[XOKCowboy]

plus other photos of the ash cloud.

http://www.adn.com/photos/environment/volcanoes/story/672347.html?/1521/gallery/672348-a739595-t3.html

[BlooInBloo]

1. Awesome photo album.

[underpants]

2. Looks like Ben has been turning that damned wheel again

that is a "Lost" reference

[soothsayer]

9. Are we the only 2 watching the final season? (still doubting that all of my questions

will be answered, but i'm enjoying it terribly)

[Leftist Agitator]

11. Oh, you two aren't the only ones watching LOST.

"(still doubting that all of my questions will be answered, but i'm enjoying it terribly)"

I want to know what the deal is with the enormous four-toed statue. More than anything else, I want to know who erected an ancient 300 foot statue on the island. That, I want to know and how the Black Rock got miles inland. Oh, and why doesn't Richard Age? And...

You know what? If they answer even half of my many questions about that damned show, I'll consider it time well spent.

And remember, there's still one more season after this one. They've got about 25 episodes left, plenty of time to address some mysteries.

[sixmile]

3. I found this one particularly scary. From Kenai Peninsula 1990

[whistler162]

4. Man those picture blow! In a good way.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. Those are beautiful, XOK

Anchorage got a bit of ashfall last night, and it's cloudy here, so all we get is the grit and the sulfur, no beautiful pictures. :( My husband and I both woke up with sore throats - I don't know if it has anything to do with the icky air or if we picked up a bug in Nome last week.

This has been exciting, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings any if it calmed down soon. At least we didn't have any more eruptions overnight, so that's a good sign. When I went to bed last night, there had been 8 in the past 24 hours.

[XOKCowboy]

6. Good luck up there...

I hope that it does calm down soon for everyone's sake. Thank goodness for "something called volcano monitoring" huh? I just had to put a Jindal reference in here! :)

[acmavm]

8. Sorry about your sore throats. Stay safe!

Hope it ends soon.

[northofdenali]

25. We're getting a bit here, too -

Delta Junction and Eielson AFB as well...........

Makes for beautiful photos and really nasty air!

[lunatica]

7. Here's one of the eruption as seen from outer space

I love seeing things from Space!

Ash cloud from Redoubt Volcano seen in the geostationary MTSAT data, courtesy of the National Weather Service. Alaska is at the extreme edge of the view for the satellite which is over the equator in Asia. Picture Date: March 26, 2009 17:30:00 UTC

[smoogatz]

10. Nope--don't need none of that "volcano monitoring" around here.

Volcano monitoring!1! LOLoL!!1!

Seriously--very cool. What's up with the lightning? Is that a normal feature of a vlocanic eruption? They create their own weather, kind of?

[CaliLiberal]

12. incredible

wow

[XOKCowboy]

15. I'm not a meteorologist but

I've got a feeling that tons of hot ash and steam being shot 60'000 feet up into frigid air might cause some weather disturbance. Whatever the reason those are some pretty impressive shots.

[Aviation Pro]

30. Trust me, it causes havoc in flight operations....

...nothing like fine grit hitting your engines, leading edges and control surfaces at 500 knots. Makes for one bad day.

[backscatter712]

26. Basic friction.

When a big volcano blows, and shoots that ash cloud in the air, you have zillions of ash particles rubbing with each other and undergoing friction with the air.

It's just like when you rub your shoes on a wool carpet, then touch a doorknob - you generate static electricity, build up an electrical charge, then when you touch the doorknob, it discharges with a spark.

Around a volcano, those ash particles colliding with each other are also generating an electrical charge. The inevitable discharge is a lot bigger - a bolt of lightning.

[smoogatz]

27. That would explain it--

Thanks!

[XOKCowboy]

28. See that's why we come to DU

An expert will always pop up. :)

[Blandocyte]

13. Amazing!

Thank you for posting the link!

[Tindalos]

14. Impressive pictures

You can really see how powerful that volcano is. Very beautiful, but rather scary at the same time.

[XOKCowboy]

16. Remember that there is a Tank Farm at the base of it...

on the Cook Inlet which makes it even more scary.

[XOKCowboy]

17. The Chevron Tank Farm...

with warm thanks to our beleaguered friend AKM from Mudflats:

http://www.themudflats.net/2009/03/25/chevron-tanks-endangered-by-volcano-drain-baby-drain/

[Blue_In_AK]

18. Mudflats was on this story

way back when the volcano first started showing signs of unrest, back in January. Chevron's failure to empty these tanks is particularly galling this year, the 20th anniversary of the EXXON VALDEZ spill. I'm dreading Good Friday, which has a sad history in Alaska - 1964 earthquake, 1989 oil spill. We have our fingers crossed that the dikes will hold. An oil spill into Cook Inlet would be disastrous to the salmon fisheries.

[XOKCowboy]

20. The Cook Inletkeeper is another good source

Thanks again to The Mudflats for turning me on to the site..

http://www.inletkeeper.org/watershedWatch/redoubt2009/redoubt.htm

“We depend on clean and healthy Cook Inlet fisheries to feed our families,” said Tom Evans, an Alaskan Native from the Village of Nanwalek in Lower Cook Inlet. “It makes no sense to store oil at the base of an erupting volcano.”

“Today is the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and we’ve learned that complacency is not one decision, or 100 decisions, but thousands of small decisions that lead up to a regulatory safety net that’s riddled with gaping holes,” said Shavelson. “We call the situation in Cook Inlet “The 1000 cuts of Complacency,” and it’s time we learned the lessons of the Exxon Valdez.”

“My livelihood depends on fresh, healthy Cook Inlet salmon,” said Ben Jackinsky, a commercial setnet fisherman from Kasilof. “This is a replay from the last eruption in 1989, and Chevron and our state and federal agencies need to take steps now to protect our fisheries.”

In public statements, Chevron has suggested it retained oil in 2 of the 7 tanks at Drift River to maintain tank stability. But the fact that 5 tanks are apparently empty undermines Chevron’s rationale.

“Worker safety is paramount, and we need to ensure the oil can be removed in a safe and orderly fashion,” said Shavelson. “But we never knew Chevron planned to keep 6 million gallons of crude at the base of an erupting volcano until yesterday, because Chevron kept hiding behind the façade of Homeland Security.”

[Tindalos]

24. I didn't realize there were storage tanks that close

Thanks for the info. It's really stupid and callous of Chevron not to empty those tanks. An oil spill would be devastating. The last thing we need is another Exxon Valdez.

[backscatter712]

19. Is that Mount Redoubt or Mount Doom?

Pretty soon, the residents of Anchorage are going to be fighting off hordes of orcs crossing the bay...

[Blue_In_AK]

21. They couldn't be any worse than Sarah. n/t

[backscatter712]

22. Sarahmon?

She was once known as Sarahmon the White. Now she's just known as Sarahmon the Stupid. :evilgrin:

[Blue_In_AK]

23. Here are some pictures of the ash in my yard and sidewalk.

All the snow now looks dingy gray.

[alfredo]

29. The sky has cleared and the camera is working

Check it out. This image will change every few minutes.

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/webcam/Redoubt_-_Hut.php

[XOKCowboy]

31. Thanks for the link

Got it bookmarked. :toast:

[alfredo]

32. Check out Augustine when you get the chance. The weather has

been cloudy, but it is magnificent on clear days.