Alaska’s Augustine Volcano erupts with ash cloud

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – Augustine Volcano, a
conical-shaped peak 171 miles southwest of Anchorage, erupted
early on Wednesday with an ash cloud that rose to about 30,000
feet above sea level, officials said.

The eruption followed months of elevated seismic activity
at the island volcano and was no surprise, said Chris
Waythomas, a U.S. Geological Survey geologist working at the
joint federal-state Alaska Volcano Observatory.

“We had a very good inkling that an eruption was possible.
We didn’t know exactly when, but all the signs were pointing
toward it,” he said.

As of midday, there had been no reports of ash reaching any
of the coastal communities near the 4,134-foot (1,260-meter)
volcano, Waythomas said. “We don’t have any confirmed reports
of ash fall,” he said.

Wednesday’s eruption started with an explosion at 4:44 a.m.
Alaska Standard Time (9:44 a.m. EST/1444 GMT) and a second
explosion 29 minutes later, according to the volcano
observatory.

Augustine, the most active of the volcanoes in southern
Alaska’s Cook Inlet region, last erupted in 1986 and in 1976
before that. If the current activity is similar to those
events, it is likely that there will be a series of eruptions
before the volcano becomes quiet again, Waythomas said.

“The activity could go on for days to weeks,” he said.

In 1986, the first eruptions occurred over a period of
days, and then after a brief period of rest, sporadic eruptions
continued over a few months, he said.

An eruption at Augustine in 1883 caused a flank collapse
that created a tsunami that hit the nearby Native village of
Nanwalek.

Although emergency officials were watching for the
possibility of a similar wave event, no tsunami warning was
considered necessary after Wednesday’s eruption, the volcano
observatory said.