CORRECTED: Erupting Alaska volcano spews ash

Corrects first paragraph to read as high as 10 miles above
sea level

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – A trio of explosions at
Augustine Volcano, an island peak 171 miles southwest of
Anchorage, sent ash clouds that were reported as high as nearly
10 miles above sea level on Friday, officials said.

The explosions, lasting 3 1/2 to 11 minutes each, followed
two similar events on Wednesday and were part of an eruptive
period that could last for months, said Tina Neal, a geologist
with the federal-state Alaska Volcano Observatory.

“This is one big eruption period, and it’s going to have
several sub-events that we might call eruptive pulses,” she
said.

A pilot reported ash from the second explosion as high as
52,000 feet above sea level, Neal said. Ash clouds from the
other two explosions were reported to reach 30,000 to 36,000
feet, according to the observatory.

A “very light dusting” of ash was reported near Homer, a
community about 75 miles northeast of Augustine, Neal said.

The ash fall was reported by a National Weather Service
observer, said Dave Schneider, a U.S. Geological Survey
official at the volcano observatory. According to that report,
he said, “You can almost taste it in your mouth, but you can’t
perceive it any other way.”

Augustine’s previous eruptions were in 1986 and 1976. In
both those years, the volcano had several ash- and
steam-producing explosions that ran over a prolonged period,
according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

The current activity, which was preceded by months of small
but intensifying earthquakes below the volcano, is similar to
that of the past, Neal said. “This is typical Augustine
behavior,” she said.

Flight restrictions creating a buffer around Augustine have
been in place for the past few days.

Augustine, a conical-shaped peak, rises 4,134 feet out of
Cook Inlet, forming its own uninhabited island. It is the most
active of the Cook Inlet volcanoes, according to the Alaska
Volcano Observatory.