Redoubt from space

The NASA Earth Observatory website posted this great image of Redoubt taken from Landsat images in 2000.

You can see a few neat things. The main thing I notice is that the Drift River Oil Terminal is in about the worst place you could put an oil terminal near a volcano like Redoubt. All the material from recent eruptions at Redoubt get focused down into the Drift River, which then heads off into the Cook Inlet via the Drift River flood plain (upper right hand side of the image). When this image was taken, the Drift River is still grey with volcanigenic material even 10 years after the last activity, showing that most of the material is mobilized in that direction. It still amazes me that the oil terminal was ever allowed to be built in that location.
As for the current state of things at Redoubt, AVO reports that the seismicity is still going and things remain much the same as it has been for the past few weeks. Officials on the Kenai Peninsula are assuring residents that they’re ready for an eruption. At this pace, they might have months to prepare!

Redoubt Mini-update for 2/10/2009

Is the volcano just toying with us?
After yesterday’s steam plume (woo.), Redoubt was relatively normal today, albeit still at the heightened state of readiness. However, the steam plume has waned today compared to yesterday.
Now, whether this is actually a signal that the magma is not rising up into the volcano as rapidly as before or this is just the quiet before the storm is anyone’s guess. This very well could be like the 2004-08 Saint Helens episode that ended up being fairly benign with only passive eruption (if there is such a thing) of dome material (hat tip to Boris for bringing up this idea yesterday) rather than any plinian-style eruption like the 1989-90 Redoubt eruption. Stay tuned!

Redoubt Mini-update for 2/6/09

Just to keep us appraised of the situation at ever-steaming-and-shaking Redoubt:
From AVO (2/6/2009 11:05 AM)

Unrest at Redoubt Volcano continues. 
After the tremor episodes of yesterday, seismic activity has remained slightly elevated relative to the last few days. 
The volcano has not erupted.

That is about it. A few quick hits about Redoubt (as the world waits) include an article on potential redirected air traffic if the volcano erupts, an update mentioning that if the snow is falling during an eruption, radar won’t pick up the ash until its at 15-20,ooo feet , how British Columbia is prepping for an eruption and an oddly-titled article from USA Today called “Alaska volcano may be on verge of venting” (which then just goes on to sum up what people are planning to do if the volcano erupts).

Ongoing submarine volcanism in the Mariana Islands

For those of you interested in what happens in the realm of submarine volcanism, I can pass on some tidbits I’ve gotten about NW-Rota 1, a submarine volcano in the Mariana Islands (see bathymetry above). Dr. Ed Kohut (Petrogenex), a friend of mine from my days at Oregon State Univ., is currently on a JAMSTEC research cruise in the Mariana Islands, visiting the area about NW Rota-1. He reports:

“We just reached NW-Rota 1. It is still actively erupting. To put that in perspective, it has been observed erupting every time it has been visited since 2003. Today’s actvity is not as vigourous as in past visits, but there are billowing sulfur laden plumes and the summit has increased ~15 meters since the last ROV visit  (in ’06?).”

Seems that this seamount continues to chug away under ~500 meters of seawater. It is most famous for the 2004 eruption that coated an ROV that visited the volcano with ash and molten sulfur during an eruption (all under water). Below is a short video from a 2006 research cruise of the vigorous behavior at the vent called “Brimstone Pit”, which produced the 2004 eruption. You can clearly see the ash, rock and gases being ejected from the vent, all under half a kilometer of seawater!

Eruption soon at Huila?

Bored with waiting for Redoubt to erupt? Well, Nevado del Huila in Colombia looks like it is also on the eruption watch list. A fly-over of Huila performed by Colombian officials (unclear from the article if it was done by National Emergency Management or INGEOMINAS) revealed a large lava dome growing in the crater, suggesting that an eruption might follow considering all the lava being extruded. This eruption might come in the form of an explosion caused by the collapse of this lava done – the collapse itself could generate a pyroclastic flow and the release of pressure on the underlying magma from the collapse of the dome could prompt a plinian eruption as well (but this is all speculation on my part based on the short article). This type of activity would produce a larger eruption than we’ve seen so far during the rejuvenation of Huila that started in the fall of 2007. Evacuations are being recommended for all people living near the volcano.

Redoubt continues its holding pattern

A week ago, if you asked around, I’m sure most people would have thought Redoubt would have erupted by now considering all the seismicity and melting that was seen at the end of last week. However, volcanology is not an exact science, and here we are continuing to watch Redoubt tease us with signs of pending activity. New holes have appeared in the snow that caps the volcano, the seismicity continues and the volcano is still spewing sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide – all signs that magma is intruding the volcanic edifice. However, as on this morning (2/5/2009), the volcano has yet to erupt.
Some news from earlier in the week is that the US Air Force has moved many of its aircraft from the area of Redoubt to Washington state, apparently not wanting to play the waiting game like it did during the 1991 eruption of Pinatubo near Clark Air Base. Also, an eruption of Redoubt might also have a larger effect on air cargo rather than air passenger traffic, with one of the largest air cargo hubs located in Anchorage.
UPDATE 9:20 AM 2/5/2009: Read into it as you will, but Redoubt’s activity is in “slight decline” according to AVO.

Redoubt continues to keep us waiting

Redoubt (above) is definitely taking its time. After catching everyone’s attention last week with seismic activity, melting of its snow cap and increased gas emissions, the volcano is still, well, doing all those things, but not erupting. AVO’s update are beginning to sound like a broken record:

“(2/3/09 04:10) Unrest at Redoubt Volcano is continuing with elevated seismicity well above background levels. The volcano has not erupted. A gas/observation overflight yesterday reported continued changes in the summit glaciers indicative of heating of the summit area. Photos from both the overflight and the hut webcam showed a small vapor plume at the summit. The web camera is now dark as our long winter night continues.”

It is amusing to catch a bit of snarkiness from the AVO staff at the end of the update but hey, if I was up posting at 4 in the morning, maybe I’d throw that in as well.
You can get an idea of what life might be like at the Alaska Volcano Observatory from this article on CNN. They talk to USGS volcanologist (and fellow Williams College alum)  Michelle Coombs who says that Redoubt is still predicted to erupt in the next days-to-weeks timeframe. However, this whole drama with Redoubt shows the challenges of predicting volcanic behavior: we can have these volcanoes wired and watched 24/7, yet when exactly it will erupt is still anyone’s guess. We still have a lot to learn about how magmatic systems behave and how that translates into eruptions, which is part of the reason why it is so exciting to study them!
With that, the wait continues.

Asama, Sakurajima and Karymsky all erupt while Redoubt doesn’t

Mt. Asama near Tokyo did, in fact, erupt within the “two day” window predicted by the Meteorological Agency of Japan. The reports this morning put the ash column at ~2,000 meters (~6-7,000 feet), so relatively small, but big enough to dust parts of Tokyo (~145 km away) with ash. No evacuations are planned for the area around Asama, but people who live within 4 km of the volcano are to “take caution”. 
There are also new reports that Mt. Sakurajima in southern Japan erupted yesterday. Block were thrown up to a few kilometers from the volcano. The article suggests that ash spread as far as the Philippines and Vietnam, but I have yet to find any other data to back this up. The same article also mentions that Karymsky erupted overnight as well. The impression I get is that they got all this information from the Tokyo VAAC when they were researching the Asama eruption, so few details beyond “ash” can be found.
Of course, with all these other volcanoes picking up the slack, Redoubt remains recalcitrant in its activity. There was no eruption over the weekend and the latest AVO has to offer is the news of an intense jolt to the volcano early this morning, but no eruption thus far today.

Alert level raised at Asama in Japan

UPDATE 2/1/09 5:02 PM Pacific: Indeed, Asama did erupt today. The eruption was relatively small, throwing ballistic clasts up to 1 kilometer from the vent and ash into the outskirts of Tokyo.
Redoubt in Alaska has dominated the volcano news as of late, but it is clearly not the only volcano on Earth that is showing signs of eruption right now. The Meteorological Agency in Japan has just raises the alert level at Mt. Asama and warn that the volcano could erupt in the next “two days”. Asama is ~150 kilometers from Tokyo and is very active (see above), having last erupted in September 2008. The volcano has had heightened seismicity for the past few days that led to the increase in alert level. When Asama does erupt, the products tend to be explosive and are accompanied by dome growth (similar to other Japanese volcanoes like Unzen).

More signs of melting at Redoubt

The “eruption watch” continues at Redoubt … Saturday revealed that things are getting hotter at the summit near the 1989/1990 dome (see picture above that made Redoubt famous in 1989). The overflight of the volcano revealed new holes in the summit glacial and a multitude of muddy streams formed from the meltwater. This area of very intense fumarolic activity is just below the 1989/1990 dome (~7,100 feet) and has been growing over the past few days. They also report an area at ~9,000 feet on the volcano that shows signs of ice collapse, indicating heat from underneath the snow and ice (similar to what was seen at Mt. Saint Helens when it reactivated in 2004).
The Seattle PI article linked here does seem to get a little confused when it comes to the potential volcanic products at Redoubt. From the article:

“Geologist Jennifer Adleman said magma is a combination of three phases: liquid rock plus a gas and crystals than can form sort of a froth that works its way up the mountain.
“A lot of scientists refer to is as a crystalline mush,” she said.”

Now, I’m not certain what Adleman is referring to in her quote, but I’ve never heard of the frothy material as a “crystalline mush”. Not to say that is an inaccurate description, but usually mushes are referred to when the magma is at depth in the volcano. This is more like a foam, with the liquid and crystals entrained in a magma that is packed with bubbles that form as the magma decompresses. If those gases get bottled up before the volcano erupts, you could get an explosive such as what happened at Mt. Saint Helens in 1980. If not – if the gases are allowed to be more passively released, lets say if the magma stalls as it comes up – then we might get the toothpaste-style eruption we saw in the most recent Saint Helens activity.