ANCHORAGE, ALASKA (AP) – An ongoing eruption of a remote volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands produced an ash cloud so large on Tuesday that warnings were sent to pilots about potentially dangerous conditions.
An ash cloud with an initial height of around 8.9 kilometres (km) was reported following the morning eruption of Shishaldin Volcano. But by early afternoon, ash emissions were below 3km, and the aviation alert was downgraded, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory.
The volcano is about 1,127km southwest of Anchorage and sits near the middle of Unimak Island. The island’s 65 or so residents live about 40km northeast of the volcano, in the community of False Pass. Shishaldin Volcano began erupting on July 11.
A United States Coast Guard overflight confirmed lava erupted the same day within the summit crater.
A significant explosion last Friday produced an ash cloud that reached up to 12km and drifted south over the Pacific Ocean. A second smaller explosion occurred last Friday.
The volcano, one of the most active in the Aleutian arc, saw increased lava eruptions just after midnight on Tuesday, with no significant ash emissions, the observatory said.
That changed hours later with the ash cloud. The National Weather Service issued an advisory due to the drifting ash cloud.
