Alaska’s Mount Redoubt Volcano is getting antsy. According to the US Geological Survey it is looking increasingly likely that she is going to pop sometime soon.
“It looks like a volcano that wants to erupt, and our general impression is that it’s more likely to erupt than not,” says Tina Neal, of the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AP).
The Anchorage Daily News says:
Two holes — one more than the length of a football field across — have formed in Drift Glacier below the summit. Each of the holes, known as fumaroles, is blowing steam and volcanic gas 2,000 feet into the air.
A vast sunken area known as a “collapse feature” also has appeared in recent hours. And a thin mudflow is streaming down the 10,197-foot mountain.
Last time Redoubt erupted, some 20 years ago, it sent ash plumes up 40,000 feet and caused engine failure in a 747 (press release). According to the Alaska Volcano Observatory “volcanic tremors” have also been detected.
“If you’re going to bring magma to the surface you’ve got to break rock, and every time rocks break at the subsurface beneath a volcano, that’s an earthquake,” says Charles Mandeville of the American Museum of Natural History in New York (Fox News). “They’re recording a whole bunch of earthquakes almost continuously right now.”
Image: North flank of Mount Redoubt as of 31 January 31 / Chris Waythomas, Alaska Volcano Observatory / U.S. Geological Survey