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ALASKA VOLCANO OBSERVATORY INFORMATION STATEMENT
U.S. Geological Survey
Friday, December 2, 2016, 12:11 PM AKST (Friday, December 2, 2016, 21:11 UTC)
KATMAI VOLCANO
(VNUM #312170)
58°16'44" N 154°57'12" W,
Summit Elevation 6716 ft (2047 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code:
GREEN
Strong northwest winds in the vicinity of Katmai and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes have picked up loose volcanic ash erupted during the 1912 Novarupta-Katmai eruption and carried it to the southeast today. As seen in a satellite image from this morning, the resulting resuspended ash cloud extends over Shelikof Strait. According to the National Weather Service, the ash is confined to an elevation of under 6000 feet above sea level.
This phenomenon is not the result of recent volcanic activity and occurs during times of high winds and dry snow-free conditions in the Katmai area and other young volcanic areas of Alaska. No eruption is in progress. All of the volcanoes of the Katmai area (Snowy, Griggs, Katmai, Novarupta, Trident, Mageik, Martin) remain at color code GREEN.
Resuspended volcanic ash should be considered hazardous and could be damaging to aircraft and health. For more information on volcanic ash and human health, visit the following website: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/ash/. Official warnings about these ash resuspension events are issued by the National Weather Service: http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/ . Forecasts of airborne ash hazard to aircraft: http://aawu.arh.noaa.gov . Volcanic Ash Advisories: http://vaac.arh.noaa.gov/ . Forecasts of ash fall: http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/ . Air quality hazards and guidance from Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Air Quality: http://dec.alaska.gov/Applications/Air/airtoolsweb/Advisories/Index
OTHER ALASKA VOLCANOES
Other Alaska volcanoes show no signs of significant unrest:
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/
AVO scientists conduct daily checks of earthquake activity at all seismically-monitored volcanoes, examine web camera and satellite images for evidence of airborne ash and elevated surface temperatures, and consult other monitoring data as needed.
For definitions of Aviation Color Codes and Volcano Alert Levels, see:
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/color_codes.php
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ALASKA VOLCANOES:
http://www.avo.alaska.edu
SUBSCRIBE TO VOLCANO ALERT MESSAGES by email:
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vns/
FOLLOW AVO ON FACEBOOK:
https://facebook.com/alaska.avo
FOLLOW AVO ON TWITTER:
https://twitter.com/alaska.avo
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Michelle Coombs, Scientist-in-Charge, USGS
mcoombs@usgs.gov (907) 786-7497
Jeff Freymueller, Coordinating Scientist, UAFGI
jfreymueller@alaska.edu (907) 322-4085
The Alaska Volcano Observatory is a cooperative program of the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.