#pavlof

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Instruments on Alaskan Volcano falling apart

This post is a combination of something very cool and something this author finds troubling.

The very cool part of this post is this image. In fact, there are several of these, taken from the International Space Station. I might try to find an excuse to use the others in a post in the near future, because come on, they’re that good.

This shot is an ISS astronaut photo of Pavlof volcano in Alaska. Pavlof Volcano is a 2,500 meter high volcanic cone located on the Aleutian Peninsula; the part of the North American mainland that extends out towards the Aleutian Islands as a thin strip of land above the Aleutian subduction zone. Pavlof is one of the most active volcanoes in the United States, erupting on average every 5 years or so. Its last eruption was earlier this year.

This ISS image shows an ash cloud being emitted from Mount Pavlof. To the right of Pavlof itself, which is shrouded by ash, you see Pavlof Sister, another 2100 meter high volcanic peak; although this mountain hasn’t been active since 1786.

The area around Pavlof isn’t inhabited, but Pavlof still poses a risk, particularly to air travel. The ash cloud in this image did not trigger an air travel warning because it did not reach 6100 meters altitude (20,000 feet), but others in this same eruption sequence have done so. When ash gets into an airplane engine, it can cause an airplane engine to stall, and may well be able to bring down a full jet if the circumstances are right. Ash from this eruption has also traveled far enough to reach inhabited towns, although the eruption has not yet been a direct threat to them.

As it is such an active volcano, Pavlof is one of the major monitoring targets of the Alaskan Volcano Observatory (AVO), which protects the local communities, businesses, and international air travelers by maintaining a constant watch on the 130+ volcanoes within Alaska.

Unfortunately, the AVO in recent years has found its support from the U.S. government dwindling. Pavlof volcano is monitored by 9 seismic stations which should be able to maintain a watch on the magmatic system and give warning before eruptions occur. However, since 2007, the Alaskan Volcanic Observatory’s budget has been cut in half, from $8 million down to $4 million. The AVO uses that money not just to monitor this one volcano, but to monitor 90+ systems that have erupted in the holocene (130 overall), some of which could be substantial threats to the state, to air travel, or even civilization overall.

Since the budget slashing began, 4 of the 9 monitoring stations at Pavlof have failed, and there is no money to repair them. In 2012, the AVO could afford 70 days of field work for its employees, who could go out and either fix these stations or perform other analyses of the volcanoes in the state. This year, the AVO will only be able to afford to send researchers into the field for 36 days this year for repair of equipment and research on volcanic systems barely half the fieldwork days of the previous season and barely more than ¼ of a field day per volcano.

This ISS photo is so spectacular in part because the ISS does not move past 51.6°, so the ISS does not pass over Alaska. It can only see Pavlof at an angle, as Pavlof sits at 55°N. For now, the monitoring equipment on this volcano is hanging on by a thread as the United States decides it has other priorities. If the current pattern continues, this type of image may be the only warning given of eruptions of these dangerous volcanoes until something terrible actually happens to remind everyone to pay attention to them.

-JBB

Image credit: NASA ISS Expedition 36 crew photos: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=81205

Financial blow for Alaska Volcano Monitoring, from Nature: http://www.nature.com/news/financial-blow-for-alaskan-volcano-monitoring-1.13041

Pavlof Volcano eruption raises volcano monitoring concerns http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130525/pavlof-volcano-eruption-raises-volcano-monitoring-concerns

Pavlof Volcano ash reaches Alaska city but stays under major threat level http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/pavlof-volcano-ash-reaches-alaska-city-but-stays-under-major-threat-level-1.1288747

Mount Pavlof: http://www.avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/volcinfo.php?volcname=Pavlof

AVO: http://www.avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/about.php

Alaskan Volcano Pavlof Eruption Causes Flight Diversions

NBC News

No matter how advanced technology can be in 2016, it cannot stop the intensity of some forces in nature. Mount Pavlof, a highly active volcano on the Alaskan Peninsula, erupted suddenly this weekend, resulting in an ash cloud that was almost 20 thousand feet high. This enormous ash cloud prompted a Red Aviation alert, which had pilots re-routing their flight patterns to avoid the ash. At…

Alaskan Volcano Pavlof Eruption Causes Flight Diversions

NBC News

No matter how advanced technology can be in 2016, it cannot stop the intensity of some forces in nature. Mount Pavlof, a highly active volcano on the Alaskan Peninsula, erupted suddenly this weekend, resulting in an ash cloud that was almost 20 thousand feet high. This enormous ash cloud prompted a Red Aviation alert, which had pilots re-routing their flight patterns to avoid the ash. At…

Pavlof Pops

Pavlof Volcano is a particularly active cone in the Aleutian Islands off the southwestern coast of Alaska. Although the area is uninhabited, the volcano’s activity can cause issues for air travel and communities downwind. Pavlof had been inactive since late 2014, with the Alaska Volcano Observatory’s lowest warning state, until Sunday.

At 3:53 p.m. local time, instruments near Pavlof detected rapidly increasing volcanic tremor; the slow movement of molten rock underground causes a general shaking pattern around the volcano distinct from the sudden energy release of an earthquake. The onset of tremor indicated the beginning of magma movement in the volcanic conduit.

25 minutes later, ash was reported pouring from the volcano, indicating that the molten rock rapidly burst out of the volcano.

The volcano produced a large eruption column, about 6000 meters (20,000 feet) high. Satellite imagery has monitored a plume of ash from the volcano already blown to the northeast a distance of over 500 kilometers, and local communities are reporting the falling ash.

Explosive eruptions are common at Pavlof; so common that its eruption produced one of my favorite all-time images from the space station (https://tmblr.co/Zyv2Js1HvoPfp). After more than a year of inactivity, the eruption itself shouldn't be that surprising, nor is the lack of a detectable warning signal. In 2014 when Pavlof last became active, ash emissions were reported on the same day that volcanic tremor was first reported.

As an active magma system, Pavlof likely has a substantial magma reservoir beneath it. Evidence suggests that these magma systems are often a mixture of crystals and molten rock; when the volcano is stable, the system sits there gradually cooling, but the arrival of new and hotter magma or new volatile gases to the system could rapidly remobilize that magma mush. The lack of substantial warning prior to eruption probably implies that molten rock has an easy, already cleared path to the surface, and all it needs is a recharge event to trigger eruption.

-JBB