photograph by R. Clucas, USGS
I posted a few weeks ago discussing my annoyance with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and his concern about the price of "volcano monitoring". Wouldn't you know it, Alaska's Mt. Redoubt has rumbled recently and geologists have upped the alert level to "orange". It spewed out some ash and steam on Sunday.
photograph by Bill Burton, courtesy Alaska Volcano Observatory/USGS
Mt. Redoubt is located about 100 miles from Anchorage. Residents of Anchorage could have problems with their car and plane engines if the ash got in them. Engine problems is of course minor compared to respiratory problems that volcanic ash might cause. Unless you happen to be flying commercial in the vicinity of an eruption, that is. Alaska volcanoes can shoot ash plumes tens of thousands of feet into the atmosphere.
Redoubt caused some damage (requiring four new engines) to a KLM aircraft in 1989, as well as some real fright in the passengers:
As the crew of KLM Flight 867 struggled to restart the plane's engines, "smoke" and a strong odor of sulfur filled the cockpit and cabin. For five long minutes the powerless 747 jetliner, bound for Anchorage, Alaska, with 231 terrified passengers aboard, fell in silence toward the rugged, snow-covered Talkeetna Mountains (7,000 to 11,000 feet high). All four engines had flamed out when the aircraft inadvertently entered a cloud of ash blown from erupting Redoubt Volcano, 150 miles away. The volcano had begun erupting 10 hours earlier on that morning of December 15, 1989. Only after the crippled jet had dropped from an altitude of 27,900 feet to 13,300 feet (a fall of more than 2 miles) was the crew able to restart all engines and land the plane safely at Anchorage.
Did I mention all the great information the USGS provides on its website?! Sorry Louisiana readers but your governor is even more annoying than mine!
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