Tuesday Tidbits: Mayon and Redoubt Updates

Not much new to report today, so I’ll just add some notes to the two volcanoes in the news right now: Mayon and Redoubt.

Mt. Redoubt in Alaska, taken on September 23, 2009. Image courtesy of AVO/USGS, taken by Game McGimsey.

Mayon:

The volcano continues to show signs that a major eruption is in the works, but nothing new occurred over the last 24 hours. 2 km / ~5,000 foot ash plumes were produced from the new dome/flow complex, causing a potential aviation hazard, and the lava flows continued to be erupted. In evacuation news, animals are now being evacuated from the hazard zone around the volcano as well. However, life in the evacuation camps for people is leading to some deaths from illness. However, for now, there is still little idea exactly when (and if) Mayon will have the “big one”.

Redoubt:

The other news yesterday was the potential return of activity at Redoubt in Alaska. The alert status was raised to Yellow by AVO after a series of small earthquakes at the new summit dome. It is unclear what exactly the earthquakes mean, but AVO scientists say that they look similar to earthquake patterns observed during the spring 2009 eruptions – which is sign enough to raise the alert level. However, the seismicity appears to be decreasing through time, so it is unclear whether any eruption will occur – but AVO isn’t overly concerned that something big might happen soon.