A Rare Volcanic Event

In July, we blogged about Great Sitkin volcano erupting in the Aleutian Island chain. Great Sitkin continues to erupt since its major event back on May 25th. Now however, two volcanoes have joined in the chorus. 

Pavlof volcano, which is about 35 miles away from the community of Cold Bay Alaska is one of the more active volcanoes in the chain. Its last eruption being in 2016. It began erupting again in August.

Semisopochnoi volcano further south, is erupting again after its last eruption in July of 2019. A volcanic ash plume rose 10,000 feet in the air in the first week of August. 

All three volcanoes remain in the Orange Alert level. Orange alert for volcanoes as defined by the Alaska Volcano Observatory are: "Volcano is exhibiting heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption, timeframe uncertain, OR eruption is underway with no or minor volcanic-ash emissions [ash-plume height specified, if possible]."

On July 28, 2021 a magnitude 8.2 earthquake off the coast of Alaska, that sparked evacuations and tsunami warnings, was the biggest quake in the area since 1965. Earthquakes often precede volcanic eruptions, so no one seemed surprised by this spike in activity in the Aleutian islands. Government and federal agencies will continue to keep a close eye on these events as they unfold.  

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