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Alaska's Mt. Redoubt Has Erupted

alaskana98 writes "Alaska's Mt. Redoubt volcano has erupted 3 times, with the first event starting at 10:38 PM Alaska standard time. The ash cloud is estimated to be higher than 50,000 feet. So far, only light ash fall is predicted for areas north of Anchorage."

33 of 327 comments (clear)

  1. Re:It's still dark in Alaska by zappepcs · · Score: 4, Informative

    Apparently this is what the inside of a layer of ash looks like at this time of morning.

    Global cooling on its way?

  2. What I want to know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can Governor Sarah Palin see it happening from her house?

    1. Re:What I want to know... by ThePsion5 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Can Governor Sarah Palin see it happening from her house?

      And if she does, does this make her a qualified Vulcanologist?

  3. It's not Russia, but... by ptomblin · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sarah Palin reports she can see it from her house.

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    1. Re:It's not Russia, but... by JustOK · · Score: 5, Funny

      http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php
      Fox News says it erupted tomorrow.

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    2. Re:It's not Russia, but... by necro81 · · Score: 5, Informative

      In truth, Sarah Palin almost certainly can see this from her house. Mt Redoubt is only about 100 miles from Anchorage, and a lot of the intervening distance is the open water of Cook Inlet. On a clear-ish day, one can see Denali (20,320 ft) from Anchorage, and that's over 100 miles away. A 50,000 foot tall ash plume will certainly be visible - once daylight arrives, anyway. I can only imagine what the view will be from the many towns on the east coast of the Kenai peninsula, where they'll be able to look right across Cook Inlet to the volcano.

      [to be technical, Sarah Palin lives in Wasilla, which some consider a suburb of Anchorage, even though it's an hour away by car]

    3. Re:It's not Russia, but... by cashman73 · · Score: 4, Informative

      And the Republicans want to eliminate money for volcano monitoring?!?! Great idea!

    4. Re:It's not Russia, but... by necro81 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This was a point of contention that came out during the campaign. Although the official governor's office is in Juneau, a lot of state business is conducted in Anchorage (by far the largest city), and Gov. Palin spent a lot of time conducting state business from her home in Wasilla. The point of contention was that, while working from her home, she charged the state per diem for travel because she was working away from Juneau. I don't remember if she later paid it back.

  4. Meanwhile by Alzheimers · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Meanwhile, in Louisiana, Governor Bobby Jindal mutters something about all this wasteful government spending.

    1. Re:Meanwhile by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

      Jindal was right! We don't have to monitor volcanoes, just wait for them to erupt and the news media will monitor them for us! Who wants to monitor them when they aren't doing anything interesting anyway? That would be like monitoring weather patterns out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean...boring and useless.

  5. haha by p3on · · Score: 4, Insightful

    i bet jindal feels like a doof

    1. Re:haha by Reality+Master+201 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No he doesn't; If 8 years of Bush has shown us anything, it's that conservatism means never having to consider the possibility you're wrong.

    2. Re:haha by geobeck · · Score: 4, Funny

      I thought it was "Conservatism means never having to say you're wrong".

      But happiness is never having to say you're Tory.

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  6. Correction... 4 NOT 3 eruptions... by denzacar · · Score: 5, Informative

    NOT from TFA:

    Alaska volcano Mount Redoubt erupts 4 times

    By MARK THIESSEN - 40 minutes ago

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano erupted four times overnight, sending an ash plume more than 9 miles high into the air, but the state's largest city has likely been spared from any ashfall.
    "The ash cloud went to 50,000 feet, and it's currently drifting toward the north, northeast," said Janet Schaefer, a geologist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

    The first eruption, in a sparsely area across Cook Inlet from the Kenai Peninsula, occurred at 10:38 p.m. Sunday and the fourth happened at 1:39 a.m. Monday, according to the observatory.

    The wind patterns were taking the ash cloud away from Anchorage, toward Willow and Talkneetna, near Mount McKinley, North America's largest mountain in Denali National Park.
    Geophysicist John Power said no cities have yet reported any ash fall from the volcano, but noted that it was still early.
    Using radar and satellite technology, the National Weather Service is predicting ash to start falling later Monday morning.

    Dave Stricklan, a hydrometeorogical technician with the National Weather Service, expected very fine ash.
    "Just kind of a light dusting," he said. He said the significant amount of ash probably dropped immediately, right down the side of the volcano.
    "The heavier stuff drops out very quickly, and then the other stuff filters out. There's going to be a very fine amount of it that's going to be suspended in the Atmosphere for quite some time, but nothing to really affect anything such as aviation travel. The heavier stuff will filter out," he said.

    Still, Alaska Airlines on Monday canceled 19 flights in and out of the Anchorage international airport because of the ash.
    Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage told only essential personnel to report to work. The Air Force says 60 planes, including fighter jets, cargo aircraft and a 747 commercial plane, are being sheltered.

    The 10,200-foot Redoubt Volcano, roughly 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, last erupted during a four-month period from 1989-90.
    But the volcano became restless earlier this year. The observatory had warned in late January that an eruption could occur at any time.
    Increased earthquake activity over the past 48 hours prompted scientists to raise the alert level for Mount Redoubt on Sunday.
    On Sunday morning, 40 to 50 earthquakes were being recorded every hour.
    A steam plume rising about 1,000 feet above the mountain peak was observed Saturday.

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  7. Re:Send in Al Gore by Samschnooks · · Score: 5, Funny
    It's different. Those greenhouse gases are all natural; therefore, they're safe and healthy. Why I expect the next time I walk into Wholefoods, they'll have canisters with the gas output from the volcano.

    I may even market it in an infomercial: "Volcano Gas! The natural male enhancement! For women too! You can have an Earth Shattering Happy moment with your partner!"

    I'm on my way to film commercials with that smiling couple!

  8. The Devil Comes for Republicans by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When Republican governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal took to TV immediately after President Obama's address to the Joint Session of Congress last month, he whined that the government funded volcano monitoring is "wasteful spending". Of course he was lying, since he said "$140M for volcano monitoring", when that money is for USGS "facilities and equipment, including stream gages, seismic and volcano monitoring systems and national map activities", all kinds of important stuff for running and protecting our country.

    Then Jindal went into some kind of weird story about his standing for sanity during Hurricane Katrina (which he was lying about, too - and it was a story about the lone Democrat getting things done, surrounded by Republicans including Jindal doing nothing but flapping their lips). Reminding us what happens when the government doesn't monitor predictable local natural disasters that kill thousands and destroy cities.

    This was the official Republican response. Maybe they just want to keep secret their main competition for spewing filthy hot air that kills Americans.

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    1. Re:The Devil Comes for Republicans by ArcherB · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's spending money, right?

      To pay people's wages? That sounds exactly like stimulus.

      To buy equipment? That sounds exactly like stimulus too.

      Sure less multiplier effects than say building roads and bridges to connect industries to transport hubs/people, but you can't say it "does nothing to STIMULATE the economy", since clearly it does.

      Of course stimulating the economy by borrowing/printing money is retarded anyway, but that's beside the point.

      Well, if simply paying wages is the goal, then you could pay a LOT more wages for $140,000,000 a year than you could by simply monitoring volcanoes. How much of that money is spent monitoring volcanoes overseas? How many American jobs does it provide? What is the LONG TERM stimulus to the economy when compared to say a school which employs teachers, janitors, administrators for decades, not to mention educating kids?

      Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against volcano monitoring, but not under guise of "stimulus". $140,000,000/yr will provide 2800 people with $50,000/yr jobs that actually build something, fix something, or make life easier for someone else, all of which would stimulate the economy much more than a few geologists sitting around collecting steam and ash data from a non-active volcano in the Phillipines. Again, I'm not saying it's not important, but it certain is not stimulus.

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    2. Re:The Devil Comes for Republicans by darkmeridian · · Score: 4, Interesting

      So you are okay with Bobby Jindal having no morals and lying as long as everyone else is lying? Two or three wrongs make a right? Or are you suggesting that every time you note someone is lying you have to find someone on the other side that lied in the last ten years (on matters that are irrelevant to the current discussion) to be "fair"?

      Bullshit. Katrina wiped a ton of Americans out because the government didn't monitor the situation. Jindal says we should not monitor volcanoes. He lied about his experience. Why do you insist on changing the subject? Because you are a partisan hack yourself.

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  9. Link to a story by Matt+Perry · · Score: 5, Informative
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  10. Re:Send in Al Gore by Duradin · · Score: 4, Funny

    How about a tie in with my All Natural Green Organic Hemlock Energy Drink?

    "If it's good enough for Socrates it's good enough for us!"

    Every can comes with a coupon for the sequestration of your carbon.

  11. Re:Send in Al Gore by Duradin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Explain why we are still not in an ice age if the "natural contributions of the Earth's own systems" are stable and don't cause climate change.

  12. Correction... 5 NOT 4 eruptions... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Anchorage Daily News is reporting 5 eruptions here

    /Former resident of Eagle River, AK
    //Saw Mt Redoubt the last time it erupted.
    ///Well, at least until the ash obscured the view.

  13. A poem by SoundGuyNoise · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mount Redoubt has blown its spout. Throwing ash and soot about.

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  14. Not at the moment, she's on her knees by Barsteward · · Score: 5, Funny

    praying for forgiveness for upsetting her god...

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    1. Re:Not at the moment, she's on her knees by cthulu_mt · · Score: 5, Funny

      You had me at "on her knees".

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  15. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  16. 15 240 meters by haeger · · Score: 4, Funny

    Since everyone but Myanmar, Liberia and the United States use the metric system I just thought I'd point out the hight of the ash cloud.

    In case you don't know this obscure "ft" unit. ;-)

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    1. Re:15 240 meters by JimR · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't forget the British use feet for aviation

      And I thought we used wings...

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  17. Re:Send in Al Gore by T+Murphy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Throughout history there have always been those crying "end of the world". Many of them cooks and manipulators.

    Note to self: when someone says the world is ending, do NOT try their soup.

  18. Why not? by coryking · · Score: 4, Funny

    New Orleans don't need government waste like something called "volcano monitoring". We should all move to places like New Orleans where they dont need to waste all that kind of money monitoring something that may or may not happen. ...Good to know I'm not the only one who thought Jindel bashing volcano monitoring was highly ironic.

  19. Re:Send in Al Gore by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why should you care at all how much energy Gore uses, if none (or little) of it causes Greenhouse pollution? Do you demand that we all live worse, even if we don't have to?

    Gore is a leader because he leads. He took political risks - and real political damage - for years while he was ahead of public opinion. Now that the evidence is so overwhelming that even bad leaders like Bush admit the problem Gore has been working to solve while they've been working to cause it, Gore is widely recognized as that leader because he helped get the public to accept the science. Though the public is so hard to lead that even an example of a rich guy living well without causing the harm he's working to avert isn't good enough for some people.

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  20. Re:Be nice to DOC RUBY!!! by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, your post was kinda flattering, if inaccurate. I thank you for the accurate flattery :).

    I've been much less "partisan" since Republicans lost most of their power after holding way too much for way too long. I don't know how I look otherwise. FWIW, my "partisan" attitude is not so much a Democratic partisan, because I'm not a Democrat (I'm independent), as it is highly anti Republican, since that party has been such a damaging collection of bad people for so long, and we're so damaged by it.

    In this case, you're going along with Jindal's Republican lie that $140M is spent by Democrats on volcano monitoring, when I pointed out the fact is that the monitoring gets only a (relatively small) fraction of that overall budget amount. And though Republicans did indeed spend some considerable money on volcano monitoring when they were the ones writing, passing and signing USGS budgets, I never complained - because I never saw evidence it was too much. In fact, if I'd seen evidence that it was too little, I probably would have complained. As I just did when Jindal attacked it, even if he has only lies and partisan posturing to offer, without power to screw up that budget (at the present time). Indeed, I could have pointed out the further Republican hypocrisy of Sarah Palin not only accepting the money Jindal badmouthed (but can't stop), but Palin's refusing to even comment on that dramatic divergence from the official Republican position on that budget, even as she continues to run for president. Because I'm talking about Jindal, disaster preparedness, and Republican refusal to learn from Katrina (or anything else), not the vaster and duller subject of mere Republican hypocrisy.

    If you can show evidence that the current system (including the safety of USGS/contractor jobs in this Republican recession) "works fine" without the stimulus budget, I'd like to see it. All I can see is Jindal claiming he learned from his (imaginary, and self-defeating as a fable) Katrina experience that the government shouldn't fund monitoring for natural disasters. Katrina was predicted by government monitoring, too, but the full necessary system under Republican control and development didn't seem to "work fine". Except to Jindal, for whom it works fine as a (made up, self-defeating) story to tell on TV.

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  21. Re:Send in Al Gore by DavidTC · · Score: 5, Informative

    Wasn't one of the points of his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" that everyone needs to do their part to conserve?

    No, it was not. At all. I've watched it. The point of his documentary is convince people there's a problem and that if we ignore it we'll all in trouble. Full stop.

    Now, at the end of the movie, during the credits, there's a list of 27 things you can do, which is the very first time suggestions are aimed at people instead of governments. It really isn't the point of the documentary, and it isn't Al Gore saying them, and it is during the credits.

    18 of them boil down to 'talk to other people and your government leaders'. That's right, even 2/3rds of the suggestions actually aimed at viewers of the movie don't have anything to do with changing people's energy usage.

    As for the rest: Three are transportation suggestions, one is planting trees, one is recycling. There are only four that are vaguely applicable to houses:

    'Switch to renewable sources of energy.', which Gore does, paying a premium to do so.

    'Buy energy efficient appliances & lightbulbs.', which he's stated he does, at least with CFL lights, we don't know about the rest.

    So what is left that he possible doesn't do:

    'Change your thermostat (and use clock thermostats) to reduce energy for heating & cooling.', which we don't know if he does.

    'Weatherize your house, increase insulation, get an energy audit.', which he has done, at least in the energy audit. (And as it's a new house, it's hard to imagine it's poorly insulated.)

    You'll note 'live in a smaller house' is not on that list.

    Al Gore has been turned into some sort of uber-strawman by the right, where they imagine he's suggested they all live in tree houses. To recap: His presentation in the movie doesn't suggest any changes for any people to make at all, and even the tack-on-to-the-credits list of things for people to do is mostly 'make other people aware of what's happening, and make politicians aware that you're aware.'

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