Science

Alert level lowered at Alaska's Cleveland volcano

Mount Cleveland, an active stratovolcano located in Alaska's Aleutian Islands, has been downgraded following a period of increased activity that included numerous small, explosive eruptions.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Saturday that Cleveland was being downgraded when the volcano had shown little or no activity since an explosion on March 13. That explosion was preceded by two other small explosions on March 8 and 10. Those explosions were detected by nearby seismic networks, since Cleveland is located on the uninhabited Chuginadak Island and has no real-time monitoring capabilities.

The alert level at Cleveland was lowered to "yellow," meaning that the volcano still has eruptive potential but activity has decreased from previous levels. Cleveland, among Alaska's most active volcanoes, has been upgraded and downgraded numerous times in the last year, including one eruption on Dec. 29 that launched a cloud of ash 15,000 feet into the sky.

In being downgraded, Cleveland joins Mount Iliamna -- a 10,000-foot volcano on the lower west side of Cook Inlet, directly across from the Kenai Peninsula -- in the yellow designation.

Iliamna was upgraded after scientists noted an increased level of seismic activity in the vicinity of the peak in early March. A weekly report issued Saturday said that earthquake activity remained elevated, but had dropped off from the levels observed in the first weeks of March.

A flight to Iliamna on March 17 to conduct tests on emissions from the volcano, which revealed heightened levels of sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, indicating the presence of magma.

"It is not known, however, if this is a newly intruded magma, or whether new pathways for gas from preexisting magma have caused the increased gas flux," The AVO noted. "The amount of gas being emitted is broadly similar to levels seen in 1996-1997, when a likely magmatic intrusion but no eruption occurred at the volcano."

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Scientists observed increased venting in the vicinity of the mountain but little other outward indication of extra volcanic activity on the peak. A glacier situated on the peak showed some signs of deformation, but the AVO reported that the steepness of the glacier's location has contributed to avalanches in the past.

Scientists continue to monitor Iliamna, which has never had a recorded eruption.

Casual observers around Southcentral Alaska may have been noticing some increased seismic activity of their own: several earthquakes in recent weeks have been strong and shallow enough to be felt in the heavily populated Anchorage bowl and Matanuska-Susitna Valley areas, as well as along the Kenai Peninsula. That included a minor 3.9-magnitude quake near Wasilla on Thursday and a 3.8-magnitude temblor in Cook Inlet on Tuesday.

Contact Ben Anderson at ben(at)alaskadispatch.com

Ben Anderson

Ben Anderson is a former writer and editor for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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