Alaska Beat

Lava dome in Alaska's Cleveland volcano continues to grow

Alaska's Cleveland volcano keeps grumbling away, with a lava dome continuing to grow, and the alert level remaining at "watch," according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

A status update on Saturday said that the volcano continued to show activity, but that no elevated temperatures or ash emissions were evident from satellite imagery. Cleveland, about 45 miles from the nearest community of Nikolski, was raised to "watch" status on Jan. 31. At that time, the lava dome was observed at a diameter of about 130 feet.

"The current lava dome is estimated to be 50 meters across and occupies only a small portion of the approximately 200 meter (650 foot) diameter summit crater," the update from the AVO said. "There have been no observations of ash emissions or explosive activity during this current lava eruption. The previous lava dome that formed throughout the fall-winter of 2011 was largely removed by the explosive activity on the 25th and 29th of December, 2011."

That eruption spewed an ash cloud about 15,000 feet into the air. The mountain has no real-time monitoring, allowing for updates only when satellite imagery is available.

Read more, at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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