Volcano ash shot 15,000 feet into the air from an active Alaskan volcano, disrupting air travel slightly.
According to the Associated Press, the Pavlof Volcano erupted on Monday causing volcanic ash to fill the air. The volcano is located 625 miles southwest of Anchorage and the ash is visible from miles away. According to the Alaska Volcano Observatory, clouds of ash, steam and gas have reached as high as 20,000-feet and have been visible from the nearby towns such as Cold Bay and Sand Point.
"It's definitely kicking right along," John Power, the U.S. Geological Survey scientist in charge at the observatory told the Associated Press on Friday.
Despite the high ash level, air travel was only affected slightly. An air traffic controller said that small planes were avoiding the ash cloud by flying around it at 15,000 feet. The ash would only be a major threat to large planes if it was to reach 30,000 feet or higher.
The ash is falling in unwanted places though. A mining camp 50 miles away from the volcano received ash fall on Tuesday. Resident in Cold Bay, which is nearly 40 miles away, are worried about the ash damaging their power generators. Luckily wind blew the ash away from that area.
"Everybody is thinking about it," air traffic controller John Maxwell told AP. "Not that anybody is afraid they're going to be like Mount Vesuvius and turned into little mummies."
The Pavlof volcano eruptions typically include gas-rich fountains of lava that spews thousands of feet. Its ash clouds aren't usually dense compared to other active volcanoes. Pavlof is one of the most active volcanoes in the area. It has erupted at least 40 times according to the observatory.
The last time it erupted was in 2007. The eruptions lasted for 29 days and the volcano emitted mud flows, lava and ash clouds up to 18,000 feet high.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
