A Little Ash

Redoubt Eruption March 27 2009 from Bretwood Higman on Vimeo.

Press play on the video above and allow it to load for a minute or so, and then it will start on its own - it shows one of the eruptions in fast forward from across the inlet (weather is overcast, so quality isn't great, but you can see the constant flow of ash and the big eruption that sent ash our way).

Wind conditions caused us to get a trace amount of ash yesterday evening. Overnight surface winds were high and so most of it had disappeared by this morning. We did manage to collect a sample from a tarp on our back deck. Landon declared that he wants to be a scientist and so we let him look at a sample under an old microscope which I think was Uncle Andy's. No eruptions so far today!

More Eruptions

Eruptions continue - with a few shooting ash up to 65,000 ft, but only a trace of ashfall here in the Valley or in Anchorage. Trapper Creek (~40 miles to the NW of us) and the Kenai Peninsula have seen the most ash, with about 1/4 to 1/2 inches falling on various days there. These pics are all from the local newspaper's online archive - taken by various people. Last night someone got a good picture of one of the large eruptions and the lightning that accompanies the eruptions. That's not a storm, in fact there wasn't a clould in the sky, but the lightning happens inside the ash plume due to static electricity generated by the eruption. The big cloud on the horizon is the ash plume as it barrels toward Homer a couple of days ago - they got about 1/2 inch of ash that day. Other pics are of ash around local houses and in the valleys surrounding the volcano. The space view is of one of Thursday's eruptions as seen from a passing satellite in low earth orbit. They expect the eruptions to continue for about a month, with alot of eyes watching the Drift River Oil Terminal between Redoubt and Cook Inlet - it stores oil from the oil platforms in the inlet, and has about 6 million gallons in tanks right now. So far, the lahars and mudflows that have hit the terminal haven't breached the berms around the tanks - but if they do, it could spill that oil into the inlet. For comparison, the Exxon Valdez spill was 10 million gallons over a much much larger area in Prince William Sound, so this 6 million in the smaller area of Cook Inlet would do alot of damage. Hopefully the eruptions continue to occur at this rate, because if it gets plugged up by a lava dome and builds high enough in pressure to cause a larger eruption, then the oil terminal could be comprimised. So alot of folks are watching the terminal closely. Last two pics are of the terminal as of Wednesday (note the mud flows have damaged all the buildings but haven't breached the berms around the tanks yet).

Tuesday (3/24) was the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and yesterday (3/27) was the 45th anniversary of the Good Friday Earthquake which was a magnitude 9.2 centered around Valdez - the largest earthquake in North American History - which lasted almost 5 minutes and caused lateral ground movements of 8 feet, as well as causing the hay flats near the house to drop (subside) 15 feet. The hay flats were farmland at that time, but are now too marshy after subsiding. I included some pics from those events.

Teeth, Smiles, and Hawaiian Treasures

Just a few pictures from this past week. Landon lost his upper right front tooth. Unfortunately, he had a taste of "attack mommy" while I was trying to take the pictures so they are all very fuzzy. The other pictures are of the boys enjoying the rapidly disappearing snow and their treasures that Daddy brought them from Hawaii! The volcano has been downgraded to code orange and all is well at the McDowell house.

Sound of a Volcano Erupting

No ash fall at the house today. Total of six eruptions. The biggest occurred just before 5 am this morning and sent ash up to 65,000 ft. But since the wind took the ash plume straight north towards Talkeetna, we both went to school/work as usual. That biggest one was loud enough for us to hear in the house and it woke us both up. Sounded like a shotgun going off outside the house with three successive booms, and that's with us being more than 100 miles away from the volcano! The sounds travel well along the inlet and up into the hayflats, so we heard it louder than folks who are much closer in Anchorage or on the Kenai. Others around us along the bluff heard it as well. Pretty "neat" to be able to hear a volcano erupt. 20 years ago when Redoubt last erupted it lasted on and off for several months. So we may be able to collect some ash eventually, but not today. Skwentna (pronounced "Sweat-nya") is only about ~50 miles west of us and they had half an inch of ash before the day was done.

The first chart above shows the first three eruptions - then it cuts off during the biggest just before 5 am because that one (the one we heard) destroyed all the data instruments on the mountain. The last two pics show the mountain before and after eruptions, so you can see the difference. Still haven't seen the top of the mountain due to ash and cloud cover, so we'll have to wait to see if any of the top collapsed, but it looks like it has so far just melted the glacier/snow melt off the lower half.

Business Trips and Volcanic Eruption

EDIT: Just as I finished the below post about my business trips at around 2245 local, Mt Redoubt erupted in what they are calling a major eruption, shooting ash to 50,000 ft high. If their predictions are correct, the winds will bring the ash our way and will start falling in a couple of hours. So we'll hunker down and see if they are correct....................................................................

Here's the original post...

Two weeks of business trips has kept me on the road. The first was to the Naval Amphibous Base in San Diego and the second to PACOM Headquarters in Hawaii. The pictures above show the trips: Seattle's Space Needle while flying to San Diego, aerial view of Mt St Helen's collapsed mountainside, and sights in San Diego including the beach and the bay; next aerial views are of flying back out of Alaska again enroute to Hawaii - big contrast from beginning to end of flight, Waikiki Beach and pics of the grounds around the Hale Koa, Pearl Harbor pics including one of the battleship Missouri and Arizona Memorial from dockside on Pearl, Wyland painting of sea life in the commissary, and pics of Seattle on the way home again - fog bank rolled in and made us hold overhead the city waiting for better weather. Altogether worthwhile trips, but I'm glad to be home. The boys were happy to see me.

Our volcano is starting to act up again. Will be interesting to see if this next eruption is as mild as last week's - that one only shot a small amount of ash up to about 15,000 ft, and the wind took the ash out to sea. This week, the winds are more dangerous for Anchorage, so we'll be watching to see if it erupts.

Stair Master!

Grayson decided it was time that he had the freedom to go up and down the stairs this week. He is very proficient at it and now disappears in no time flat.

More Iditarod Photos