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Okmok Eruption 2008

By eklemetti on July 20, 2008.

I'm back from my conference and will hopefully be getting back to a regular schedule! 

In the meantime, the biggest news is still the eruption of Okmok Caldera in Alaska. The latest news has the eruption still going strong and the USGS predicting it will continues for potentially weeks to months. The eruption is apparently from a new vent on the caldera floor as well. Looks like the current eruption might be a VEI 4 (or thereabouts) eruption based on what I've heard from USGS scientists. 

The largest hazard posed by Okmok right now is to air travel, this during a time when the Alaska Volcano Observatory faces funding cuts from the FAA. Okmok sits underneath the flight path of many trans-Pacific aircraft, and with ash reaching at least 50,000 feet, most might encounter the plume without advanced warning from AVO.

Tags
Alaska
Ash fall
aviation
caldera
explosive eruption
Okmok
shield volcano
united states
volcanic hazards
volcano monitoring

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