Biggest Ash EVER!!

[PerpetualNoob]

I couldn't find the thread where I mentioned going to the B&M and coming home in a fairly serious volcanic ash cloud, or I would have tagged this onto it. Anyway, the volcano started rumbling back in January, and we watched it constantly from my 5th-floor office every day, waiting for something to happen. Since the day it finally popped its cork back at the end of March, we have had exactly one day clear enough to actually see it. These aren't great pictures, but they're the best ones my camera could take. By the way, in case you don't already know, Mt. Redoubt is roughly 100 miles Southwest from Anchorage.

[Tarks]

Wow, 100 miles away. Nice pics.

[azpostal]

Wow those are good pics from that far away.

[ProBe]

Great pic, also can you hear it erupt?

[PerpetualNoob]

Originally Posted by ProBe

Great pic, also can you hear it erupt?

Good question, and the answer is 'No'. I was just reading something about that a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, there is a sort of 'quiet zone' around a volcano, where you can't hear the eruptions. Up very close, you can, but it drops off pretty quickly. Then there's the 'zone', and even further away, you can hear it again. Here's a really good article from the Peninsula Clarion website that explains it better than I could - You heard it here first ...: If a volcano erupts and no one can hear it, does it make a sound? | Peninsula Clarion

"For this, Power explained that studies have suggested that sound waves from the explosions bounce off the stratosphere, changing their frequency and returning to earth as noise audible to humans. Such has been the case even here.
"When Mount Spurr erupted in 1992, no one in Anchorage heard it, no one in Homer heard it and no one in Kenai heard it, but people climbing Denali did," he said.
Power recalled that a group of mountaineers in the park during the eruption called via satellite phone asking what was going on, and reported using their jackets to cover their ears for several hours while the explosions went on."


The Clarion is out of Soldotna, which is directly across the Cook Inlet from Redoubt, so they "have skin in the game", in the idiom of our day.

And, here's one of my semi-permanent bookmarks: AVO Webicorders - Redoubt

[Tarks]

Originally Posted by PerpetualNoob

Good question, and the answer is 'No'. I was just reading something about that a couple of weeks ago. Apparently, there is a sort of 'quiet zone' around a volcano, where you can't hear the eruptions. Up very close, you can, but it drops off pretty quickly. Then there's the 'zone', and even further away, you can hear it again. Here's a really good article from the Peninsula Clarion website that explains it better than I could - You heard it here first ...: If a volcano erupts and no one can hear it, does it make a sound? | Peninsula Clarion

"For this, Power explained that studies have suggested that sound waves from the explosions bounce off the stratosphere, changing their frequency and returning to earth as noise audible to humans. Such has been the case even here.
"When Mount Spurr erupted in 1992, no one in Anchorage heard it, no one in Homer heard it and no one in Kenai heard it, but people climbing Denali did," he said.
Power recalled that a group of mountaineers in the park during the eruption called via satellite phone asking what was going on, and reported using their jackets to cover their ears for several hours while the explosions went on."


The Clarion is out of Soldotna, which is directly across the Cook Inlet from Redoubt, so they "have skin in the game", in the idiom of our day.

And, here's one of my semi-permanent bookmarks: AVO Webicorders -
Redoubt

That is very interesting. Thanks.

[Shervin]

I wish they would make an alloy I could surf the lava with...bummer but nice pics!

[karmaz00]

wow very cool

[UniqueStylz]

Really nice. How long did it stay like that?

[Cigar Man Andy]

Nice Ash.

[PerpetualNoob]

Originally Posted by UniqueStylz

Really nice. How long did it stay like that?

Since it first erupted, it has been a pretty steady cloud of ash and steam. Every few weeks, it will get feisty and pop off a bigger eruption, with more ash, getting up 30-60,000 feet. I saw a really amazing picture of the plume, taken from the ISS, but I can't find it now. I'll try to find it tomorrow and post a link.

I also just found out, the reason we haven't been able to see the volcano lately has nothing to do with the volcano. Apparently, the haze we've been experiencing the last couple of months is coming from forest fires and farmers burning their stubble fields for planting. In Russia! Some days, like today, it gets pretty extreme.