More than a dozen Alaska Airlines flights affecting 1,400 passengers were canceled Tuesday, even as the eruption of Pavlof Volcano on the Alaska Peninsula weakened overnight.
Airline tracking website FlightStats showed Alaska Airlines flights from Anchorage to Fairbanks, Bethel, Nome, Deadhorse and Kotzebue were among those canceled. At least four of the airline's flights set to depart Fairbanks were also canceled.
Alaska Airlines canceled 41 flights Monday, with ash from the eruption that started Sunday afternoon reaching an altitude of 37,000 feet and drifting hundreds of miles into Alaska's Interior.
Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Ann Zaninovich said Tuesday morning that the airline was still assessing Pavlof's effects on its flight paths.
"We have canceled 14 flights, which represents all the flights departing from the impacted locations through 1 p.m.," Zaninovich wrote. "... This impacts 1,400 passengers."
Flights on several airlines to Seattle from Fairbanks were also listed by FlightStats as canceled. The website's data did not list a specific reason for the cancellations.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory reported Tuesday that a calming trend for Pavlof that started Monday was continuing, with satellite photos showing that ash output "appears to have diminished to the point where it is difficult to observe."
"Areas of drifting remnant ash from the energetic emissions of the previous day continue to be observed in satellite data over Bristol Bay and Interior Alaska," AVO staff wrote. "A clear webcam view from this morning confirms intermittent low-level ash emissions at the volcano at an altitude below 15,000 ft. Seismic activity remains elevated above background levels. The intensity of thermal activity observed in satellite data has also decreased over the past day."
On Monday night, observatory staff lowered the volcano's aviation color code to orange and its alert level to "watch." They warned that Pavlof could erupt again without warning.
Significant ashfall was reported Monday in Nelson Lagoon, a village northeast of the volcano. Up to two-thirds of an inch of ash had accumulated, according to the Associated Press. Trace amounts of ash fell in Dillingham and Port Heiden.
Pavlof Volcano, located on the remote Alaska Peninsula 600 miles southwest of Anchorage, is sending up a huge column of ash that's covered the tiny village of Nelson Lagoon with a blanket of black grit.
The Pavlof eruption began at 4 p.m. Sunday and is generating seismic tremors at very high levels, lightning and a 400-mile-long ash plume rising 37,000 feet, according to a Monday morning update on the Alaska Volcano Observatory's website.
The level of volcanic activity associated with the eruption is "quite a bit more energetic" than researchers have seen since 1996, said Dave Schneider, a geophysicist with the observatory, which is operated by the U.S. Geological Survey in Anchorage. Mariners, pilots and residents of Cold Bay
37 miles southwest of Pavlof
reported lava fountaining from the crater at heights of up to nearly 1 kilometer, Schneider said. The heat of the lava is expected to trigger mudflows into remote river valleys.
Pavlof is considered one of the most consistently active volcanoes in the Aleutian arc, with more than 40 eruptions on record.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory issued a "red" warning for aviation and raised the volcano alert level from normal to warning status. The National Weather Service issued warnings for aviators to avoid the plume.
Nelson Lagoon, home to about 40 people, was in the path of the ash Sunday and Monday. Village residents are accustomed to the volcano's fairly regular eruptions but this one is worse than usual, according to Village Public Safety Officer Cpl. Barrett Taylor.
"Residents could feel the ash on their face and smell it in the air yesterday evening. Then around 1:30 this morning it looked like it was basically raining ash," Taylor said by phone Monday. "Village residents told me this morning this is the worst they've seen the ash."
A layer of black covered vehicles and health aides were giving out face masks to elder residents, he said. People were being told to stay inside until the eruption subsides.
Residents in Cold Bay took photos of the "lava show" as fiery magma erupted in fountains through the night, said Candace Schaack, who serves as mayor of the community, which about 75 people call home year-round.
Schaack said the eruption was initially obscured by clouds, but the cover cleared Sunday afternoon, leaving the ash plume visible.
"It was a little alarming to see how massive it was," she said.
Pavlof is described by the Alaska Volcano Observatory as a snow- and ice-covered stratovolcano that's about 4.4 miles in diameter, with active vents on the north and east sides close to the summit. Eruptions generally involve sporadic lava fountains for several months and massive ash plumes as high as 49,000 feet.
Several eruptions at Pavlof in late 2014, with ash plumes up to 35,000 feet high, prompted alerts before activity at the volcano died down again.
http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/article/1613flights_canceled_as_volcano_eruption_covers
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