Sunday, April 12, 2009

Webcam: Alaska Volcano Observatory, Mount Redoubt

A couple of months ago I read a report – in an Australian online news service no less - that Mount Redoubt , a volcano in Alaska was showing some activity. Not only was there an interesting report but there was a link to the Alaska Volcano Observatory!. Thus, I learned about this wonderful site that I visit at least on a daily basis if not several times each day, particularly on weekends.

The site has a map and a list of the volcano regions in Alaska. Clicking on the map or link will take you to detailed map of that region with all of the mountains marked. A table below the map indicates which volcanos are active or inactive. Click on the mountain name on the map or in the table will transport you to a page with details about the mountain.

Mount Redoubt is in the Cook Inlet-South Central region and there are now three webcams to view the mountain. Redoubt-CI looks across Cook Inlet. In this image, captured on April 4th, you can see the steam cloud rising above the mountain.
















Redoubt-Hut is located approximately 7.5 miles from the mountain and looks at the north flank of the summit crater. These images were captured on March 15th, 2009 when there was a little activity and on April 4th when the mountain was quite active
.
































Redoubt – DFR that was recently activated is approximately 7.6 miles NE of the crater. In this image, captured on April 4th, in addition to the activity in the crater, a small steam vent is visible at the lower right of the image.

















A really nice feature of the webcam sites is that each has a thumbnail of the view on a clear day. If the current weather is bad, you can see what the view would look like on a good day. Encouraging when the webcam is socked in during bad weather.


Kudos to the hosts of this site - the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAFGI), and the Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS)!

Click on an image to view a larger image.

No comments: