Shortly after arriving here on Elmendorf AFB in 2006, I heard about a volcanic eruption that had occurred some years ago, coating the base in ash. I promptly put it out of my mind, and didn’t hear anything about it again…until yesterday, when suddenly I became aware of the Orange alert issued for Mt. Redoubt.
Mt. Redoubt, Alaska
Map of Alaskan Volcanoes
According to geologists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory, Redoubt is likely to erupt in the next few days. This has caused a scramble to plan and prepare at work, as well as at home. As it turns out, volcanic ash is a lot nastier than ashes from a fire. It’s made of up tiny, jagged particles of rock and glass, and that makes it a nuisance to clean up. If you just wipe it off dry, you’ll scratch many surfaces. Electronics will be destroyed without carefully dislodging the material using compressed air and vacuuming it up. Driving in ashfall is hazardous to your vehicle. You have to wear a mask and stay indoors as much as possible. In short, we’re looking at a huge mess here, and the only question is how much ashfall we’ll get in Anchorage. This page at the AVO website allows you to watch the projected movement of ash clouds depending on recent conditions and the initial eruption height.
Mt. Redoubt erupts in 1990
The current forecast is that the eruption will be, at most, on the order of the 1989-90 event; if that happens we would see “trace to several millimeters” of ashfall. Not a catastrophe, but a problem nonetheless. In order to be ready for this, I’ve had to unplug my computers at home and cover them in trash bags to keep out the ash, should Redoubt blow during the night or while I’m asleep. The entire installation will be taking similar action for our government systems as well, if and when the eruption occurs—including the server racks and equipment my shop maintains. Our best hope is that the wind will change and blow the ash away from us, perhaps out to sea, but odds are good we’ll have a dusting of glass shards to deal with here soon.
