Are you experiencing ashfall? If so, please let us know by filling out an ashfall report!
If you’re experiencing volcanic ashfall in Alaska, we would greatly appreciate your help collecting samples.
These samples help us understand the composition, volume, and dispersal pattern of the ash.
Local people are often ideally positioned to collect excellent samples.
Brush ash into a resealable plastic bag or follow detailed instructions available here: Ash Sample Instructions.
Ashfall deposit in Anchor Point, AK from the April 4, 2009 eruption of Redoubt Volcano. This is an example of a well-documented photograph of ashfall by a citizen scientist.
Ashfall from Shishaldin Volcano on vehicle in False Pass, Alaska on September 25, 2023. Photo by Melanie Hoblet of False Pass, Alaska.
Image of ashfall, taken from Tordrillo Mountain Lodge on Judd Lake (just north of Beluga Lake, at the head of the Talachulitna River.) Photograph courtesy of Lel Tone.
Photograph of Redoubt ashfall, from Homer, on April 4, 2009. Photograph courtesy Cindy Koplin.
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Community Outreach and Engagement
AVO offices are in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska, and AVO personnel are sometimes available to give community lectures or host tours in those towns.
We also travel to other Alaska communities near volcanoes and participate in or host a variety of events and opportunities, including question and answer sessions, community meetings, film screenings, and radio interviews.
If your group is interested in a visit from our team, please reach out via our “contact us” form.
Kristi Wallace demonstrating ash collection for Perryville school students, 04/27/22.
USGS-AVO geologist Kristi Wallace speaks to high school science students in Sitka about Mt. Edgecumbe, the volcano in their own "backyard", May, 2023.
AVO geologists Kristi Wallace and Cheryl Cameron talk to Sitka residents about Mount Edgecumbe, May 2023, at the University of Alaska Southeast Natural History lecture series.
Please reach out via our “contact us” form if you have a volcano observation, photo, or video to share, or a question about Alaska’s youthful volcanoes.
AVO geologists traveled to Sitka to host discussions and question and answer sessions about Mount Edgecumbe. This photo is from the May 3 event held at the Centennial Building. Here, AVO Scientist-in-Charge Michelle Coombs (USGS) is explaining the surface deformation observed at Edgecumbe. Image courtesy of Jacyn Schmidt, Sitka Sound Science Center.
AVO is thrilled to host and mentor interns from the Alaska Native Science & Engineering Program.
If you are an ANSEP student, or thinking about becoming one, and you’d like to intern with AVO, please reach out to us via our “contact us” form.
ANSEP intern Haley works in the Alaska Tephra Lab at the Alaska Volcano Observatory, August, 2022.
