ALASKA VOLCANO OBSERVATORY STATUS REPORT
U.S. Geological Survey
Wednesday, March 8, 2017, 2:21 AM AKST (Wednesday, March 8, 2017, 11:21 UTC)

BOGOSLOF VOLCANO (VNUM #311300)
53°55'38" N 168°2'4" W, Summit Elevation 492 ft (150 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: WARNING
Current Aviation Color Code: RED

The explosive eruption that began at 10:36 pm AKST on March 7 (7:36 UTC on March 8) resulted in approximately 3 hours of significant ash emissions. The intensity of activity as observed in seismic, infrasound and lightning data declined around 1:30 am AKST (10:30 UTC). A large volcanic ash cloud is visible in satellite data and is moving towards the east at an altitude of 35,000 feet above sea level. The volcano remains at a heightened state of unrest and a return to more vigorous eruptive activity could occur at any time.

The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Special Weather Statement for trace amounts (less than 1 mm) of ashfall on Unalaska Island including the community of Dutch Harbor/Unalaska based on ash fallout modeling by the AVO. NWS has also issued a Marine Advisory for volcanic ashfall on coastal waters near Bogoslof. A SIGMET warning for aviation is in effect for the volcanic cloud at an altitude of 35,000 ft above sea level.

AVO continues to evaluate its monitoring data sources and will provide updates as warranted. The Aviation Color Code remains at RED and the Alert Level remains at WARNING.

Status of the ash cloud forecast can be found at the National Weather Service Alaska Aviation Weather Unit website at http://aawu.arh.noaa.gov/

OTHER ALASKA VOLCANOES

Information on all Alaska volcanoes is available at : http://www.avo.alaska.edu.

AVO scientists conduct daily checks of earthquake activity at all seismically-monitored volcanoes, examine web camera and satellite images for evidence of airborne ash and elevated surface temperatures, and consult other monitoring data as needed.

For definitions of Aviation Color Codes and Volcano Alert Levels, see: http://www.avo.alaska.edu/color_codes.php

SUBSCRIBE TO VOLCANO ALERT MESSAGES by email: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vns/

FOLLOW AVO ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/alaska.avo

FOLLOW AVO ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/alaska.avo

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Michelle Coombs, Scientist-in-Charge, USGS
mcoombs@usgs.gov (907) 786-7497

Jessica Larsen, Acting Coordinating Scientist, UAF
jflarsen@alaska.edu (907) 322-4085



The Alaska Volcano Observatory is a cooperative program of the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.

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