Pavlof reported activity

Event Name : Pavlof 1966/3

Start:	March 2, 1966	Observed
Stop:	March 15, 1966 ± 14 Days	Observed

Lava flow:
Tephra plume:
Central eruption:
Minor explosive eruption:

Eruption Type:	Explosive
Duration:	About two weeks - possibly intermittent
MaxVEI:	2
ColHeight:	4600 m

Description: The earliest accounts of this eruption are from Associated Press articles in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner. The March 3, 1966 edition contained this information: "A 200-foot stream of lava was reported erupting from Mt. Pavlof Wednesday night by a Coast Guard aircraft crew flying over the Alaska volcano.

"The spectacular sight was reported at Elmendorf Air Force Base by Lt. Cmndr. Paul H. Breed, pilot of the Coast Guard plane on a training flight out of Kodiak.

" * * * Robbins [area manager for the Federal Aviation Administration at Cold Bay] reported the eruption was not visible from Cold Bay because of a low ceiling covering the 2,100 foot peak.

"A spokesman for the Alaska Disaster Office in Anchorage said the winds were blowing in a southwesterly direction and would probably carry any debris from the eruption seaward."

Jacob and Hauksson (1983) report an eruption at Pavlof around March 15, 1966 and describe it as an eruption in the central crater, with normal explosions, and note that "during the 1950s and 1960s the active vent was never exactly located, it shifted around with each eruption high on NE or NNE flank."

An Associated Press article from March 16, 1966, describes the eruption: "Lava was reported pouring down three sides of Mt. Pavlof Tuesday by the crew of a Coast Guard plane that flew near the Aleutian Island volcano.

"Mt. Pavlof * * * was reported hurling rocks 500 feet high and emitting a dense column of smoke that reached 15,000 feet.

"Lt. J.E. Mitts, pilot of the plane, reported his sighting to the Coast Guard station at Kodiak. The plane, with a four-man crew, was on its way to St. Paul Island on a routine supply mission.

"Mitts reported that lava was pouring down the north, east, and west sides of the mountain. He told his headquarters at Kodiak that he flew his plane, a C123, within a half mile of the mountain."