Mar 29 2009
Mount Redoubt Forces Airport Closure
Mount Redoubt in Anchorage, Alaska shot ash 45,000 feet into the air on Saturday. This is the latest eruption in a series of eruptions that began in mid March. It is reported that the volcano also erupted four times on Friday sending ash as high as 51,000 feet into the air.
Ash from the eruptions forced officials to close the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Airport spokesman Jeremy Lindseth says that only a small amount of ash reached the airport, but it was enough to cancel flights. He also says that he did not know how many flights were cancelled, nor could he say when the airport would reopen.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory has now set the alert level to red which indicates that an eruption is under way or imminent and that any eruption will produce a “significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere.”
