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Veniaminof Volcano Quiet, AVO Says

Game McGimsey and Alaska Volcano Observatory

Recent reports indicate that Veniaminof Volcano is relatively calm.  KDLG’s Chase Cavanaugh has the details.

Located 480 miles Southwest of Anchorage on the Alaska Penninsula, Veniaminof is one of the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian Arc.  It has erupted no less than 13 times in the past 200 years.  Fortunately, measurements by the Alaska Volcano Observatory show the mountain as being in a quiet state.

“We’ve not seen any evidence that there’s any ongoing eruptive activity, there’s no ash emissions. There’s been a bit of steam plume occasionally, when conditions are right, but seismic activity and our satellite data indicates that the volcano is quiet.”

Chris Waythomas is a geologist at AVO.  He says this quiet state is somewhat less than summer of last year.

“There was activity at Veni last year in 2013 early summer, and it resulted in some lava flows being erupted from the intercaldera cone onto the snow and ice field around the cone, but they were relatively restricted in extent. They weren’t big lava flows. There was some minor ash emissions that occurred, little elevated seismicity, but it was a relatively minor eruption, as far as eruptions go.”

Despite this calm period, Waythomas says people shouldn’t expect this low level of activity forever. 

“It’s a very active volcano, and it wouldn’t surprise us if activity resumed over the next year.”

Veniaminof Volcano’s alert level is NORMAL, downgraded from ADVISORY, and its aviation color code is GREEN, down from YELLOW.  Updates on Veni’s status, as well as other Alaska volcanoes, can be found at avo.alaska.edu.