ANCHORAGE, Alaska: A volcano near Alaska’s largest city is showing new signs of unrest, with experts saying the likelihood of an eruption at Mount Spurr in the next few weeks or months has increased.
The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Wednesday that it had measured during recent overflights “significantly elevated volcanic gas emissions,” and said signs indicated an eruption was likely, though not certain, in the weeks or months ahead.
“We expect to see further increases in seismic activity, gas emissions and surface heating prior to an eruption, if one were to occur,” the observatory said in a statement. “Such stronger unrest may provide days to weeks of additional warning.”
What is Mount Spurr?
It is an 11,070-foot (3,374-meter) tall, ice- and snow-covered volcano roughly 80 miles (129 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage.
Mount Spurr is one of 53 volcanoes in Alaska that have been active within the last 250 years. It has two main vents.
When did Mount Spurr last erupt?
The last known eruption from the summit vent was more than 5,000 years ago. The Crater Peak vent, meanwhile, erupted once in 1953 and three times in 1992, according to the observatory. The Crater Peak vent is about 2 miles (3 kilometers) south of the summit.
There have been periods of increased earthquake or other activity since then, including between 2004 and 2006, but no other eruptions. Last October, the observatory raised its alert status for Mount Spurr from green to yellow when an increase in seismic activity became pronounced and a ground deformation was spotted in satellite data.
The most likely outcome of the current unrest would be an eruption or eruptions similar to those in 1953 and 1992, the observatory said.
However, “It is also possible that no eruption occurs and the present activity slowly dies away or that a smaller eruption takes place,” John Power, a geophysicist with the US Geological Survey at the observatory, wrote in an email.
What impacts could an eruption have?
The eruptions during the last century lasted between three and seven hours, produced ash columns that rose more than 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) above sea level and deposited ashfall in south-central Alaska communities, according to the observatory.
In 1992, ashfall of about a quarter-inch in Anchorage prompted residents to stay inside or to wear masks if going outside to avoid breathing ash. The cloud drifted as far as Greenland.
Volcanic ash is angular and sharp and has been used as an industrial abrasive. The powdered rock can cause a jet engine to shut down.
The 1992 eruptions prompted the temporary closures of airports in Anchorage and other communities.
Closing airports can be more than an inconvenience in a state where most communities aren’t connected to Alaska’s main road system. Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport also is among the world’s busiest cargo hubs.
A volcano near Alaska’s largest city could erupt in the coming weeks or months, scientists say
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A volcano near Alaska’s largest city could erupt in the coming weeks or months, scientists say
- The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Wednesday that it had measured during recent overflights “significantly elevated volcanic gas emissions”
French publisher recalls dictionary over ‘Jewish settler’ reference
- The entry in French reads: “In October 2023, following the death of more than 1,200 Jewish settlers in a series of Hamas attacks”
- The four books are subject to a recall procedure and will be destroyed, Hachette said
PARSI: French publisher Hachette on Friday said it had recalled a dictionary that described the Israeli victims of the October 7, 2023 attacks as “Jewish settlers” and promised to review all its textbooks and educational materials.
The Larousse dictionary for 11- to 15-year-old students contained the same phrase as that discovered by an anti-racism body in three revision books, the company told AFP.
The entry in French reads: “In October 2023, following the death of more than 1,200 Jewish settlers in a series of Hamas attacks, Israel decided to tighten its economic blockade and invade a large part of the Gaza Strip, triggering a major humanitarian crisis in the region.”
The worst attack in Israeli history saw militants from the Palestinian Islamist group kill around 1,200 people in settlements close to the Gaza Strip and at a music festival.
“Jewish settlers” is a term used to describe Israelis living on illegally occupied Palestinian land.
The four books, which were immediately withdrawn from sale, are subject to a recall procedure and will be destroyed, Hachette said, promising a “thorough review of its textbooks, educational materials and dictionaries.”
France’s leading publishing group, which came under the control of the ultra-conservative Vincent Bollore at the end of 2023, has begun an internal inquiry “to determine how such an error was made.”
It promised to put in place “a new, strengthened verification process for all its future publications” in these series.
President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said that it was “intolerable” that the revision books for the French school leavers’ exam, the baccalaureat, “falsify the facts” about the “terrorist and antisemitic attacks by Hamas.”
“Revisionism has no place in the Republic,” he wrote on X.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people, with 251 people taken hostage, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Authorities in Gaza estimate that more than 70,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces during their bombardment of the territory since, while nearly 80 percent of buildings have been destroyed or damaged, according to UN data.
Israeli forces have killed at least 447 Palestinians in Gaza since a ceasefire took effect in October, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
