Far North Science

The first-ever inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in Alaska found good news — and bad.

The state generated about 52 million metric tons of CO2 and related gases in 2005, a tiny amount compared to places like California, Texas and other industrialized locales across the globe.

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A Russian volcano network that warned airliners winging over the North Pacific of potential hazards went silent March 1 due to budget cuts, increasing the risk that aircraft could enter undetected ash clouds and experience sudden catastrophic engine failure during a trans-ocean flight, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

Klyuchevskoy Volcano erupts in Oct. 1994
NASA / USGS KVERT Fact Sheet

Without alerts issued by the Kamchatkan Volcanic Eruption Respnse Team (KVERT), jetliners flying between North America and Asia could get little or no warning if any of the 29 active volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula erupt and send ash clouds roiling into air traffic lanes, particularly during bad weather or other conditions where satellite coverage was unable to pinpoint the plume.

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