Augstine on November 18, 2006
Credit: Tim Plucinski/AVO-USGS
One of the most active volcanoes in the Far North has been muttering in its sleep, raising the possibility that the population center of Alaska may get ashed for the second time in less than two years.
Augustine Volcano — a storybook cone that looms 4,134 feet from Lower Cook Inlet on the horizon near Homer, Seldovia and Anchor Point — has blown its top five times in the past half century, most recently in January 2006.
This time, a series of tiny earthquakes began trembling within the massif beneath the summit, possibly suggesting that a blob of viscous magma was wrenching and oozing through solid rock.
On Sept. 22, AVO raised the aviation warning code to yellow and issued an advisory to the general public.
“The current earthquakes are small, generally less than magnitude 1.0, and are located at shallow depth beneath the volcano’s summit,” the observatory said in its original message. “While significant, the current earthquake activity is much less energetic than that which immediately preceeded the explosive eruptions in January 2006.”
But Augustine continues to grumble, and AVO has issued additional statements every day since.