Alaska’s Mount Spurr has experienced 66 earthquakes in the last week, signaling ‘an elevated level of unrest.’
The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) issued an update Friday, noting that the 11,000-foot-tall volcano has a reduced level of erupting compared to earlier reports but cautioned that the event is still a possibility.
Previously in March, AVO had raised concerns that Mount Spurr could erupt in the coming weeks. However, there has been a slowdown in ground deformation over the past month, and the ice along the crater’s shoreline has not receded as it typically would if magma was moving closer to the surface.
‘While the chances of an eruption have diminished since March, the volcano continues to exhibit heightened unrest, and the potential for a significant explosive eruption, similar to those experienced in 1953 and 1992, still remains,’ the AVO emphasized in their latest update.
‘We would expect to see weeks or more of more elevated unrest that would provide advance warning of an eruption.’
Mount Spurr is located about 78 miles from Anchorage, which is home to nearly 300,000 people who are preparing for the eruption.
Locals have rushed to stock up on food and protective gear in the event the volcano blows without notice.
If the eruption does happen, Mount Spurr would spew multiple plumes of ash rising as high as 50,000 feet into the air, Matt Haney, scientist-in-charge at the AVO at US Geological Survey (USGS) told DailyMail.com.
Each ash-producing explosive episode would last three to four hours, and the resulting cloud could blanket the city of Anchorage and other nearby communities in a thick layer of dust.
Officials said that when the eruption happens it will be similar to the event in 1992 (pictured)
The eruption would also produce destructive mudslides and avalanches of volcanic debris racing down the volcano’s side at over 200 miles per hour, ‘but fortunately, there are not any communities in that radius that would be affected,’ Haney said.
While AVO said the likelihood of an eruption has decreased, the number of earthquakes has remained consistent throughout April.
The seismic activity is due to magma rising to the surface, causing stress and cracking in the surrounding rock.
AVO conducted two flights to the volcano this week, with one on April 23 that was unable to measure gas emission due to high winds.
But the flight on Wednesday allowed the crew to check Mount Spurr, finding steam coming from vents near the summit and the crater lake.
‘No significant surface changes were observed at Crater Peak,’ the AVO said.
‘Gas data from the flight are still being processed, but emission rates appear broadly similar to or slightly lower than those measured in March.’
The updated also noted that sulfur dioxide emissions were detected in satellite data on April 19, 21 and 22.
Sulfur dioxide is released from magma, which suggests the molten rock is still pushing toward the surface.
Mount Spurr is located about 78 miles from Anchorage that is home to nearly 300,000 people preparing for the eruption
Residents of Anchorage are now stocking up on protective gear, including TikToker Lia, who showed off how she and her family are preparing for the imminent eruption
AVO noted that ‘steaming from the summit continues to be visible in web camera images during periods of clear viewing conditions.’
‘AVO continues to closely monitor activity at Mount Spurr for signals indicating the volcano is moving closer to an eruption using local seismic, infrasound, and GNSS (GPS) stations, web cameras, airborne and satellite gas measurements, regional infrasound, lightning networks, and satellite images,’ the agency shared.
While the likelihood of an eruption without additional warning is currently low, the volcano poses hazards for recreators on Mount Spurr.
That is due to elevated carbon and sulfur dioxide levels in low-lying areas around or downwind of the gas vents, such as within the craters atop Crater Peak and Spurr summit. The AVO noted this is not present in local communities.
The agency predicts the eruption will be similar to those in 1953 and 1992, which saw, ‘one or more explosive events, each lasting as long as a few hours, would produce ash clouds carried downwind for hundreds of miles and minor (up to about ¼ inch) ashfall over southcentral Alaska.’
Residents of Anchorage are now stocking up on protective gear, including TikToker Lia, who showed off how she and her family are preparing for the imminent eruption.
‘Mount Spurr is about to erupt, and I want to make sure we are prepared because we have never gone through a volcanic eruption,’ she said.
She explained that the biggest concern is ash that will be blown from the explosion over the city, showing she purchased several respirators, goggles and air filters for her vehicle.
Lia said she purchased swim goggles from Amazon, explaining that they needed to be tight around the head in order to keep the ash out.
She also purchased a pair of goggles for her dog, which is what many Anchorage residents have done to protect their pups.
Lia said her doors and windows ‘seal up very nice nicely’ so she did not purchase tape.
However, other residents have stockpiled duct tape that they will place around window sills and door openings to protect against ashfall and other hazards.
‘So now we just wait for it to erupt and see how it goes,’ said Lia in the TikTok, explaining that experts are predicting about a quarter-inch of ash to blanket Anchorage.
Anchorage locals have shared photos of their pups’ protective gear on the Facebook page for a local pet shop, AK Bark, that is selling goggles and dog respirators
Officials advised people to keep their animals inside as much as possible, have enough food and medication on hand to last two weeks, and be sure to brush or wash ash out of their fur if they do have to go outside.
Residents of Anchorage have not taken the warnings lightly and have purchases necessary gear for themselves and their dogs.
‘We’re getting ready for the volcanic eruption,’ said TikTok user Angela Łot’oydaatlno Gonzalez in a recent video, ‘Check out the dogs.’
Wearing a pair of goggles, she sits with her two dogs who are also sporting protective eyewear. ‘They’re not happy with the goggles,’ Gonzalez says. ‘We have to get them ear protection next, and something to cover their bodies.’
She also shows all the items she has purchased over the last few weeks in preparation for a Mount Spurr eruption, including protective masks, dog booties and tape to close off any gaps in windows and doors and jugs of water.
Anchorage residents Alliana Salanguit and Jesslin Wooliver told NPR that they bought protective gear for their dog, Iroh, as soon as scientists announced that Mount Spurr may erupt.
‘I searched ‘pink, dog goggles, small,’ and it was the top result,’ Salanguit said of Iroh’s heart-shaped goggles. ‘Aren’t they darling?’
AK Bark, an Anchorage pet store sells protective eyewear for dogs, and owner Mark Robokoff told NPR he sold more than 500 pairs in March.
He added that a shipment dog respirators is also headed to the store, and he’s already presold 1,800 of them.
