Strong southerly winds picked up loose ash from a 1912 volcanic eruption, sending an ash cloud about 4,000 feet into the sky.
Strong southerly winds picked up loose ash from a 1912 volcanic eruption, sending an ash cloud about 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) into the sky on Monday.
The Novarupta eruption was the most powerful of the 20th century and ranks among the largest in recorded history.
Cloudy skies obscured satellite imagery on Monday, but a pilot flying at about 20,000 feet (6,096 meters) first reported the ash cloud, Wallace said.
“We know that what’s getting kicked up isn’t just glacial dust, mineral dust that you can see pretty much everywhere else in Alaska,” Wallace said.