Seismic activity levels on Alaska’s Mount Spurr soared earlier this week, sparking fear that an eruption could be on the horizon.
“Earthquake activity beneath Mount Spurr remains elevated,” the Alaska Volcano Observatory warned in a May 28 report. “Following a steady decline from late March through April, shallow earthquake activity has increased in the past two weeks to March levels of about 100 events per week.”
And while the advisory assured that the “likelihood of an eruption continues to gradually decline,” the 11,000-foot-tall volcano remains at an “elevated state of unrest,” meaning that an “explosive eruption” is still possible.
“We’re not out of the woods yet, by any means,” Matt Haney, a researcher with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, told Alaska Public Media. “There’s still earthquakes happening at Mount Spurr.”
However, an AVO report on May 29 found that while “low-level unrest continues, no changes have been observed in the monitoring data to indicate that the volcano is moving closer to an eruption.”
“If an eruption occurred, it would be preceded by additional signals, allowing warning,” they said.
One such signal would likely be a spout of ash shooting out of the volcano as high as 50,000 feet into the