The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO)

The Alaska Volcano Observatory is a cooperative program established in 1988 to monitor Alaskan volcanoes, primarily those in the Cook Inlet Region. The agencies involved are the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute (UAF/GI) and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys (ADGGS). The principal source of funding is the Volcano Hazards Program of the USGS. Other funds are provided by the State of Alaska.

This page was first posted in early December, 1994.
Modifications to the page are logged here. Most recent modifications (except for the posting of weekly updates) were March 10, 1995.
Some newish things can be found in Current Events, Videos Available, and Recent Updates (from our weekly and periodic updates).


Alaska Volcanoes

A very brief introduction to volcanism in Alaska.
A map of the Aleutian volcanic arc. Almost all of Alaska's active volcanoes are in the Aleutian arc. This map shows the locations of the volcanoes. Many of the most active are labeled by name and with the date of their last major eruption. Major in this sense is not precisely defined, but generally means a large explosive eruption or emplacement of lava as domes or flows. Because of the imprecise way "major" is defined there is some room for argument about the years associated with some of the volcanoes.
Highlights of eruptions over the last 6 years.
A table of Aleutian arc volcanoes (listed from west to east)
Some portals to the printed literature
A catalogue of Alaskan volcanoes. STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Mt. Spurr's 1992 Eruptions Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, Vol. 74, no. 19, May 11, 1993, pages 217 and 221-222.
Open File Report 93-707 Photographs of the 1992 Eruptions of Crater Peak, Spurr Volcano, Alaska
A paragraph about the 1989-1990 Redoubt Volcano eruptions. Considerably more information can be found in the August 1 issue of the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (Vol 62, No. 1-2 -- 26 papers and 528 pages covering all aspects of the eruption). In addition USGS Circular 1061 (Brantley, 1990) is a 33 page description of the eruption.

AVO Operations

A Mission Statement. Who we are and what we do.
A Staff Directory
Summaries of Alaskan and Kamchatkan volcanism for the periods May-June 1994.| July-August 1994.| (The Alaska Volcano Observatory releases weekly Updates and periodic Information Releases concerning north Pacific volcanism. These are summarized in our internal bimonthly reports and are reproduced here.)
A description of the September 30, 1994 Klyuchevskoy eruption. This eruption did not get much press in the United States, but produced an ash plume to 60,000 feet above sea level which severely affected air traffic in the heavily traveled North Pacific air routes.
Some images (mostly AVHRR satellite) of current activity.

not ready yet


Other items of volcanological interest

Cascades Volcano Observatory
Hawaii Volcano Observatory Volcano Watch newsletters
Michigan Technological University Volcano Pages
University of Washington Volcano Systems Center
The Electronic Volcano at Dartmouth College
VolcanoWorld at U. N. Dakota (mostly a K-12 resource)
University of Hawaii
NASA EOS Volcanology Team Page
Global Volcanism Network at the Smithsonian Institution

Some other Web servers

United States Geological Survey
Univeristy of Alaska Geophysical Institute
NASA SIRC-XSAR images

please send comments about this document to webmaster@www.avo.alaska.edu

This page is maintained by Chris Nye (cnye@fm.gi.alaska.edu) and guided by a committee including Nye, Tina Neal, Steve McNutt, and Mike Doukas.