Scientists: Alaska’s Mount Spurr ‘likely’ to erupt fairly soon

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The likelihood that Mount Spurr, the closest active volcano to Anchorage, will erupt is increasing, with scientists now saying an eruption is “likely” within weeks or months.

During flights over the volcano on March 7 and 11, scientists with the Alaska Volcano Observatory “measured significantly elevated volcanic gas emissions” and saw what were described as newly reactivated gas vents at Mount Spurr, about 75 miles west of Anchorage.

“Elevated earthquake activity and ground deformation continue,” the volcano observatory said in a bulletin.

The most likely scenario is an eruption similar to those that happened in 1953 and 1992, each lasting hours and producing clouds of ash that circulated for hundreds of miles, the scientists said in the bulletin.

The previous eruptions coated Anchorage and other South-central Alaska cities with up to a quarter-inch of ash, canceling flights, fouling engines and plunging Anchorage into darkness.

For months, scientists with the observatory have been monitoring increasing earthquakes around the volcano, as well as other signs of an impending eruption such as bulging ground and melting snow.

The volcano is monitored with instruments including seismic sensors, satellite imagery and web cameras, among other tools, and scientists say they expect Mount Spurr to show more signs of activity before an eruption.

“We expect to see further increases in seismic activity, gas emissions, and surface heating prior to an eruption, if one were to occur,” the bulletin said. “Such stronger unrest may provide days to weeks of additional warning.”