Right after I wrote the update, we had 2 volcanic eruptions and this time there is an ash cloud rising to 65,000 feet and it is heading my way. The status has been raised from orange to red. We have a weather advisory of the ash fallout hiting us in about 2 hours. I will be shutting down my computer before the ash falls. If we do get the ash, I will take photos of the ash falling, take macro shots of the ash particles and take photos of the ash on top of the snow.

Well, we just got a little bit of ash. I collected some on a coffee filter and got enough ash to be the size of a dime. This was after 4 hours of collecting.

Mt. Redoubt erupted again last night at 11:47pm and we have an ash advisory until 12:00 pm (noon). I still haven't gotten any photos yet due to cloud cover. I feel like chartering a helicopter and flying around Mt. Redoubt to get my photos.

Hey David,

Thanks for the continued updates. The idea of chartering a helicopter sounds really interesting. What does the scene look like with the cloud cover there?

James

It looks like your typical overcast day.

There are some obseratory photos at

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/

It destroys the engines. Any pilot worth flying with would not fly into the ash cloud. The alaska volcano observatory is using helicopters to fly around Mt. Redoubt. That is how they are getting their video. Volcanic ash shows up on Doppler Radar, and this is one reason why the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) works closely with the National Weather Service; it gives AVO the use of Doppler Radar to schedule their flights to repair the cameras, to record video, and for other scientific studies they do on or around Mt. Redoubt during the eruptions.

We had another eruption at 8:40am this morning. Ash cloud is moving to the north.

Anybody that would like more information about the Mt. Redoubt eruptions can follow it here AVO/Redoubt

Basicly helicoptors use mini jet engines for their power...so they have to be just as careful as the planes.

Only diffrence is planes ant auto-rotate to the ground....gravity is a grim master.

Roman