Alert issued as plume of volcanic ash reaches West Coast
The ash arrived from an active volcanic eruption in eastern Russia
Ash from a volcanic eruption in Russia reached the West Coast this weekend, prompting an advisory for pilots flying over Washington and southern British Columbia.
The volcano began erupting last week, sending plumes of ash more than 11 kilometres into the atmosphere.
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Mount Sheveluch, a volcano on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, entered a period of heightened eruptive activity during the second week of March.
The Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program reported on Wednesday that an explosion this past Monday sent an ash plume 11 kilometres into the atmosphere, which drifted thousands of kilometres east across the Pacific Ocean.
Some of that ash made it all the way to the West Coast. An alert issued by the U.S. National Weather Service’s Aviation Weather Center warned pilots of the hazard on Wednesday morning:
“VOLCANIC ASH BTN FL200 AND FL360 FROM MT SHEVELUCH. MOV NE 90KT.”
Decoded, the message tells pilots to look out for volcanic ash between the altitudes of 20,000 feet (6,000 metres) and 36,000 feet (11,000 metres), with the plume moving northeast at 90 knots (165 km/h).
Volcanic ash can be exceptionally dangerous to jet aircraft in particular. The tiny bits of rock, minerals, and glass in these plumes can significantly harm jet engines to the point that they seize up and shut down.
Several flights were seriously affected by volcanic ash back in the 1980s, events which prompted aviation authorities and meteorologists to coordinate ash detection and warning standards.
Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula is highly susceptible to both powerful earthquakes and disruptive volcanic eruptions. The Pacific Plate slides beneath the Eurasian Plate just offshore, leading to frequent earthquakes and fuelling volcanoes on the peninsula itself.