Mount Spurr might be rumbling to life (near Anchorage)
In recent days, there has been repeated increased seismic activity near Mount Spurr (closest volcano to Anchorage, Alaska.)
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...1729028590.jpg
(Photo courtesy of Ellie Boyce and the Alaska Volcano Observatory / University of Alaska Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute)
The photo above was captured on October 15, 2024 this is the information:
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Mount Spurr on a cloudless sunny morning, as seen from AVO monitoring station CKT. Mount Spurr summit is the tallest point in the image, and there is a faint steam plume visible on the right side of the peak. Directly in front of and below the summit is Crater Peak, the vent location of Spurr's most recent eruptions.
Here is the site we are using to monitor new activity on this volcano. The site is reporting current seismic data, links to active web cams, and ashfall and ash cloud forecasts.
October 27th Report at 11:14 am
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No major changes were detected in the past day at Mount Spurr. Seismicity remains elevated with several small earthquakes detected. No unusual activity was observed in clear satellite or web camera data over the past day.
AVO continues to closely monitor activity at Mount Spurr for signals that would indicate that the volcano is moving closer to an eruption. Based on previous eruptions, changes from current activity in the earthquakes, ground deformation, summit lake, and fumaroles would be expected if magma began to move closer to the surface. Therefore, it is very likely that if an eruption were to occur it would be preceded by additional signals that would allow advance warning.
Local seismic, infrasound, web cameras, and GNSS stations are used to monitor Mount Spurr along with regional infrasound, lightning networks and satellite data.
To give an idea as to the proximity of this volcano:
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...cation_Map.jpg
(Courtesy of avo.alaska.edu/volcano/, click on the link to open the map to zoom in and see the communities and other features)
Ash fall, if the the volcano were to erupt would likely be VERY INTENSE in Anchorage.
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Special hazard info:
Mount Spurr (including Crater Peak) is listed as “very high threat” by the most recent edition of the USGS National Volcanic Threat Assessment. This is because it has erupted frequently in recent history and has shown signs of unrest since its most recent eruption. It is near a large international airport with a high daily passenger volume and would likely disrupt air travel for some time in any future eruption and cut off air access to interior Alaska . Because Mount Spurr is covered with an enormous volume of glacial ice, future eruptions are very likely to cause significant lahars, as happened in 1953 and 1992. If a lahar dammed the Chakachatna River, the river could back up to Chakachamna Lake and even “float” the ice dam there created by Barrier Glacier, which would likely lead to a very large flood that could reach Cook Inlet. As there are no permanent structures within the Chakachatna valley, this would luckily pose minor risk to people.
The photo at the top of the page was shot from the Spurr CKT web cam location shown as the black web cam symbol directly south of the volcano. It would likely be a source of dramatic views.
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...kInlet_Map.jpg
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Location map of Spurr Volcano, Cook Inlet region, Alaska.
Courtesy of J.R.G. Schaefer, and the Alaska Volcano Observatory / Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys
Mark
Visibility is a tad reduced today
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog.../1028_1012.jpg
(credit:AVO)
Looks like it is snowing there today and the temperature is 21.2 F degrees.
So won't be much of a visual display today.
Mark
Weather has closed in again
I would reckon, that one can safely assume that clear days are a bit unusual in this part of the world.
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog.../1031_1300.jpg
Captured at about 1pm PDT today. Courtesy of AVO.
Today's brief from the AVO:
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October 31, 2024, 12:05 pm
Unrest continues at Mount Spurr. A few small, local earthquakes occurred over the past day. Mostly clear webcam and satellite views showed nothing of note.
Doesn't look like balmy weather
I don't think that the weather is exactly balmy right now.
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog.../1101_0910.jpg
(~ 9:10 am today. Photo courtesy of AVO)
A few more earthquakes showing - but nothing major.
Today's update from the AVO:
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November 1, 2024, 11:56 am
Unrest continues at Mount Spurr. About 100 small, shallow earthquakes beneath the summit were detected during the past week. A few episodes of weak volcanic tremor, indicative of possible deep fluid movement, were also observed over the past week. We saw no unusual activity in satellite or web camera images during clear weather windows. A high-resolution satellite image from October 27 showed no changes at the summit crater. The crater lake is still mostly covered in ice.
Whole lot of shaking going on
To start out today, wanted to show the level of earthquake activity around Mount Spurr. Not big quakes, and most of these have occurred over the last four days. But something seems to be going on.
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...akeMonitor.jpg
November 4th at 7:20 am (Courtesy of AVO)
The shaded blue area (with the little blue dots) represents glacier ice -- which could heat up in an eruption.
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Note: I will be traveling the next couple of days, and there not as able to check in the monitoring sites.
Mark
This ash has been loose and available to form ash clouds since 1912!
An interesting thing happened yesterday -- I didn't know such things were possible.
From the ALASKA VOLCANO OBSERVATORY
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KATMAI (VNUM #312170)
58°16'44" N 154°57'12" W, Summit Elevation 6716 ft (2047 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN
Strong northwesterly winds in the vicinity of Katmai and the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes have picked up loose volcanic ash erupted during the 1912 Novarupta-Katmai eruption and are carrying it to the southeast. The National Weather Service has issued a SIGMET for this low-level event and suggests that the maximum cloud height is 6,000 ft (1.8 km) above sea level.
This phenomenon is not the result of recent volcanic activity and occurs during times of high winds and dry snow-free conditions in the Katmai area and other young volcanic areas of Alaska. No eruption is in progress. All of the volcanoes of the Katmai area (Griggs, Katmai, Novarupta, Mageik, Martin, Snowy and Trident) remain at Aviation Color Code GREEN and Alert Level NORMAL. Resuspended volcanic ash should be considered hazardous and could be damaging to aircraft and health.
Can you imagine that? This ash layer has been loose and able to cause issues since 1912!
Beautiful, if a tad chilly today
OK. I see your point. I would have thought it would have been buried under glacier ice by now.
Another picture-perfect day up there:
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog.../1118_1611.jpg
4:11 pm PST -- November 18th -- Courtesy of AVO.
Mark
A couple slightly larger earthquakes
A couple more slightly larger earthquakes. The tan color are 2.0 or larger.
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog.../1213_1137.jpg
Courtesy of AVO -- December 11th at 11:30 am
December 30th -- 8:30 am PST
Update as of December 30th
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...230_MtSpur.jpg
Courtesy of AVO -- December 30th at 08:30 am
December 29, 2024, 10:46 am
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Shallow earthquake activity near the summit of Mount Spurr continues at an elevated rate, but lower than yesterday. Variation in the numbers of earthquakes is common during periods of unrest at volcanoes. Web camera images from yesterday showed minor steaming near the summit, but this is not unusual. Satellite images from the past day showed no signs of other activity at the surface.
Seems like more activity than I have seen on the monitors over the last week. But if you look at the previous image from December 11th -- not much of a significant increase this month.
Certainly looks like something is in the offing
Looks like more shaking to me!
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...2025_0103_.jpg
January 3rd at 10:30 am
January 3, 2025, 12:12 pm
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Unrest persists at Mount Spurr, with ongoing shallow earthquake activity and surface deformation.
Although data processing continues, our current estimate is that over 260 earthquakes were located at Mount Spurr this past week. Most (more than 90%) were very small, with magnitudes less than 1. Three earthquakes had magnitudes larger than 2, with the largest being a M2.9 from January 2. Many of the earthquakes occurred in clusters on December 28 and January 2. Most of the events continue to be shallow and located under Mount Spurr's summit region. The kind of waxing and waning we saw this week is not uncommon for volcanic earthquake swarms.
The local network of GNSS (GPS) stations continues to record slow but steady ground movement upward and outward, which has been ongoing since March 2024. This is consistent with a pressure increase between 2 to 3 miles (3 to 5 km) depth about 2 to 2.5 miles (3-4 km) west of the summit, which is the general area of ongoing earthquake activity.
January 2, 2025, 12:46 pm
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Shallow earthquakes beneath the summit of Mount Spurr continue, at an increased rate today compared to the past few days. A flurry of earthquakes this morning included one with a magnitude of 2.9 at 5:39 AKST (14:39 UTC), which is among the largest seen in the current episode of unrest. Earthquake activity has quieted again over the last couple of hours. While notable, variation in the number and size of earthquakes is common during periods of unrest at volcanoes and at this time does not suggest that eruptive activity is more likely in the near future. Clear satellite and webcam images from the past day showed no unusual surface activity.
An example of "bad journalism" at its finest
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Originally Posted by
glc
‘Explosive eruption’ now likely on Alaska volcano Mount Spurr, scientists say
George, Yes, I have seen a variety of similar nonsense articles elsewhere on the Web. It is bad journalism. No reputable volcanologist has said anything like this--at all. I check with in the Alaska Volcano Observatory site at least once a day.
This is the extent of the alarm that they have posted in months:
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Unrest continues at Mount Spurr volcano. Seismicity remains elevated with numerous small, shallow volcanic earthquakes detected beneath the volcano over the past day.
Even to my untrained eye, there is considerably less activity recently than a month ago.
One can rest assured that if activity were to "ramp-up" we would be reporting it here!
Mark
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog..._0320_1034.jpg
March 20th at 10:30 am PDT (Courtesy of the Alaska Volcano Observatory)
Too much snow has fallen to use the webcam. The camera needs to be uncovered.
Hard to see the steam -- but the peak is back in view
The webcam is clear again today.
March 22, 2025, 10:21 am
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Unrest continues at Mount Spurr volcano. Seismicity remains elevated with numerous small, shallow volcanic earthquakes detected beneath the volcano over the past day. An AVO overflight conducted yesterday observed continued steaming from the summit fumaroles and gas emissions. Steaming from the summit was readily apparent in webcam and by eye from Anchorage last night and this morning.
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog..._0322_1153.jpg
Courtesy of Alaska Volcano Observatory
Helicopter for the maintenance crew!
First reasonably clear day in weeks!
From AVO: June 18, 2025, 11:30 am
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Unrest continues at Mount Spurr volcano, with occasional, small volcanic earthquakes continuing to occur beneath the edifice. No noteworthy activity was seen in mostly cloudy satellite or webcam images over the last 24 hours. An AVO field crew is at the volcano today performing maintenance and upgrades to the monitoring network.
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...0618_Spurr.jpg
Courtesy of Alaska Volcano Observatory
New Livestreams of the Volcano are now available!
https://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog...ream_Spurr.jpg
Courtesy of the AVO Livestream, June 21st at 12:30 pm
June 20, 2025, 1:05 pm
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Unrest continues at Mount Spurr. The level of activity is still above background, but lower than observed in early 2025. This decrease in activity suggests that the magma intrusion beneath Mount Spurr has stalled. The likelihood of an eruption has declined since March, but fluctuations in unrest are not uncommon, and explosive eruptions are still possible. Should unrest escalate towards an eruption, we expect increases in seismic activity, gas emissions, surface deformation, and surface heating.
During the past week, 42 earthquakes were located, all smaller than magnitude 1. The number of located earthquakes this week is about the same as the last two weeks, and lower than weekly counts from earlier in 2025. However, they are within the variability observed from week to week during this entire period of unrest. Ground deformation, as measured by GNSS (GPS) stations, remains paused as it has for the last two months.
Minor sulfur dioxide emissions were observed in satellite data one day this week. The last gas flight occurred June 11 and found that gas compositions and emission rates were broadly unchanged from those measured during the previous gas flight on May 23. Yesterday, June 19, AVO installed a new continuous gas sensor on the rim of Crater Peak. Initial readings from the station show high carbon dioxide emissions from the vent, and no sulfur dioxide, consistent with past gas flights. The new station will allow for continuous measurements of Crater Peak gas emissions when wind conditions allow, includes seismic and infrasound instrumentation, and is a significant improvement to our monitoring capabilities.
No significant surface changes were observed at Mount Spurr over the past week.
Earlier this week, AVO installed a new livestream camera at station SPCL: Mount Spurr Live Stream (SPCL).
A livestream of Mount Spurr, as viewed from Glen Alps in Anchorage, is also available here: Mount Spurr Live Stream (ANCG).
