ALASKA VOLCANO OBSERVATORY INFORMATION STATEMENT
U.S. Geological Survey
Friday, September 6, 2019, 10:29 AM AKDT (Friday, September 6, 2019, 18:29 UTC)

The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) announces extensive upgrades to volcano monitoring equipment accomplished during this summer’s field season. Upgrades have been performed at the following 13 volcanoes: Akutan, Augustine, Dutton, Gareloi, Great Sitkin, Iliamna, Kanaga, Katmai, Korovin, Makushin, Okmok, Tanaga, and Westdahl. The new ground-based instrumentation includes seismometers, infrasound sensors, and web cameras, and significantly improves AVO’s ability to detect unrest, forecast eruptive activity, and issue timely alerts of volcano hazards.

The upgrades have addressed needed replacement of aging analog equipment with modern digital instruments and radios, as well as refurbishment of existing digital equipment at some sites with more robust digital installations. In particular, five entire seismic networks located at volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands­—Korovin, Great Sitkin, Kanaga, Tanaga, and Gareloi—have been completely changed over from analog to digital systems. Mount Dutton on the Alaska Peninsula also underwent a complete upgrade. This summer’s field work represents the successful first year of a three-year project to replace all remaining legacy analog equipment in AVO’s geophysical network. This work, which was motivated by requirements set forth by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to vacate radio frequencies used by older analog equipment, has the benefit that the new digital stations installed at the 13 volcanoes this summer provide a dramatic improvement in data quality. The new data also will be of value for other monitoring programs, such as those focused on earthquakes and tsunamis.

Owing in part to these upgrades, AVO has reestablished seismic monitoring at Dutton and Wrangell volcanoes and recently changed the status of these volcanoes from “UNASSIGNED” to Volcano Alert Level NORMAL and Aviation Color Code GREEN. Dutton and Wrangell had been removed from AVO’s list of officially monitored volcanoes in past years due to their original analog seismic networks being inoperable.

AKUTAN VOLCANO (VNUM #311320)
54°7'59" N 165°59'8" W, Summit Elevation 4275 ft (1303 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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AUGUSTINE VOLCANO (VNUM #313010)
59°21'45" N 153°26'6" W, Summit Elevation 4134 ft (1260 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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DUTTON VOLCANO (VNUM #312011)
55°11'12" N 162°16'28" W, Summit Elevation 4833 ft (1473 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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GARELOI VOLCANO (VNUM #311070)
51°47'21" N 178°47'46" W, Summit Elevation 5161 ft (1573 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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GREAT SITKIN VOLCANO (VNUM #311120)
52°4'35" N 176°6'39" W, Summit Elevation 5709 ft (1740 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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ILIAMNA VOLCANO (VNUM #313020)
60°1'55" N 153°5'30" W, Summit Elevation 10016 ft (3053 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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KANAGA VOLCANO (VNUM #311110)
51°55'27" N 177°9'44" W, Summit Elevation 4288 ft (1307 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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KATMAI VOLCANO (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

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KOROVIN VOLCANO (VNUM #311161)
52°22'54" N 174°9'55" W, Summit Elevation 5030 ft (1533 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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MAKUSHIN VOLCANO (VNUM #311310)
53°53'24" N 166°55'30" W, Summit Elevation 5906 ft (1800 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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OKMOK VOLCANO (VNUM #311290)
53°23'49" N 168°9'58" W, Summit Elevation 3520 ft (1073 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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TANAGA VOLCANO (VNUM #311080)
51°53'2" N 178°8'35" W, Summit Elevation 5925 ft (1806 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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WESTDAHL VOLCANO (VNUM #311340)
54°31'2" N 164°38'51" W, Summit Elevation 5118 ft (1560 m)
Current Volcano Alert Level: NORMAL
Current Aviation Color Code: GREEN

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OTHER ALASKA VOLCANOES

Information on all Alaska volcanoes is available at : http://www.avo.alaska.edu.

For definitions of Aviation Color Codes and Volcano Alert Levels, see: http://www.avo.alaska.edu/color_codes.php

SUBSCRIBE TO VOLCANO ALERT MESSAGES by email: http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/vns/

FOLLOW AVO ON FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/alaska.avo

FOLLOW AVO ON TWITTER: https://twitter.com/alaska_avo

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Michelle Coombs, Scientist-in-Charge, USGS
mcoombs@usgs.gov (907) 786-7497

David Fee, Coordinating Scientist, UAFGI
dfee1@alaska.edu (907) 322-4085

The Alaska Volcano Observatory is a cooperative program of the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, and the Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys.