This week in my pre-kindergarten class we are studying the letter “V.”  Obviously we would study “V” the week of Valentine’s Day, the week of giving and receiving love.  But I’ll save my love letter for my next post; what I want to talk about is the other exciting thing we study during “V” week-volcanoes!

Students of all ages love stories about volcanoes.  Volcanoes are so powerful, and unpredictable.  These natural wonders give teachers the perfect opportunity to study history and science.  For example, look at all of the history we learn from the city of Pompeii.  This amazing city was perfectly preserved under tons of ash from the volcanic blast of Mount Vesuvius.  The discovery of Pompeii gives us a picture of what life was like in that ancient city.  History literally unburied.  From this history we can ask students why the people of that city didn’t flee and save themselves.  This is where the science comes in.  The people of Pompeii had no warning. 

At this very moment in our history, scientists, seismic experts from the Alaska Volcano Observatory are monitoring one of the nation’s highest-threat volcanoes.  Mount Redoubt, located on the Kenai Peninsula, 106 miles southwest of Anchorage is being watched round-the-clock.  One of the latest activity reports a vapor plume rising above the volcano’s summit crater.  There are holes melting in the upper Drift glacier.  The melting glacier on the side of Mt. Redoubt means that heat from the magma is moving up to higher elevations.  Many folks have written in to ask, “Will Mount Redoubts activity have any effect on Iditarod XXXVII?”  At this point, we don’t know for sure, but probably not.   But unlike Pompeii, today scientists can give us fair warning of any potential eruptions.  The Alaska Volcano Observatory is a wonderful example of how science can help save lives and protect property.

Here is a little scientific history of Mount Redoubt’s last series of eruptions that took place in late 1989 through early 1990.  During that eruption, the second most costly in the history of the U.S., ash clouds disrupted national and international air traffic and mudflows threatened an oil storage facility near Cook Inlet.  But perhaps the scariest event occurred on December 15, 1989.  A Boeing 747 flying 150 miles northeast of Anchorage encountered an ash cloud and lost power in all four engines.  The plane, with 231 passengers on board, dropped more than 9,800 feet before the flight crew was able to restart the engines.  Thankfully they landed safely.

Currently the Mount Redoubt volcano alert is set at orange, the level just below actual eruption.  Just as in 1989, an eruption can interrupt or interfere with air traffic.  But the falling ash from an eruption presents the greatest danger to residents of Alaska, so they have been preparing themselves by purchasing protective goggles and facemasks.  And who knows-maybe we will see mushers wearing facemasks at the start of this Iditarod!