Three Volcanoes Have Erupted Simultaneously In Alaska

Three volcanoes on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska have commenced erupting simultaneously, according to a report by NBC News. This might sound like something that doomsday movies have often shown us, but actually is a not very uncommon phenomenon.?

Peggy Kruse / Alaska Volcano Obs / Reuters

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The Aleutian volcanoes in question here are Pavlof, Great Sitkin and Semisopochnoi. These volcanoes have been given the code ‘orange’ alert which means that the volcano has the potential to erupt or they’re erupting with minor emissions of ash. There are two more volcanoes that have been put under code ‘yellow’ alert, as they’re showing signs of instability and unrest.?

Pavlof that’s located at around 966 kilometres away from Anchorage, has low-level unrest with minimal ash emissions. Great Sitkin volcano, however, is close to the centre of the island and has lava continuously flowing from its crater. The third one, Semisopochnoi that’s located on an uninhabited island at the easternmost point of the US has been seeing numerous explosions, occasional strong seismic tremors as well as low-level ash emissions.?

These volcanoes are a part of the Aleutian Arc that consists of a chain of volcanoes that sits on the edge between two tectonic plates. These massive pieces of Earth’s crust that constantly keep bumping into each other causing earthquakes and volcanoes.

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Digital Globe via LiveScience

According to research geologist at Alaska Volcano Observatory Matthew Loewen in a conversation with NBC News the phenomenon of seeing multiple eruptions like this isn’t as uncommon as you’d think, “Alaska has a lot of volcanoes, and we typically see maybe one eruption every year, on average. To have three erupting at once is less common, but it does happen.”

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He added, "The Aleutian Arc sits between North America and Asia, so we have a lot of air travel going over and ash is very dangerous for airplanes. We're always paying attention to ash with our volcanoes in Alaska. It's keeping us on our toes. It’s definitely exciting and a busy time for us up here.”