Mount Redoubt time line </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 11:08 PM on Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Mount Redoubt time line

Jul-08	Alaska Volcano Observatory field crews report smelling hydrogen sulfide gas from Mount Redoubt.
September	Workers from the Drift River Terminal, about 22 miles downstream from Redoubt, report smelling hydrogen sulfide gas. Redoubt is at aviation code green and alert level normal.
Oct. 13	Observers on an AVO overflight report seeing bare, steaming rock on Redoubt, including a 150-foot wide melt hole on the Drift Glacier.
Nov. 5, 2008	AVO changes the aviation code to yellow and the alert level to advisory following changes in gas emissions and heat output.
Jan. 25, 2009	AVO changes the alert level to orange/watch. Scientists observe increased seismic tremors above background levels and outflows of muddy debris down Drift Glacier.
15-Mar	Redoubt ejects a gas and steam plume about 15,000 above sea level.
18-Mar	AVO changes the alert level to yellow/advisory.
21-Mar	Seismic activity continues, and a 1,000-foot steam plume rises above Redobut.
March 21, 10:09 p.m.	AVO raises the alert to orange/watch. Seismic activity increases.
March 22, 12:49 p.m.	Shallow earthquake activity increases to as many as 26 events per 10 minutes.
March 22, 10:56 p.m.	Redoubt erupts, with a cloud rising 20,000 feet above sea level. AVO raises the alert level to red/warning.
March 22, 11:26 p.m.	Redoubt blows a cloud 50,000 feet above sea level.
March 22, 5 a.m.	By morning, Redoubt explodes five times, with each explosion lasting from four to 30 minutes and ending at 5 a.m. Ash clouds rise 60,000 feet above sea level with traces reported in Skwentna, Talkeetna, Wasilla and Trapper Creek. Parts of the Drift Glacier melt. One seismic station is destroyed.
March 23, 7:41 p.m.	Redoubt erupts for 17 minutes, sending an ash cloud up 50,000 feet. Pyroclastic flows were visible in web camera images. A lahar, or muddy flow of ice, water, mud and debris, traveled down the Drift River valley to Cook Inlet, with high water marks 20-25 feet above the valley floor. An ash deposit of 2 inches is seen about 7 miles from the summit.
March 25, 5:53 a.m.	Redoubt erupts for about 10 minutes, throwing up a 15,000-foot ash cloud.
March 25, 1:56 p.m.	Seismic activity declines and AVO lowers the alert level to orange/watch. Scientists speculate that lava had extruded at the summit, but cannot confirm this visually.
March 26, 8:56 a.m.	Redoubt explodes with an ash cloud 30,000 feet above sea level. AVO raises the alert code to red/warning.
March 26, 9:24 p.m.	Redoubt explodes with an ash cloud 65,000 feet above sea level. The National Weather Service issues an ash advisory for the lower Kenai Peninsula from noon-4 p.m. A lahar is detected on the Drift River.
March 26, 12:33 p.m.	Redoubt explodes again with an ash cloud 65,000 feet high. Ash begins falling on Ninilchik, Anchor Point, Homer and the southern shore Kachemak Bay villages.
March 26, 11:48 p.m.	Redoubt explodes with a 32,000-foot ash cloud.
March 27, 8:40 a.m.	Redoubt explodes with a 50,000-foot ash cloud.
March 27, 5:30 p.m.	Redoubt explodes with a 40,000-foot ash cloud.
March 27, 7:25 p.m.	Redoubt explodes with a 51,000-foot ash cloud.
March 27, 11:20 p.m.	Redoubt explodes with a 40,000-foot ash cloud.
March 28, 1:20 a.m.	Redoubt explodes with a 50,000-foot ash cloud. Bretwood Higman of Seldovia photographs lightning during the night time explosions.
March 28, 1:40 p.m.	Redoubt explodes with a 25,000-foot ash cloud.
March 28, 3:29 p.m.	Redoubt explodes with a 35,000-foot ash cloud.
March 28, 7:23 p.m.	Redoubt explodes with a 45,000-foot ash cloud. Ash begins falling on Anchorage and Nikiski.
March 29, 11:14 p.m.	Redoubt appears to explode, but AVO later refines its report to say that an eruption did not occur. The National Weather Service reports steam clouds at 20,000 feet.
March 30, 9:44 a.m.	Redoubt explodes for about 10 minutes with a 27,000-foot ash cloud.
March 30, 11:56 p.m.	AVO reports Redoubt has been emitting ash continuously over the previous 12 hours, with plumes at 20,000-27,000 feet.
March 31, 12:48 p.m.	Continuous emissions of steam, gases and trace amounts of ash continue with heights of 15,000-25,000 feet. Satellite images show volcanic haze east of the volcano over the Kenai Peninsula, the Anchorage bowl and the Matanuska and Susitna river valleys. A satellite image shows a thermal anomaly at the vent, possibly due to an extrusion of a lava dome.
April 1, 12:03 p.m.	Redoubt continues to steam.