Story last updated at 10:39 AM on Thursday, December 22, 2005

No dramatic increase in Augustine activity seen



BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
STAFF WRITER

Augustine Volcano had no dramatic increases in seismic activity last week. Compared to the weeks before the March 1986 eruption, the volcano 75 miles southwest of Homer has not shown a level of activity to suggest an imminent eruption, scientists from the Alaska Volcano Observatory said.

A small explosion last Thursday damaged and took out of service a seismic station.

With clear weather Tuesday afternoon, AVO scientists visited Augustine. They saw more fumaroles, or steam vents, and another gas plume. Last week Kachemak Bay residents reported a rotten egg smell, indicating hydrogen sulfide. Tuesday the plume was mainly sulfur dioxide gas, said Robert McGimsey, a U.S. Geological Survey volcanologist with AVO in Anchorage. Sulfur dioxide smells like a lit match, he said. Scientists also collected ash from buckets put out last week. They do not yet know if the ash is from the latest activity or old ash that has been disturbed. Augustine remains at code yellow. For updates, visit www.avo.alaska.edu.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.

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