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Anatahan ash cloud continues to hinder flights
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Posted on Feb 14 2005
Anatahan’s erupting volcano continues to emit ash and steam that affects air navigation, sometimes resulting in zero visibility for aircraft.
An aircraft coming from Manila to Saipan experienced zero visibility before landing at the Francisco C. Ada-Saipan International Airport yesterday morning, prompting the carrier’s pilots to fly around the island and search for a clearer approach to the runway. The passenger aircraft landed safely at the airport, but the hazy condition delayed its arrival.
At about 9:09am yesterday, the Washington Volcanic Ash Advisory Center reported that a plume of ash extended southwest of the volcano at an altitude of about 14,000 feet. The plume extended by about 10-15 nautical miles wide.
Later in the afternoon, the VAAC reported that ash plume was below an altitude of 9,000 feet and extended southwest of the volcano by about 250 nautical miles. The VAAC also forecasted that the plume would be more westerly within the next 12 hours.
Emergency Management Office director Rudolfo Pua said no haze advisory was in effect yesterday, saying that the wind was blowing in a west-southwest direction.
The volcanic eruptions continue, but the EMO and the U.S. Geological Survey said in a joint report that their magnitude have been declining in the past few days. During the eruptions’ peak on Jan. 26 and Feb. 1, however, the volcano spewed ash to about 15,000-20,000 feet, according to both agencies.
The third historical eruption of Anatahan’s volcano began on Jan. 5. The activity escalated as the volcano threw out pyroclastic rocks that have diameters of a meter and over.
The volcano first erupted after centuries of dormancy on May 10, 2003, with ash plume rising to an altitude of over 30,000 feet that covered over 1-million-square kilometers of airspace above the Pacific Ocean and reached Philippine jurisdiction. That eruption, which ceased by mid-June that year, deposited about 10-million cubic meters of material over Anatahan Island and the sea.
The second series of volcanic eruptions occurred from April to June last year.
