Alaskan volcano eruption escalates

摘要

An ongoing eruption of Alaska's Pavlof volcano intensified on 25 June, when it spewed an ash plume up to 8.5 kilometres high. Located 1,000 kilometres southwest of Anchorage, Pavlof is one of the state's most active volcanoes. It began erupting in mid-May (pictured on 18 May), and the Alaska Volcano Observatory is watching it closely because of its potential impact on aeroplane flights across the North Pacific. But four of the nine seismic stations that monitor Pavlof have stopped working in recent years, and budget cuts have prevented the observatory from repairing them. Funding cutbacks have halted real-time monitoring of at least four of Alaska's volcanoes. See go.nature. com/at8eue for more.