ALASKAN VOLCANO SHOOTS ASH 8 MILES HIGH

Jan 17, 11:18 PM (ET)By JEANNETTE J. LEE

ABOVE AUGUSTINE VOLCANO, Alaska (AP) - Gray veins of ash crisscrossed the upper slopes of Augustine Volcano and a small steam cloud puffed from the summit following the island mount's latest explosion Tuesday.

The volcano in south-central Alaska resumed erupting after a three-day lull, scattering soft but abrasive ash into the mountainous Bristol Bay region to the west of the uninhabited island.

The 8 1/2-mile high eruption was "a little more energetic" than eight explosions last week on Augustine, according to Michelle Coombs, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Most of the previous eruptions sent ash plumes about 5 1/2 miles above Cook Inlet.

Winds shifted Tuesday's plume away from the Kenai Peninsula towns east of Augustine that had received light fallout from the volcano last week.

The blast from the snowy mountain, 180 miles southwest of Anchorage, started just before 8 a.m. and lasted five minutes.

Viewed from a small plane, a drab ash clouded drifted over Iliamna, a village of 90 people 60 miles northwest of the volcanic island. Pilot chatter described brown sludge in the waters surrounding the island.

Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory believe intermittent explosions will likely continue for days or weeks, but say there's little chance of a catastrophic eruption.
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