Alaska Volcano: Cleveland Ash Plume Puts Airlines on Alert

(REUTERS) - Scientists were watching a remote Alaska volcano on Friday, a day after it belched out an ash cloud that quickly dissipated, and officials said airline flights over the region had not been disrupted.

Ash from the 5,676-foot (1,730-metre) Cleveland Volcano is considered potentially dangerous to aircraft because the peak lies directly below commercial flight paths between Asia and North America. Another ash-producing explosion could come without warning.

Thursday's explosion at the Cleveland Volcano in the Aleutian Islands sent a plume 15,000 feet (5,000 metres) into the air, but it dissipated within hours, said Cheryl Searcy, a geophysicist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

It was a pretty small little burp out of it, Searcy said. As of now, we have not had any more of those.

The volcano, located 940 miles (1,500 km) southwest of Anchorage in a remote area where scientists lack on-site monitoring instruments, sent ash clouds as high as 39,000 feet (12,000 metres) in 2001.

So it is possible that it really can put a major plume into the atmosphere, Searcy said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Mike Fergus said all airlines with operations in the U.S. Northwest were notified of the eruption, but he was not aware of any planes being diverted or deviating from flight plans as a result.

He noted that commercial planes typically fly above 15,000 feet, the level of the ash plume. Officials from United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines said there were no disruptions to their flights.

Cleveland, on the uninhabited Chuginadak Island, is one of Alaska's 90 active volcanoes and has been in an eruptive phase since July, when lava started oozing out of the crater and forming a hardened dome. Scientists keep tabs on the mountain with satellite data, eyewitness reports and video from mariners and pilots.

(Additional reporting by Kyle Peterson: Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Cynthia Johnston)