VOLCANIC CLOUDS IN MOTION

From Spaceweather

Alaska’s Mt. Redoubt volcano has erupted at least 19 times since March 22nd, and several of the larger blasts have hurled plumes of ash and gas into the lower stratosphere. The GOME-2 (Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment) sensor onboard Europe’s MetOp-A satellite is tracking Mt. Redoubt’s sulfur dioxide clouds, colored red in this 5-day animation:

click here for 5 Day Scan of Volcanic Clouds

The sequence begins on March 25th and ends on the 29th. One cloud has just crossed North America en route to Europe; a second cloud is leaving Alaska on the same east-west track. The last time an Alaskan volcano blew its top (Kasatochi in 2008), clouds like these caused fantastic sunsets around the northern hemisphere. More could be in the offing. If you live along the SO2 ground track, keep an eye on the twilight sky for signs of Redoubt.

UPDATE: Flying photographer Brian Whittaker has spotted one of these clouds from an airplane 39,000 ft above the Canadian Rockies. Click here for his account and a spectacular photo.