There are active volcanoes in Alaska, especially now including Mt. Redoubt. It appears likely to erupt as of this writing, and I'm not expecting to be on the top of things when it does. The Alaska Volcano Observatory is the best source of current information, and they are using twitter at @alaska_avo for updates.
Here are some sources for Alaska volcano maps – so you know where things are, how far apart the various places are, and what might be downwind.
Mt. Redoubt is in the Cook Inlet part of Alaska, near Anchorage. This map shows distances and links to the AVO's pages on the various volcanoes in this area. Mt. Redoubt is also historically known as Ujakushatsch, Viesokaia, Goreloi, Mirando, Redoubt Volcano, Redoubt, Mt., Yjakushatsch, Burnt Mtn., Goryalaya, Redoute Mtn. and Redutskaya, Sopka.
The Smithsonian has a collection of satellite imagery from volcanoes around the world. Here are their satellite photos of Mt. Redoubt from the ASTER Volcano Archive. These will load into Google Earth as KML files as well. The "plain" imagery from this are about 30 megapixels apiece and are from 2000; here's a piece of one of them.
Edward Vielmetti's Wordpress weblog 
Much more good volcano info is at the Eruptions weblog:
http://eruptions.wordpress.com/
Dr. Erik Klemetti writes it, and he explains:
“I am a postdoctoral scholar in igneous petrology/volcanology at UC Davis. I am fascinated by volcanoes, their eruptions and how those eruptions interact with the people who live around the volcanoes. I have worked on volcanoes in Chile, New Zealand and the United States.
I started this blog after getting frustrated with the news reports of volcanic eruptions. Most of them get the information wrong and/or are just sensationalistic. I will try to summarize eruptions as they occur, translate some of the volcanic processes that are happening and comment on the reports themselves.”
Geology.com has AVO/USGS photos:
http://geology.com/usgs/redoubt-volcano-photos/signs-of-activity.shtml
“Oblique photo of the north flank of Redoubt Volcano showing recent fumarole activity. The vigorous steam and gas plume is coming from a large fumarole that developed between January 28 and January 30, 2009. Photograph by Kristi Wallace, AVO/USGS, January 30, 2009.”
Anchorage Daily News:
http://www.adn.com/626/story/673773.html
Oil Terminal sits in harm’s way of Redoubt
SECRECY: Citing homeland security, officials give out little information about the plant’s status.
By TOM KIZZIA
tkizzia@adn.com
Published: January 30th, 2009 05:29 PM
Last Modified: January 31st, 2009 03:58 AM
“When Mount Redoubt erupted 20 years ago, massive floods and raining pumice raised immediate alarms over the Drift River Oil Terminal, with its storage tanks of crude oil sitting at the foot of the volcano.”
http://www.chevron-pipeline.com/cookinlet.asp
The Cook Inlet Pipeline provides crude oil transportation services to producers in and around Alaska’s prominent Cook Inlet. Crude is gathered from fields on the west side of the Cook Inlet and carried through the pipeline to the nearby Drift River Marine Terminal. The pipeline was designed with a flow rate of 225,000 BOPD, traveling through 42 miles of 20 inch pipe.
The Drift River Marine Terminal, which has crude oil storage capacity in excess of 1 million barrels, receives crude from the pipeline into storage for subsequent delivery to tankers berthed at the Christy Lee Platform. Most of the crude is delivered into the local refinery market.
The Cook Inlet pipeline and terminal assets are owned by Cook Inlet Pipeline Company, a Delaware corporation; current owners are Union Oil Company of California, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation (50%), Pacific Energy Resources (50%). Cook Inlet Pipeline Company is authorized per the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to operate the assets under its filed tariff conditions. Chevron Pipe Line Company operates the facilities.
Chevron Pipe Line Company, 4800 Fournace Pl. Bellaire , TX 77401 Tel.: (713) 432-6000
The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center from NOAA distributes alerts to aviation about volcanoes –
http://aawu.arh.noaa.gov/vaac.php
Why Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers?
* A Boeing 747 will travel 9 miles every minute and 540 miles in an hour.
* Volcanic ash clouds can cause jet engines to stall.
* You want your pilot to know ASAP about volcanic eruptions and ash clouds ahead of your aircraft.
http://www.amc.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123133551
McChord receives Alaska-based Airmen, aircraft as precaution to volcano
McChord receives Alaska-based Airmen, aircraft as precaution to volcano
A C-17 Globemaster III from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, taxis on the flightine during a mobility exercise at McChord in August 2008. (U.S. Air Force photo/Abner Guzman)
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by 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs
2/2/2009 – MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. — Airmen at McChord Air Force Base are receiving a precautionary redeployment of Air Force aircraft from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska to McChord Air Force Base. The aircraft and approximately 200 Airmen who operate and maintain them are being temporarily relocated in light of increased activity associated with Mount Redoubt volcano, located approximately 100-miles from Elmendorf AFB.
Three Air Force Reserve Command C-130Js on assignment from Mississippi to Alaska relocated to McChord Saturday; three Pacific Air Forces C-17s will arrive at McChord late tonight. Other aircraft may arrive within the next 24 to 48 hours. McChord leadership anticipates the redeployment to last two to four weeks at a minimum.
McChord’s own C-17 strategic airlift mission makes the base ideally suited to host the relocated aircraft and allows the Elmendorf Airmen to continue to meet mission and training requirements.
“Our ability to quickly receive additional air power on short notice and continue to support the nation’s worldwide strategic airlift requirements is a capability long-associated with McChord,” said Col. Jeffrey Stephenson, McChord’s 62nd Airlift Wing commander. “We’ve supported evacuations in the past, and we will gladly support our fellow Airmen from Elmendorf as long as they need us.”
This Google Earth Community page has some maps and mapping discussion of Mt. Redoubt:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1197157
excerpted
The attached KML file links to the attachment to Google Earth Community: Volcanos near Anchorage Alaska. Activate the Google Earth Volcanoes layer for detailed information.
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=765123&filename=AnchorageVolcanoesLink.kml
From UAF Fairbanks, the PUFF model of the 1989 Mt. Redoubt eruption, plus KML and animations of that event and the aircraft incident associated with it.
http://puff.images.alaska.edu/Redoubt_webpage/Puff_redoubt_ash.shtml
Redoubt volcano (60.42oN, 152.74oW, 3108 m ASL) is situated 166 km (103 miles) south west from Anchorage, see Figure 1 (adapted from Miller and Chouet, 1994). During December 1989, Mount Redoubt volcano produced numerous volcanic eruptions and on December 15th, an international aircraft flying from Amsterdam to Anchorage encountered a resulting volcanic ash cloud that shut all 4 engines down. This eruption resulted in a nearly catastrophic encounter between airborne ash and the Boeing 747 jet aircraft (most of southern Alaska was completely covered by meteorological clouds on that day). The eruption started at 10:15 am AKST (19:15 UTC) and produced an ash cloud to 40,000 ft altitude. The Boeing 747 aircraft entered the ash cloud at approximately 25,000 ft, 150 miles north-northeast from Mount Redoubt. Table 1 below show the details of the aircraft encounter, from Figure 2 (adapted from Casadevall, 1994).
a photo from Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feltalive/3250303899/
the quote from the photographer “feltalive”:
“I remember when it blew back in 1989 – we were dusted pretty heavily with ash. I still have a spice jar full that I gathered off of the hood of my car. ”
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090203-alaska-volcano-pictures-redoubt.html
February 3, 2009—Volcanic smoke and gas from two new holes eat through snow and ice high on Alaska’s Redoubt Volcano on Saturday—one of them (left) about the size of a football field.
“Things are shifting” on, and in, the 10,197-foot (3,108-meter) volcano—considered the ninth most dangerous in the U.S.—said geologist Kristi Wallace of the Alaska Volcano Observatory, who was on a survey flight over the two big fumaroles yesterday (Redoubt Volcano satellite map).
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/activity/methods/hydrologic/afm_redoubt.php
“1989-90 Eruption of Redoubt Volcano, Alaska, and the First Test Case of a USGS Lahar-Detection System”
A good account of the impact of the last time Redoubt erupted, with photos of the Drift River terminal. a quote
“Oil tanks of the Drift River terminal temporarily store oil from about 10 oil platforms in Cook Inlet before the oil is pumped into tankers just offshore. The largest lahar from Redoubt Volcano on January 2, 1990, flooded part of the terminal with muddy water. The tanks can store up to 1.9 billion barrels of oil. ”
This Smithsonian “Global Volcanism Program” page has a good photo.
http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1103-03-
“Redoubt is a 3108-m-high glacier-covered stratovolcano with a breached summit crater in Lake Clark National Park about 170 km SW of Anchorage. Next to Mount Spurr, Redoubt has been the most active Holocene volcano in the upper Cook Inlet. The volcano was constructed beginning about 890,000 years ago over Mesozoic granitic rocks of the Alaska-Aleutian Range batholith. Collapse of the summit of Redoubt 10,500-13,000 years ago produced a major debris avalanche that reached Cook Inlet. Holocene activity has included the emplacement of a large debris avalanche and clay-rich lahars that dammed Lake Crescent on the south side and reached Cook Inlet about 3500 years ago. Eruptions during the past few centuries have affected only the Drift River drainage on the north. Historical eruptions have originated from a vent at the north end of the 1.8-km-wide breached summit crater. The 1989-90 eruption of Redoubt had severe economic impact on the Cook Inlet region and affected air traffic far beyond the volcano.”
This is a long and well researched post with a bunch of links to current seismic and photo information about Mt Redoubt
http://emsnews.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/49-quake-at-mt-redoubt-area/
but some of the comments have an odd ring to them; read them at least with appropriate caution.
Flying through volcanic ash can be extremely dangerous. Here’s testimony regarding KLM 867, a 747 which lost 4 engines when it flew through the last Mt. Redoubt eruption.
http://www.alpa.org/DesktopModules/ALPA_Documents/ALPA_DocumentsView.aspx?itemid=3303&ModuleId=4676&Tabid=206
Video/Voice/Recording plays for 57 seconds for Members and audience at hearing …
PILOT KLM B-747 – “KLM 867 HEAVY IS REACHING {FLIGHT} LEVEL 250 HEADING 140”
ANCHORAGE CENTER – “OKAY, DO YOU HAVE GOOD SIGHT ON THE ASH PLUME AT THIS TIME?”
PILOT KLM B-747 – “YEA, IT’S JUST CLOUDY IT COULD BE ASHES. IT’S JUST A LITTLE BROWNER THAN THE NORMAL CLOUD.”
PILOT KLM B-747 – “WE HAVE TO GO LEFT NOW… IT’S SMOKY IN THE COCKPIT AT THE MOMENT SIR.”
ANCHORAGE CENTER – “KLM 867 HEAVY, ROGER, LEFT AT YOUR DISCRETION.”
PILOT KLM B-747 – “CLIMBING TO {FLIGHT} LEVEL 390, WE’RE IN A BLACK CLOUD, HEADING 130.”
PILOT KLM B-747 – “KLM 867 WE HAVE FLAME OUT ALL ENGINES AND WE ARE DESCENDING NOW!”
ANCHORAGE CENTER – “KLM 867 HEAVY ANCHORAGE?”
PILOT KLM B747 – “KLM 867 HEAVY WE ARE DESCENDING NOW … WE ARE IN A FALL!”
PILOT KLM B-747 – “KLM 867 WE NEED ALL THE ASSISTANCE YOU HAVE SIR. GIVE US RADAR VECTORS PLEASE!”
How to vacuum up volcanic ash, as noted after Mt. St. Helens blew:
http://www.emd.wa.gov/hazards/haz_removing_volcanic_ash_from_inside_home.shtml
# Check the machine often when using the vacuum.
* Bags should be emptied frequently, perhaps when a third full.
* Because the ash is heavy in comparison to normal household soil, the capacity of the bag will be decreased.
* Check the vacuum’s filter after every use.
# Be alert to the heat of the motor.
* If it feels warm to your hand, stop the machine and allow it to cool.
* Overheating usually means the bag is at capacity, the filter needs cleaning, or the appliance is working too hard.
http://www.elmendorf.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123133666
ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska — Capt. Constance Wilkes, 3rd Wing Legal, offers legal services to Airman 1st Class David Morris, 703rd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, in preperation for his deployment to McChord Air Force Base Feb. 1, 2009. Five C-17 Globemaster IIIs and around 130 operations and maintenance personnel are heading to McChord AFB as a precautionary measure due to increased activity associated with Mount Redoubt. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Jonathan Steffen)
http://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/notam_actual_9_3592.html
FDC 9/3592 ZAN AK.. FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS MT. REDOUBT VOLCANO, COOK INLET, ALASKA. EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. PURSUANT TO 14 CFR SECTION 91.137(A)(3) TEMPORARY FLIGHT RESTRICTIONS ARE IN EFFECT FOR INCREASED SEISMIC ACTIVITY AT MT. REDOUBT VOLCANO. AN ERUPTIVE EVENT MAY OCCUR WITHIN DAYS OR WEEKS. IN THE EVENT OF AN ERUPTION, THIS TFR WILL BE REPLACED WITH 91.137(A)(1), DIMENSIONS TO BE ADJUSTED AS CONDITIONS DEMAND. WITHIN A 10 NAUTICAL MILE RADIUS OF 602915N/1524430W OR THE KENAI /ENA/ VOR/DME 236 DEGREE RADIAL AT 46.4 NAUTICAL MILES AT AND BELOW FL600. USGS – ALASKA VOLCANO OBSERVATORY, TELEPHONE 907-786-7497, IS IN CHARGE OF THE OPERATION. ANCHORAGE /ZAN/ ARTCC, TELEPHONE 907-269-1103, IS THE FAA COORDINATION FACILITY.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs030-97/
Several times during the summer of 1992, ash clouds from explosive eruptions at Mount Spurr volcano, Alaska, significantly disrupted air traffic across the United States and Canada. In August, ash fall from one of these eruptions shut down Anchorage International Airport for 20 hours. The map (top composite satellite image) shows the movement of the ash cloud from the September 16-17, 1992, eruption of Mount Spurr. Photo shows an Alaska Volcano Observatory scientist installing a seismometer near Mount Spurr (in background). Map by David Schneider, Michigan Technological University.)
The Anchorage Daily News reprinted their original 1989 story about the Boeing 747 that stalled out in the Mt Redoubt volcano ash cloud:
http://www.adn.com/3322/story/672169.html
Volcano’s ash kills 747’s engines
Pilot restarts them, lands jet safely
Larry Campbell / Anchorage Daily News
Published: December 16th, 1989 02:33 PM
Last Modified: January 29th, 2009 02:33 PM
Editor’s note: This story was originally published December 16, 1989
A KLM Boeing 747 was about 5 miles up and headed for Anchorage Friday when it flew into a cloud of ash from Redoubt Volcano and its four powerful turbofan engines stopped.
“We went into this steep descent, ” said passenger David Farrell, a 20yearold West High School graduate coming home for the holidays after studies in London. “It was the worst thing I’ve ever been through, like there was just this weight pulling down on the nose of the plane.
“It was dark. People were screaming, throwing up. It was like you can imagine. Pretty near panic.”
“The stewardesses cried, “Everybody, put seat belts on, ‘ ” passenger Karl Schnuerl said. “Some tried. Everybody just held on.”
http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/volcano.cfm?vnum=1103-03-&volpage=sources
Here’s the bibliography from the Smithsonian’s volcano reference page for Mt. Redoubt.
Alaska Volcano Observatory Staff, 1990. The 1989-1990 eruption of Redoubt volcano. Eos, Trans Amer Geophys Union, 71: 265-275
Beget J E, Nye C J, 1994. Postglacial eruption history of Mt. Redoubt, Alaska. J Volc Geotherm Res, 62: 31-54
Beget J E, Stihler S D, Stone D B, 1994. A 500-year-long record of tephra falls from Mt. Redoubt and other volcanoes in upper Cook Inlet, Alaska. J Volc Geotherm Res, 62: 55-67
Beget J, Gardner C, Davis K, 2008. Volcanic tsunamis and prehistorical cultural transitions in Cook Inlet, Alaska. J Volc Geotherm Res, 176: 377-386
Brantley S R (ed), 1990. The eruptions of Redoubt volcano, Alaska December 14, 1989 – August 31, 1990. U S Geol Surv Circ, 1061: 1-33
Coats R R, 1950. Volcanic activity in the Aleutian Arc. U S Geol Surv Bull, 974-B: 35-47
Decker R W, 1967. Investigations at active volcanoes. Eos, Trans Amer Geophys Union, 48: 639-647
Gardner C A, Neal C A, Waitt R B, Janda R J, 1994. Proximal pyroclastic deposits from the 1989-1990 eurption of Redoubt volcano Alaska–stratigraphy, distribution, and physical characteristics. J Volc Geotherm Res, 62: 213-250
Henning R A, Rosenthal C H, Olds B, Reading E (eds), 1976. Alaska’s volcanoes, northern link in the ring of fire. Alaska Geog, 4: 1-88
IAVCEI, 1973-80. Post-Miocene Volcanoes of the World. IAVCEI Data Sheets, Rome: Internatl Assoc Volc Chemistry Earth’s Interior.
Kienle J, Swanson S E, 1983. Volcanism in the eastern Aleutian Arc: late Quaternary and Holocene centers, tectonic setting and petrology. J Volc Geotherm Res, 17: 393-432
Miller T P, 1994. Dome growth and destruction during the 1989-1990 eruption of Redoubt volcano. J Volc Geotherm Res, 62: 197-212
Miller T P, Chouet B A, 1994. The 1989-1990 eruptions of Redoubt volcano: an introduction. J Volc Geotherm Res, 61: 1-10
Miller T P, McGimsey R G, Richter D H, Riehle J R, Nye C J, Yount M E, Dumoulin J A, 1998. Catalogue of the historically active volcanoes of Alaska. U S Geol Surv Open-File Rpt, 98-582: 1-104
Motyka R J, Liss S A, Nye C J, Moorman M A, 1993. Geothermal resources of the Aleutian arc. Alaska Div Geol Geophys Surv, Prof Rpt, no 114, 17 p and 4 map sheets
Riehle J R, 1985. A reconnaissance of the major Holocene tephra deposits in the Upper Cook Inlet Region, Alaska. J Volc Geotherm Res, 26: 37-74
Riehle J R, Kienle J, Emmel K S, 1981. Lahars in Crescent River valley, lower Cook Inlet, Alaska. Alaskan Geol Geophys Surv Geol Rpt, 53: 1-10
Scott W E, McGimsey R G, 1994. Character, mass, distribution, and origin of tephra-fall deposits of the 1989-1990 eruption of Redoubt volcano, Alaska. J Volc Geotherm Res, 62: 251-172
Smith R L, Shaw H R, Luedke R G, Russell S L, 1978. Comprehensive tables giving physical data and thermal energy estimates for young igneous systems of the United States. U S Geol Surv Open-File Rpt, 78-925: 1-25
Smithsonian Institution-GVN, 1990-. [Monthly event reports]. Bull Global Volc Network, v 15-33
Smithsonian Institution-SEAN, 1975-89. [Monthly event reports]. Bull Scientific Event Alert Network (SEAN), v 1-14
Till A B, Yount M E, Bevier M L, 1994. The geologic history of Redoubt volcano, Alaska. J Volc Geotherm Res, 62: 11-30
Volcanological Society of Japan, 1960-96. Bull Volc Eruptions, no 1-33. [Annual reports issued 1 to 3 years after event year, published since 1986 in Bull Volc]
Waythomas C F, Dorava J M, Miller T P, Neal C A, McGimsey R G, 1998. Preliminary volcano-hazard assessment for Redoubt volcano, Alaska. U S Geol Surv Open-File Rpt, 97-857: 1-40
Wilson C R, Forbes R B, 1969. Infrasonic waves from Alaskan volcanic eruptions. J Geophys Res, 74: 4511-4522
Wood C A, Kienle J (eds), 1990. Volcanoes of North America. Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ Press, 354 p
Wright T L, 1971b. Investigations at active volcanoes. In: Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology, U.S. National Report, l967-1971, Fifteenth General Assembly, IUGG: Eos, Trans Amer Geophys Union, 52(5): 57-62
Boeing Aero 09: Volcanic Ash Avoidance
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/aeromagazine/aero_09/volcanic_story.html
In the past 30 years, more than 90 jet-powered commercial airplanes have encountered clouds of volcanic ash and suffered damage as a result. The increased availability of satellites and the technology to transform satellite data into useful information for operators have reduced the number of volcanic ash encounters. However, further coordination and cooperation, including linking operators and their dispatchers to the network of government volcano observers, is required throughout the industry. Boeing has always advocated that flight crews avoid volcanic ash clouds or exit them immediately if an encounter occurs. The company also recommends specific procedures for flight crews to follow if they cannot avoid an encounter.
Flight crews will be better prepared to avoid volcanic ash clouds and take the appropriate actions during an encounter if they understand the following information:
1. Results of past events involving volcanic ash.
2. Resources available to help avoid ash encounters.
3. Specific flight crew actions required in response to encounters.
Mt Redoubt has erupted.
Best place to look for news is on the new home of the Eruptions blog:
http://scienceblogs.com/eruptions/
which says about itself:
Hi! You’re looking at Eruptions, a blog dedicated to volcanism. Your host is Dr. Erik Klemetti, a geologist who spends most of his professional time thinking about magma. Looking for info on the latest eruption? You’ve found the place.