Alaska Dirt Moves South for the Winter

The Mt. Augustine eruption of last January sent huge clouds of dust high into the atmosphere. Winds in the jet stream near 20,000 feet carried the dust great distances. As the winds were toward the southwest at the time, the Augustine dust traveled down the Alaska Panhandle to Seattle and finally to Arizona before the wind changed, causing the dust to veer up toward the central United States.

The actual paths, deduced mainly from meteorological observations, of two known eruption clouds are shown on the map. At the time the dust cloud was predicted to pass over Arizona, Prof. Aden Meinel, the founder of the Kitt Peak Astronomical Observatory, and his wife, Majorie, saw, at Tucson, a strange-colored, billowy cloud passing over the sky. They took several photographs of the cloud. Later, they saw a colorful red, glowing sunset, that indicated the cloud was a high altitude one. They suspected then, but did not know, that a volcano had erupted somewhere.

Other observers also saw the dust, but the dust clouds thinned and were practically bone by the time they passed out over the Atlantic. Though looked for in North America after round-the world-transit, the clouds were not observed again.

One reason for the interest in such events is the possibility of global climatic changes brought on by extensive dust layers from volcanism.