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Read most of it. It's curious that they only mention ash, because that in itself wouldn't be terribly devastating to the landscape. People, animals, and other living things would definitely be displaced because of it, but I can't imagine it doing anything particularly destructive to the landscape. But, that's what they detailed in that report....they didn't mention any other form of pyroclastic material from previous eruptions, such as boulders or stones. Judging by its size, I'm going to assume it is a composite volcano, an that makes me less and less inclined to believe the material that would erupt from it would be exclusively ash. Perhaps the article just lacks historical data. It is just a small article, but I thought they'd have detailed past eruptions a little.

Interesting enough, though, it appears that a 1989 eruption of that volcano was the first ever eruption to be accurately predicted.

I remember reading reports (Can't remember where I found them, but I think they were USGS) of when St. Helens went up, that Mt. Rainier, the larger of the two in this state had some minor activity, and it was feared that the magma pocket the two connected to could have set off Rainier.

And touching on the movie side of things, the movie Dante's Peak, was based off the 1980 St. Helens eruption, and one cool tidbit, is that there was a scene filmed in the crater of St. Helens before it closed to general audiences, due to recent activity.

All in all, hopefully Mount Redoubt doesn't erupt...that's about the last thing this country needs on it's plate.

I agree. I skimmed through that article on Mt. Saint Helens, and it is concerning to hear that that volcano had small eruptions prior to the big one....something they apparently observed for Mt. Redoubt. Another thing of particular concern is that you said Alaska is ringed by volcanoes - depending on how large this eruption could be, it may set off a chain reaction. Perhaps by the tremors from the eruption itself - that's got to send huge shockwaves through the lithosphereic plates, and could perhaps force magma to the surface of others. Earthquakes, like you said, may be a possibility.

Something also, but I've got no factual information to back this up, it is merely an observation. The amount of snow in Alaska surely contributes to the amount of snow on the mountains. This could serve as a negative. Due to the possibility of the vaporization of water during the eruption, I wonder if the water vapor could add to the explosive force, propelling the pyroclastic material further than it would have otherwise gone. This is purely hypothetical, I'm just wondering what you might think about this. It seems logical to me, but I could be way off factually.

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I actually saw Dante's Peak. It was a good movie, and that is very interesting that they filmed some of the crater of Mount St. Helens prior to the eruption. I wonder if Mount Redoubt is connected to any other volcanoes via a magma pocket.

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I'd like to draw attention to these two links:

http://www.stowe.k12.vt.us/SHS/teachers/kiefer/escience/eqproject/es7/Jordan-Alaska/Web%20Pages/Plate%20Tectonics_files/image004.gif

and

http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID504/slideshows/redoubt%20430%20map.jpg

The first one shows plate movements. I had assumed Alaska was on the Pacific plate, but I was wrong. However, the general location is near the border of the Pacific plate. I'd also like to point out that the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes appears to run along the Aleutian Trench, I just wonder if seismic tremors from Redoubt, should it erupt, could travel this far...

There also appears to be a volcano below Redoubt, named Iliamna. This volcano appears to have had recent seismic activity too. Here's an article on that:

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF13/1300.html

Thoughts on a possible connection?

That link doesn't work. "article does not exist"

Anyways, it seems Redoubt has erupted twice today (Thursday)...one column of ash going up to 65,000 feet in the air. Here's the article. Neat stuff, I just hope that there will be no significant damage, or deaths.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29898497/

Well, I clicked the link again, and it works now. XD Typical Comcast...

Yeah, I dunno if there is much more data they can uncover about how volcanoes function, though I'm sure if we could access USGS data logs, it'd be an overflow of neat stuff to view.

Either that, or it's the news sites, dumbing down the content for those who aren't interested in the science behind nature. I may have to see if I can find anything else.

EDIT: http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php