Science & Environment

Scientists have downgraded the alert level at Makushin Volcano after a sustained pause in unrest. 

John Power, a geophysicist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory, said the seismicity has been steadily declining for months, following an earthquake sequence near the volcano that began in mid-June. 

A decades-long effort to bring geothermal power to Unalaska is finally moving forward. On Thursday, the city signed a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Ounalashka Corp./Chena Power, LLC for 30 megawatts of geothermal-produced electrical energy from nearby Makushin Volcano. Officials from the U.S. Department of Energy said that if it's successful, Unalaska would be the first community in the nation completely powered by geothermal energy. 

OptimERA has been experiencing outages over the past couple of days due to wildfires in Washington State, according to Jester Purtteman, Chief Technology Officer for the local internet provider. 

Purtteman said that the hub end of the company's satellite connection is surrounded by wildfires and has suffered multiple fiber-line breaks, which caused the outages. 

Scientists have downgraded the alert level at one of Alaska's most active volcanoes after a sustained pause in volcanic unrest. 

This comes after the Alaska Volcano Observatory  raised Cleveland Volcano's alert level to "advisory" early in the summer, after a short-lived explosion on the evening of June 1.

A storm early Sunday morning in Unalaska recorded high gusts of 120 mph.

The strong winds toppled boats, threw shipping containers into the bay, and even blew the windows out of American President Lines' crane. 

The rapidly developing storm, which moved from the North Pacific and across the Eastern Aleutians, was an intense storm for this time of year, according to climatologist Rick Thoman.