ALASKA VOLCANO OBSERVATORY: OUTREACH, EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION, ONE ERUPTION AT A TIME

The 2005-2006 eruption of Augustine Volcano in Alaska's Cook Inlet punctuated a year-long effort to formalize education and outreach activities conducted by the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) staff. The immediacy of the volcanic activity and its proximity to population centers compelled a switch in focus from K-12 education and outreach to media response and interagency cooperation and communication. The eruption prompted interagency public meetings, a public ash-collection campaign, and a dramatic increase in traffic to the AVO website. From November 2005 through May 2006, AVO staff responded to hundreds of phone calls, held press conferences and media interviews, and received many visitors to the Observatory--approximately three dozen tours of the Observatory were conducted. During the same period, AVO staff gave presentations at schools, public museums, visitor centers, a variety of training venues (National Park Service, Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center, etc.), and to professional societies. Concurrently, the number of visitors to the AVO website increased as volcanic activity accelerated and numerous monitoring data streams (webcam images, earthquake counts, etc.) were made accessible. Hundreds of emails to the webmaster were answered within minutes to hours. AVO is currently assessing the recent interagency and internal response to the eruption of Augustine Volcano and is preparing for the coming field campaign at the volcano. In conjunction with field work, AVO staff will provide public presentations and work with educational organizations on the Kenai Peninsula. AVO staff are also in the process of developing a credited professional development course for local teachers to construct a volcano kit. The kit will be available state-wide. Materials in this kit may include those generated by other organizations involved in research at Augustine Volcano such as EarthScope and the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve.