A series of earthquakes have been recorded at the Tanaga Volcano in Alaska, sparking worries that the long-dormant volcano might be prepping up for an eruption.
On Tuesday, the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) raised the alert level for Tanaga to “Yellow” after the earthquakes intensified. “Volcano is exhibiting signs of elevated unrest above known background level or, after a change from a higher level, volcanic activity has decreased significantly but continues to be closely monitored for possible renewed increase,” the observatory said in an advisory.
There have been hundreds of small earthquakes with a magnitude of less than 2.75 concentrated below the volcano’s summit, John Power, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) stationed at AVO told the Associated Press.
“We started seeing a whole lot of earthquakes occurring, one after the other, several per minute … That indicates that we’re seeing significant unrest at the volcano,” Power said,
“Whether or not this will lead to an eruption is something we can’t say at this point in time … But we are concerned about it enough that we have gone and elevated the warning level.”
Read more: Earthquakes at Alaskan Volcano Trigger Worries of Eruption
