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13-631: Port Etches is a bay in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska . It is located on the west side of Hinchinbrook Island and opens onto Hinchinbrook Entrance, a strait between Hinchinbrook Island and Montague Island , connecting Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska . Port Etches was named by Captain Nathaniel Portlock in July 1787, presumedly for John Cadman Etches or Richard Cadman Etches, who with "other traders entered into

26-594: A commercial partenship, under the title of the King George's Sound Company (also known as Richard Cadman Etches and Company), for carrying a fur trade from the western coast of America to China. George Dixon , who accompanied Portlock, called it "Port Rose". Russian fur traders gave it the name "Zaliv Nuchek". Its earliest known European name was "Puerto de Santiago", given on July 23, 1779, by Ignacio de Arteaga , during his exploration voyage with Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra . The name commemorated Saint James ,

39-403: A relatively small but noticeable increase in activity. The Alaska Volcano Observatory reported February 8–9 that: "Three small explosive events were recorded by seismic and acoustic instruments Thursday and Friday (February 08–09) beginning at 10:36 AM AKST (1936 UTC) February 08. A possible large steam plume was observed in several partly cloudy satellite views Thursday afternoon." On February 18,

52-689: Is an active stratovolcano located in the U.S. state of Alaska within Katmai National Park & Preserve . The volcano is nearly completely covered by Fourpeaked Glacier . Before the eruption began on September 17, 2006, Fourpeaked Mountain had been dormant for over 10,000 years. Pilots and other civilians reported two distinct and very large steam plumes coming from Fourpeaked Mountain. They were seen as far away as Homer , Alaska located northeast of Fourpeaked across Cook Inlet . Scientists on subsequent flights by USGS/AVO discovered that volcanic gases were being vented "vigorously" near

65-614: Is shaped by seven mountain ranges: Southcentral Alaska contains several dormant and active volcanoes. The Wrangell Volcanoes are older, lie in the East, and include Mount Blackburn , Mount Bona , Mount Churchill , Mount Drum , Mount Gordon , Mount Jarvis , Mount Sanford , and Mount Wrangell . The Cook Inlet volcanoes, located in the Tordrillo Mountains and at the north end of the Aleutian Range, are newer, lie in

78-882: The Copper River Valley . Tourism, fisheries, and petroleum production are important economic activities. The major city is Anchorage . Other major towns include Palmer , Wasilla , Kenai , Soldotna , Homer , Seward , Valdez , and Cordova . The climate of Southcentral Alaska is subarctic . Temperatures range from an average high of 65 °F (18 °C) in July to an average low of 10 °F (−12 °C) in December. The hours of daylight per day vary from 20 hours in June and July to 6 hours in December and January. The coastal areas consist of temperate rainforests and alder shrublands. The interior areas are covered by boreal forests. The terrain of Southcentral Alaska

91-538: The patron saint of Spain, whose feast day falls on July 25. While the Spaniards were anchored in Port Etches they performed a formal possession ceremony. All the officers and chaplains went ashore in procession, raised a large cross while cannons and muskets fired salutes. The Te Deum was sung, followed by a litany and prayers. After a sermon was preached a formal deed of possession was drawn up and signed by

104-526: The AVO reported a swarm of 13 small earthquakes under Fourpeaked, with the largest measuring 1.8 on the Richter magnitude scale . On February 23, the AVO conducted a gas flight and detected the continued emission of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ). The Alaska Volcano Observatory began reporting in its Daily Update on Fourpeaked Mountain that "several small explosion signals" were detected overnight, apparently continuing

117-619: The West, and include Mount Redoubt , Mount Iliamna , Hayes Volcano , Mount Augustine , Fourpeaked Mountain , and Mount Spurr . Most recently, Augustine and Fourpeaked erupted in 2006, and Mount Redoubt erupted in March 2009, resulting in airplane flight cancellations. 60°N 150°W  /  60°N 150°W  / 60; -150 Fourpeaked Mountain Fourpeaked Mountain , also known as Fourpeaked Volcano ,

130-487: The current unrest at Fourpeaked, listed in order, with the most likely scenario listed first: The Alaska Volcano Observatory completed installation of another seismometer near Fourpeaked. Almost immediately they detected an earthquake swarm of lower magnitude quakes. This behavior continued intermittently through the spring of 2007. Fourpeaked also continued to vent volcanic gases at the same rate as revealed in earlier air sampling. In February, 2007 Fourpeaked began showing

143-439: The mountain and using fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters to monitor the volcano. On September 25, 2006, the AVO warned that Fourpeaked would likely erupt again, and released the following information as part of a special information release: Based on all currently available evidence, AVO believes that an eruption from Fourpeaked in the next days to weeks is possible. Given below are some possible future scenarios for

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156-652: The officers and chaplains. The title to Puerto de Santiago was important for years afterward, as it formed the basis of Spain's claim to sovereignty in the North Pacific up to 61°17′N. 60°19′49″N 146°36′16″W  /  60.33028°N 146.60444°W  / 60.33028; -146.60444 Southcentral Alaska The area includes Cook Inlet , the Matanuska-Susitna Valley , the Kenai Peninsula , Prince William Sound , and

169-556: The summit. Air sampling confirmed these findings. The Alaska Volcano Observatory officially classified this event as an explosive eruption . The Alaska Volcano Observatory upgraded Fourpeaked Mountain from the classification "not assigned" to Level of Concern Color Code Yellow on September 20, 2006. This color-coded system was later renamed the Aviation Alert Level , but with the same color-coding system. At that time they began installing seismic monitoring equipment on

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