Scientists confident in Redoubt tracking

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Scientists at volcano monitoring stations in Alaska say they are confident in their abilities to track volcanic activity at the active Redoubt Volcano.

The scientists stationed at the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage and the city of Fairbanks, said the monitoring stations have made significant advancement since the volcano's 1989 eruption, the Anchorage Daily News said Sunday.

The Redoubt Volcano has been the source of recent volcanic activity, leading to concerns it may soon erupt.

AVO geophysicist David Schneider said while in 1989, scientists were only able to give the public a one-day warning of the eruption, technology has improved such prediction efforts.

"Technology has changed from the point where we only had these (faxed) paper pictures of data -- to where we now have gigabytes of data ... every 15 to 30 minutes," Schneider said.

AVO scientist-in-chief Thomas Murray told the Daily News in addition to having technology that can improve eruption predictions, the stations have a protocol in place for contacting U.S. departments and organizations in such emergency situations.