7th Mount Redoubt explosion is small one

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 25 (UPI) -- A small explosion at Mount Redoubt in Alaska early Wednesday sent up an ash cloud 15,000 feet that dissipated over the volcano, scientists say.

Mount Redoubt began erupting Sunday and has now had seven explosions. But scientists say the seventh was considerably smaller than the other six, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

"It was such a minor eruption, we almost didn't see it on the radar," National Weather Service meteorologist Christian Cassell said.

There was no ash advisory and the explosion did not interrupt air traffic as previous ones have.

Peter Cervelli of the Alaska Volcano Observatory said that Redoubt is "extruding a lava dome."

"We may have had a piece of that dome break off and tumble along and produce an ash cloud," he said.

Mount Redoubt is on the Kenai Peninsula Borough, about 110 miles southwest of Anchorage.