Cleveland Volcano erupts in Alaska, might affect air traffic

The eruption of Alaska's Cleveland Volcano might affect air traffic between North America and Asia, Market Watch reported Sunday.

Mount Cleveland, also known as Cleveland Volcano, erupted three times on Saturday producing a 15,000-foot-high cloud of smoke and releasing gas, steam and ash. The explosions were small and thus the consequences weren't severe enough to cause a significant threat to planes. However, federal aviation officials decided to re-route some of their flights as a precaution.

The Cleveland Volcano is 5,676-feet high and it's located 940 miles southwest of Anchorage on Chuginadak Island in the Aleutian chain. That area sits in a major air route between the United States and Asia.

The volcano's first eruption took place in the summer of 2010 and ever since it has erupted 20 to 25 times.

According to geophysicists, Saturday's trio of explosions were "a new turn of events" considering the observatory had not yet seen a phase with multiple explosions.