Cleveland Volcano, a 5,676 foot tall remote volcano in the Aleutians recently erupted explosively to shoot a thin cloud of ash several miles into the sky. The activity was reported by the Alaska Volcano Observatory and one pilot who was flying in the area estimated that the ash cloud rose to 35,000 feet above sea level. Seismologists with the U.S. Geological Survey mentioned that the voclanic acitivity was in the form of one explosion, which is typical of the activity seen from Cleveland over the past year. Satellite images taken around the time that the pilot reported the ash plume show only a thin ash cloud around the volcano, which makes its seem as though the eruption was relatively short-lived and only posed a slight hazard to aircraft. 

The remoteness of the area in which Cleveland Volcano is located makes it difficult for geologists to have on-site monitoring of the volcanic activity. Instead, they must rely on satellite imagery, wittness reports and other evidence to determine if an eruption has occurred.