What you can see on the Augustine cams
The cams show the island from Homer, across lower Cook Inlet, and up close from the island’s shore, looking at the summit domes. From Homer the whole island sits on the horizon on clear days.
The cone of Augustine, close up from its own island
This camera stands on Augustine Island itself, in Cook Inlet, about 5 km from the summit, and the cone fills the frame: a near-perfect, symmetrical volcano, its upper slopes white with snow and streaked by gullies, its lower slopes brown with old ash and pumice. A cap of cloud often sits on the summit dome.
Augustine is the most active volcano in the Cook Inlet region, with explosive eruptions in 1976, 1986 and 2006. The island is uninhabited, so cameras like this one are the closest anyone keeps watch.
Eruptions of Augustine
Augustine is the most active volcano in the Cook Inlet region, with major eruptions in 1976, 1986 and 2006. In each, explosive blasts sent ash high enough to disrupt flights, and hot avalanches of rock and gas swept down the flanks to the sea. Each eruption ended with a new lava dome at the summit. Its eruptions typically begin after weeks to months of increasing earthquakes, which the Alaska Volcano Observatory tracks closely.
When to watch Augustine
The Homer cam needs clear air across the whole inlet, which is most common on cold, calm winter days and in early spring. Both cams depend on daylight.
Around Augustine
Homer, at the end of the road on the Kenai Peninsula, looks out across Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet. On clear days, the view from its bluffs takes in Augustine and, further north, Iliamna and Redoubt. To the southwest lies Katmai National Park, where the 1912 eruption of Novarupta was the largest of the 20th century.
Visiting Augustine
Augustine Island is uninhabited and has no facilities, so the only practical way to see it up close is from a boat or a small plane. From Homer, the view across the inlet is free and easy on any clear day.
