SCI/TECH: Mount St. Helens Rumbles to Life, Lava Visible

Mount St Helens rumbled to life again this evening, emitting a massive plume of ash. Early measurements indicate the plume was accompanied by a magnitude 2.0 earthquake; subsequent readings are not available as the monitoring equipment has reportedly been damaged by the eruption. Live images from the volcano Tuesday night showed that lava was visible and appeared to be flowing from the crater. On Wednesday there appears to be glowing lava at the dome.



An ashfall alert has been issued for the Cascades and the Cascades foothills until 9pm PST Tuesday.

Mount St. Helens awoke after a decades-long slumber in September. Today's eruption has not yet caused an increase in alert status, but seismologists are reviewing data to determine if the volcano poses an immediate danger.

The volcano's last major eruption was May 1980 when a large chunk of the mountain was blown away, killing 57 people.



Related News Links:
www.kirotv.com


[edit on 11-3-2005 by Banshee]

Image taken from King 5.com


[edit on 8-3-2005 by TrickmastertricK]

I'll have to say that I'm not surprised. I think its just a matter of time before a large eruption happens. Very large eruption.

Watching coverage. Looks really bad.

Magma seen below the surface, bursts of steam and ash every few minutes. No lava sighting yet.

First burst 12 minutes. Plume reached upwards of 25k feet. Ash advisory put out to the north east.

I mentioned this in another thread. It looks much more impressive on tv and the web than it does in person. While the plume is quite large, it appears to be mostly steam. I'd take pictures but we just moved out here and my camera is packed away somewhere.

I must admit, it's quite cool to look at but be wary of the local news. We tend to make more out of things then they are worth up here. You should see our "winter storm" coverage.

visibility is not that great but here it is anyway, it looks like it is just steam

The webcam is located at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, 8 km north of the Mount St. Helens volcano. Images are updated every 5 minutes, and the complete loop is approximately 2.5 hours long einstein.atmos.colostate.edu...

Live Feed Updated every five minutes

This is a static image of Mount St. Helens, taken from the Johnston Ridge Observatory. The Observatory and VolcanoCam are located at an elevation of approximately 4,500 feet, about five miles from the volcano. You are looking approximately south-southeast across the North Fork Toutle River Valley. The VolcanoCam image automatically updates approximately every five minutes. Please make sure your web browser is not set to cache images or you may not see the updates when the web page automatically refreshes.

Source:
www.fs.fed.us...



[edit on 8/3/2005 by Sauron]

I just caught a live feed of it ... there's lava flowing. Not a massive amount, but there is definately lava exiting the crater.

Is it just me, or is geological activity on the rise across various parts of the earth? I mean that Tsunami, and now more St. Helens activity. Aye aye aye, this isn't filling me with confidence.

Anyhow I suppose it's better that the volcano realese some pressure now instead of realising it all at once. That would be a real disaster. Anybody know if CNN or fox is covering this? Apparently the Micheal Jackson case is taking up all the mainstream airtime.

[edit on 3/8/2005 by cyberdude78]

Little sister speaks... (only a whisper for now)

Soon she'll raise her voice and be heard across the plains. And then...

It's only a matter of time before Grandfather answers.

Big Grandaddy Ranier is rumbling, USGS says background seismicity is normal, but there has been entirely too much magamtic encroachment into the range to maintain 'normal' levels for long.

I would hesitate a guess..maybe a month. Maybe a year. Maybe not at all. Gotta love chaos.

I'm not sure where you got your information regarding flight cancellations and delays. See the link below:

www.portlandairportpdx.com...

Click on the Travel Advisory on the right side of the page.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to debate you. As I said before, this looks big on the surface but in the grand scheme of things as of now it is quite benign. There is speculation that the new lava dome that had been growing has simply collapsed causing the earthquake and giant plume some time later. There have been no increases in the amount of gas readings taken shortly after this event.

[edit on 8-3-2005 by dcgolf]

[edit on 8-3-2005 by dcgolf]

Wow finally some real news on ATSNN! Go Banshee!

I bet Mt. St. Helens will end up erupting soon, these events usually don't simply dry up and disappear.

Originally posted by dcgolf
It may just be the continuation of the lava dome growing. I'm assuming you don't mean it is flowing outside the crater and down the mountain.

On the feed I saw, there appeared to be rivulets flowing outside the crater, yes. It wasn't a "glow" as seen with the dome growing, but actual streams of lava flowing (for lack of a better term -- it wasn't gushing or spouting or pouring, but it was moving, that much I could see)

Intersting, last night in Fragile Earth I posted a article about a series of earthquake clusters off the Pacifc Nortwest coast. I wonder f there is a correlation here?

SEATTLE - A swarm of undersea earthquakes off the Pacific Northwest coast has scientists from the University of Washington scrambling in hopes of glimpsing of two tectonic plates pulling apart.

The 209-foot RV Thomas G. Thompson, a research ship from the university, headed for the Endeavor Hot Vents over the weekend after seismic equipment had detected nearly 3,800 small quakes as of late Thursday.

Among those on the ship are scientists from Oregon State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Robert P. Dziak, an oceanographer at the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, Ore.
Shake and bake

Goto, King 5 they have a video inside the crater, where you can see lava flowing out. Its a free registration, Im working on getting a feed for us....

Wow......I'm kind of fascinated by the potential for a massive eruption, however, I'm concerned about the human casualty that could be incurred. Why isn't the alert status raised? I would think that a minor eruption following recent activity on the dome would suggest a reasonable possibility for something major......

Originally posted by TrickmastertricK
Goto, King 5 they have a video inside the crater, where you can see lava flowing out. Its a free registration, Im working on getting a feed for us....

This is what I was talking about. It is not flowing from the crater. It is simply rising to the surface. After that it cools, and that is how the lava dome grows. It is not flowing out of the crater. To people who can't see the video that statement makes it seems as if it is flowing down the side of the mountain.

Again, I'm not trying to argue or be a pain, I just don't want people to get the wrong impression.

i think this has to do with the recent swarm of earthquakes we have been having in the past 4 days. If i remember correctly there were like 1,500 earthquakes in 2 or three days in the US last week? It does seems that seismic activity is increasing all around the planet.

Omigosh there's chaos everywhere.



[edit on 8-3-2005 by dgtempe]

Originally posted by dcgolf
This is what I was talking about. It is not flowing from the crater. It is simply rising to the surface.

Thanks for your input, dc .... I can't get that particular feed to load right now, but the one I saw earlier (when I posted) showed moving rivulets of lava exiting the crater.
Does the current feed show stagnant lava? If so, that's a good sign I'd say. Does anyone have the capability to grab a screen cap or two of that feed so it can be added to the story?

i could be wrong but I think it is highly coincidental this happened not too long ago, even after this article the swarms of earthquakes off the oregon coast continued, and even now there are earthquakes around that area.

"These earthquake swarms are associated with seafloor spreading," said Robert P. Dziak, an Oregon State oceanographer who works with NOAA at the university's Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.

"We suspect what happened was that magma pushed up into the crust and the lava may have broken the surface," Dziak said.
.........
The much smaller quakes off the Northwest coast generally ranged from magnitude 2 to magnitude 4 and typically occur in swarms during seafloor spreading events, scientists said.

During the first 36 hours of the swarm, nearly 1,500 small quakes were detected. The undersea quake activity was continuing at a "moderate pace," Dziak said.

Excerpted from.
adn.com...

Another article which has more or less the same info.
story.news.yahoo.com.../ap/20050306/ap_on_sc/quake_swarm

The amount of earthquake in that area is now about 3,500 and seismic activity is continuing in that area.
www.iris.edu...







[edit on 8-3-2005 by Muaddib]