New Activity at Mt. Rainier Confirmed to Be Seismic (...or ICE?), Right here on ATS!

So it appears there is an uptick in activity....but wouldn't ya know it, GEE is down.

WOAHHHH Nelly!!!! Something BIG just gave a grumble up there!! I wish I could say it looks like an avalanche....but darnit, it doesn't.

I'll send an email off to PNSN.

seismo

Here's what I'm looking at:





I was trying to talk myself into believing it was an avalanche...but it shows up on at least 8 stations...some of them several km away. It's a long trace though, not a typical quake. (not listed either) There are a couple of distinct 'bangs' there...what do you guys think???

I think I need to call my insurance agent and see if a Lahar is covered under flood insurance..

reply to post by westcoast


Westcoast, IMHO it appears that there are micro quakes of some sort happening here. also that maybe there is something warming up under the glassier maybe in order to make it crack - or creating an unsteady fracture on the flank of the volcano underneath the glacier - which is moving. Your latest post though, you can clearly see something that it appears something kinda rolled/flowed which gave way to a shake - almost like if you think a rock started to roll slowed down then hit a tree with the instrument. Very Interesting Indeed. Wondering very much if the ground underneath maybe warming causing all this - There are not many instruments in the area which is a shame. Are there Thermal Instruments anywhere - I have not been able to find them? - This does not appear to be from an external source.

reply to post by westcoast


Thanks Westcoast,

I was actually going to ask about the avalanche activity in the area. If things are "heating up" so to speak, wouldn't that create massive avalanches?

reply to post by Anmarie96


Your thermal question is a good one. I don't know and have never thought to look. I will now...

Yes, I agree that it looks like something built (rumble,,,) 'broke' and then rumbled even louder. Like I said, it showed on at least 8 seismos so it wasn't local to that station, so I dunno. The lahar theory is a scary one....someone try and find an example of what that looks like on a seismo!

ETA: Here we go. You guys be the judge:

usgs examples

reply to post by westcoast


I don't think that is seismic, and apparently they don't either, cause that didn't register as a quake anywhere that I can see so far.

I think what is going on is that those seismos at Rainier, RCS and RCM, are set highly sensitive to tune in to volcanic microquakes, and so higher amplitude man made activity may clip them. And I believe that's what that signature is you see in the webicorder. That's why I was asking you maybe to see if you can find out if around 9 microns/sec is the peak amplitude those stations can handle... Because that may have other implications, and may change my opinion a bit about the swarm type seismic events we are seeing.

I suppose it is good that the park remains closed until Saturday, in honor of Margaret Anderson (Visit. Rainier: Our Condolences)

At least we know that hikers aren't near the seismographs causing a stir.

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Nope....no way that is man-made. It shows up on about 8 different stations.

Best guess is ice-avalanche or land-slide. It won't be registered or listed until tommorrow.....my question is to whether or not this is tied into what is causing all the other quakes.

Originally posted by westcoast
reply to post by Anmarie96

 

ETA: Here we go. You guys be the judge:

usgs examples

comparing that with this RCS 01/01-02/01 EHZ graph

there seems to be a lot of "rock falls" mixed in with what looks like quake signature traces extra DIV