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Mount St. Helens Alert Status Increased 600
DarkHand writes "Mount St. Helens has become even more unstable in the last few hours. The U.S. Geological Surveys Cascades Volcano Observatory has increased the volcanic alert around the volcano to level 2 and released a press release: 'Over night, seismic activity at Mount St. Helens has accelerated significantly, which increases our level of concern that current unrest could culminate in an eruption. We are increasing the alert level to the second of three levels [...]. Earthquakes are occurring at about four per minute. The largest events are approaching Magnitude 2.5 and they are becoming more frequent. All are still at shallow levels in and below the lava dome that grew in the crater between 1980 and 1986. This suggests that the ongoing intense earthquake activity has weakened the dome, increasing the likelihood of explosions or perhaps the extrusion of lava from the dome.' The most recent readings at the SEP seismograph stationed on the lava dome itself are totally saturated. The ground is now literally constantly rumbling."
To quote Counter-Strike: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:To quote Counter-Strike: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:To quote Counter-Strike: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:To quote Counter-Strike: (Score:3, Insightful)
It's the same reason I don't feel for anyone in the expensive beach houses in Florida. You have a thin stip of land jutting out into an ocean constantly active with hurricanes. Just like the rich people in California building stilt houses on the side of mountians in earthquake zones.
People, this is why YOUR insurance premiums are so high! Rich people feel the need to build expensive houses in very unstable locations.
Portland Oregon threatened in last eruption (Score:3, Informative)
In that event, the entire north side of the mountain blew up in a explosion with force equal to many hydrogen bombs. Luckly the area devastated was wilderness forest. Only about 15 people lived in the several hundred square miles primarily affected.
However on the west side of the mountain, there was a nuclear power plant on the Columbia river abou
Re:Portland Oregon threatened in last eruption (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Portland Oregon threatened in last eruption (Score:5, Informative)
I actually rather like the new and improved version of St. Helens. Perfect geometry is boring. I highly recommend, once the mountain settles down, the long hike up to the rim of the crater. You come to it with a suddeness I can't describe, after hours of trudging through snow fields. All of a sudden you see the terrible beauty that destruction can bring, with, on a clear day, Mount Rainier and Mount Adams looking impossibly close by.
Even if there are no volcanoes in your backyard, mountains are great, symmetrical or smashed. Go visit some.
Re:Portland Oregon threatened in last eruption (Score:5, Interesting)
It's unlikely that even the most massive eruption from Mt. St. Helens could have threatened the plant. The incredible first lateral blast only travelled 25km and IIRC the pyroclastic flows only extended about 20km. Ashfall would not have been a problem for the plant, and the quakes associated with vulcanism are (Hollywood aside) fairly small.
In the event, they had a pretty good idea that Mount St. Helens was going to erupt through its side. The area that bulged was called Goat's Roack and was actually the result of an earlier eruption through the side of the cone.
What no one had predicted was that the whole side of the mountain would slide off [usgs.gov]. Instantly a huge section of the magma below the mountain depressurised - like a champagne cork blowing off. And that did the damage.
What we have now is young magma pushing up under the mountain. We'll probably see a series of small eruptions as the dome is built, extended and then blown apart. We could have centuries of this sort of activity ahead of us.
The eruption was too bad because Mt. St. Helens was a perfect cone before the eruption. It looked like Mt. Fuji in Japan. Now it looks like a million-seat football stadium: a big hole with a circular ridge around half of it.
You're not thinking long-term - the cone of Mt. St. Helens was only a few tens of thousands of years old, it will rebuild itself in the next few millennia. In the meantime, sit back and watch the mountain heal itself.
Best wishes,
Mike.
Re:Portland Oregon threatened in last eruption (Score:5, Insightful)
Well speaking as a geologist I always find that when you think in terms of geological time so many other problems - the bank, work, Dubya - all fall into perspective. That scenery has been changed time and time again. It's inevitable that this will go on.
The people of Washington are getting a chance to see how their planet formed. In a couple of decades whole new forests will be established, there will be new mountain meadows and all the time a new mountain will be growing. Fantastic!
Take the kids and go look in awe at Mount St. Helens, show them that Nature isn't just wallpaper, its always changing.
And as a Brit - I'm thoroughly jealous that the US has volcanoes and we don't...
Best wishes,
Mike.
Re:Portland Oregon threatened in last eruption (Score:5, Insightful)
Additionally, the Trojan reactor was not shut down due to the proximity of a fault and fear of earthquake damage, but due to an aging coolant system that would have cost $billions to rebuild. Admittedly it is an older design and there are safer options now, but my point is Mt. St. Helens does not threaten us with a nuclear disaster.
The spent fuel rods are still there because some crazy people are convinced that they are safer sitting in a pool a couple hundred yards from the Columbia River than converted into a ceramic, encased in steel and concrete, and buried under Yucca mountain.
I wish I could go hike up there, but other people tell me that would be stupid and now illegal, so I guess I'll have to settle for looking out the window.
Re:Portland Oregon threatened in last eruption (Score:4, Interesting)
Just to be a pedantic idiot, I have to point out that 747s first flew commercially in 1969. The towers were finished in 1972 for Tower One and 1973 for Tower Two.
The planes that hit were smaller than 747s. The collapse was not caused by the impact of the airliners. The towers collapsed becuase the secondary fires from the collision buckled the steel because the insullation was ripped off in the initial collisions. It was the secondary effects of the collisions that caused the collapse.
The above is of course splitting hairs, but let's give the architects/engineers some slack. After all, I'm sure that they never designed the towers to survive an intentional collision with an airliner.
Re:Portland Oregon threatened in last eruption (Score:4, Insightful)
The San Simeon quake was much closer to Paso Robles - which is about 50 miles away. While it shook things, it never posed any real challenge to safety systems. In fact, the forces measured at the plant were low enough that the plant did not even experience an automatic reactor trip.
Diablo Canyon was designed to safely handle a much higher magnitude quake from a much closer fault line (~7 mi away, Hosgri fault).
There are fault lines all over the country. Parts of the US get tornadoes. Some parts are more susceptable to hurricanes.
The recent earthquakes are certainly not a reason to shut down Diablo Canyon. Why do you think so? Or are you just using your fears or those of others to dictate a position that is wholly unsupported by any scientific or engineering information.
Diablo Canyon produces over 2200 MW continuously 24-7, most of the time when not refueling. And the power is relatively cheap to produce. What would you propose as an alternative? More natural gas plants? More coal? Wind turbines? They aren't exactly environmentally friendly, if you are a bird. Solar? Neither wind nor solar are cheap nor reliable enough for baseload.
Aside for there being no rational reason to shut down Diablo Canyon, the economics of replacement power do not make any sense.
REM fans unite (Score:5, Funny)
Re:REM fans unite (Score:3, Informative)
That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane -
Lenny Bruce is not afraid. Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn -
world serves its own needs, don't misserve your own needs. Feed it up a knock,
speed, grunt no, strength no. Ladder structure clatter with fear of height,
down height. Wire in a fire, represent the seven games in a government for
hire and a combat site. Left her, wasn't coming in a
Scary, yet cool. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Scary, yet cool. (Score:5, Informative)
e.g. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_ow
Re:Scary, yet cool. (Score:5, Funny)
Oh. Nevermind [nzherald.co.nz]
Before anyone posts the lame Florida hurricane map (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Scary, yet cool. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Scary, yet cool. (Score:4, Insightful)
Pretty bad teaching system, don't you think? One would believe that an all-knowing, infinitely powerful, and infinitely good Being would have some nicer means to inform us of the facts.
Re:Scary, yet cool. (Score:4, Insightful)
Heh, you brought up the the catch-22 in organized religion. If God is all of those things above, then how do we resolve the fact that people are allowed to suffer here on earth? How can a God who is all knowing, all powerful and all good even allow one soul to go to hell? Where is the grace in a God who lets those things happen?
Always makes for interesting conversation with people who only repeat what others tell them without ever actually thinking about it.
Dante II (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Dante II (Score:3, Informative)
I can't remember if they actually ever used those (I really don't think so, I think the show used them because they are "cool"), but since right now they are interested mainly in seismic and gas, not rock samples and such, it's the remote sensors...
Re:Dante II (Score:5, Funny)
When discussing vulcanology, one should avoid using as one's primary reference a movie in which Pierce Brosnan successfully drives a pickup truck over several meters of red-hot lava.
memo to self (Score:5, Funny)
Re:memo to self (Score:5, Funny)
Looks like you also have to be sure you don't live in the path of an active volcano. At that rate Mount St. Helens could reach Canada in a few thousand years!
Re:memo to self (Score:3, Informative)
Re:memo to self (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:memo to self (Score:3, Interesting)
How severe? (Score:4, Interesting)
-S
Re:How severe? (Score:5, Informative)
By comparison, the 1980 blast was a catastrophic event. A medium strength earthquake caused the entire north face of the mountain to crumble in a massive rockslide, which also uncorked the pressure on the magma underneath, resulting in a huge lateral explosion through the rock slide. Imagine a wall of rocks coming at you at 300mph. It's doubtful that something like that will happen again in our lifetimes.
Re:How severe? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:How severe? (Score:5, Informative)
Prank Volcano (Score:5, Funny)
There will be a big white flag coming out of the crater reading "BOOM!" any minute now...
Severity from a local (Score:5, Informative)
The only problem they expect is the possibility of dispruping flights at PDX or some of the local airports.
Contrary to the last eruption, when 57 people died, no one lives up around the volcano anymore. So, it's not like anything nearly as severe is likely.
So, even though activity is through the roof, they don't expect more than a small eruption. Even last time, here in Vancouver, we didn't get much activity at all. All the ash, darkness and horrid weather was thrown to the east of the Cascades, near Yakima and Central Washington. The rivers were flooded and clogged with debris, but other than the immediate vicinity, no one was hurt.
*spoiler alert* (Score:5, Funny)
Re:*spoiler alert* (Score:5, Funny)
"No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow... What? Somebody's gotta have some damned perspective around here! One day, BOOM!"
(muttering to herself) "Boom. boomboomboom. BOOM!"
- Susan Ivanova, Babylon 5
Mt St Helens seismic and other info (Score:5, Informative)
USGS earthquake info for Mt St Helens National Volcanic Monument area [usgs.gov] (wide view [usgs.gov])
USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory Mt St Helens seismic observations [usgs.gov]
Pacific Northwest Seismograph Network Mt St Helens home page [washington.edu] (earthquake list [washington.edu])
Re:Mt St Helens seismic and other info (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/ [fs.fed.us]
Re:Mt St Helens seismic and other info (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Mt St Helens seismic and other info (Score:4, Funny)
(Thank you D.A.!)
Not to be gross... (Score:4, Funny)
As I was watching Katie Couric interview one of the scientists this morning, I just kept thinking that these guys are all waiting for this big head to pop so they can collect measurements on the pus.
Sorry, kinda icky, but these are my thoughts. Mod down if you have a weak stomach.
Ahh, this is the life (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sick of all these damn hurricanes, honey. Where else can we live?
I want to get as far away from this place as possible. How about Washington?
Works for me, let's go!
Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam (Score:5, Informative)
not to be broadcasting now. Anyone knows why/what's happening ?
Re:Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, you just
Re:Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam (Score:3, Funny)
Live volcano cam (Score:3, Informative)
Yes (Score:3, Informative)
If the picture is gray, that means it's foggy.
A wonderful place to visit (Score:5, Interesting)
While driving up the windy mountin road to get to the park, our van turned a bend, and suddenly I saw before me a swath of devistation so utterly complete that I knew only some tremendous force could have removed all the trees and other signs of life.
I asked the "vetrans" of the group if we had reached the blast zone already. They responded: "Nope, that's just a clearcut. The blast zone now has much more wildlife."
Ah well. I was just there to look at the rocks anyway.
Re:A wonderful place to visit (Score:3, Informative)
Re:A wonderful place to visit (Score:5, Informative)
I was there last summer, 23 years since the 1980 eruption, and the power with which that thing erupted is still evident all over the area.
For instance:
better mt. st. helens than mt. rainier (Score:5, Informative)
pdf map of lava flow hazard from mt. rainier to tacoma [usgs.gov]
Related to California Quake a few days ago? (Score:5, Interesting)
Can anyone who knows more about Earth Science help me out here?
Re:Related to California Quake a few days ago? (Score:4, Interesting)
Seems an earthquake 1000s of miles away "jarred the pipes" powering the geysers in yellowstone.
I don't suppose its out of the realm of possibility that St. Helens is related to the earthquake in CA.
You do know what is under yellowstone, don't you? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:You do know what is under yellowstone, don't yo (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Related to California Quake a few days ago? (Score:4, Informative)
Anyone who has had more than 2 semesters of studying these things, feel free to correct me.
Re:Related to California Quake a few days ago? (Score:4, Informative)
The California earthquake was actually measureable throughout the entire Cascade chain, and I did some computations of the event propagation for the heck of it
Epicenter: 10:15:24 PDT
San Fran: 10:16:05 (41 sec delay)
LAS station (CA/OR border): 10:17:00 (96 sec delay)
Three Sisters (OR mountain): 10:17:40 (136 sec delay)
Mount Hood (OR/WA border): 10:17:45 (141 sec delay)
Mount St. Helens: Too much local action to detect
Mount Rainier (SE of Seattle): 10:18:20 (176 sec delay)
Stiped Peak (Olympic Pen.): 10:18:32 (188 sec delay)
Rockport, WA (30 mi from Canada): 10:18:40 (196 sec delay)
So, picking two points as the earthquake epicenter and Mount Rainer based on being the ones I found very accurate Lat/Lon coordinates for, the shockwave traveled 740 miles in 176 seconds for an overall speed around 15136 MPH (approx Mach 20, depending on altitude)
The detected signals definitely diminished the further north you traveled, but were still clearly identifiable even up to the Canadian border. But those signals were orders of magnitude less than Mt. St. Helens is generating on its own right now.
I'm no geologist, but I live 38.4 miles from Mount St. Helens so I've recently taken up a keen interest in current events there.
Re:Related to California Quake a few days ago? (Score:4, Informative)
As far as I remember from a few geology classes I took in undergrad, there is no such relation. They are two very distinct processes, and while you will see a build up in "earthquakes" near a volcano prior to eruption, they're the result of pressure build up in the area, and not plates moving against each other.
The last time Mount St. Helens blew, the side of the mountain had a considerable bulge (visible to the naked eye, I believe). The fact that this is occurring again, on a smaller scale, could either indicated simply a temporary pressure or magma build-up; or an impending eruption.
Mount St. Helens is the result of the Juan De Fuca plate being subducted under the North American plate; a lot of heat and friction melts the rock and it pushes upwards, which causes the volcanos, and the Cascade Mountains.
The Juan De Fuca plate is separate from the Pacific plate; which is where the San Andreas is; and the plates there are sliding against each other (mostly north/south).
Some people (Score:4, Interesting)
Our family lived in Northern Idaho, and my father likes to recount how the hardware store was full of people buying masks and resperators and whatnot. He tells of how the supermarket was jam-packed with people stockpiling for the apocalypse.
He was getting a little nervous, but on his drive home he saw our neighbor (we lived out in the country), a farmer named Mr.Coon, just trolling about on his tractor under the bloody sun and darkened sky;doing his daily work, acting like it was just another day.
My father was then able to relax a bit.
I was there... (Score:5, Interesting)
I was going to college in Moscow, Idaho when it blew, and believe me, it was impressive, even that far away from the eruption.
Throughout the day a tolkeinesque black cloud grew larger and larger on the western horizon, until it streched all of the way north to south. As it came over it became darker than night, the sky was just black. Then is started to "snow" volcanic ash. Instead of coming down in flakes, it came down as a fine powder, but looking out the window, it looked like snow against the street lights. This was about 3:00 in the afternoon.
It didn't get light again before nightfall. The next morning, it was as if it had snowed, except it was very finely powdered ash, and it didn't go away like snow, it just compacted and then blew around as dust when the wind blew.
It was a very memorable experience, more impressive even than a total solar eclipse (but that's another story)...
The end is near (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe with this next eruption, instead of merely being born, I'll actually get a life.
Due to severe slashdot effect... (Score:5, Funny)
Folks: you're on your own.
Alert Levels (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Alert Levels (Score:3, Funny)
Not yet. In fact, certain congressional Democrats are "very concerned" that putting out these volcano warnings are just Republican scare-tactics. John Kerry (D-Mass) issued a statement this morning saying "Mt. St. Helens is angry, because the earth is angry at President Bush's failed environmental policies .."
Someone take pictures of the near area before (Score:4, Interesting)
-m
Re:Someone take pictures of the near area before (Score:3, Interesting)
So hopefully this potential eruption will be better covered and less harmful.
Re:Someone take pictures of the near area before (Score:5, Interesting)
Here is a fairly large panoramic we took that day. You can see Johnston Ridge Observatory on the far right. The trail actually takes you across the ridges on the left and then drops you down in to the flats at the base of the mountain:
http://home.pacifier.com/~richmond/Helens.jpg [pacifier.com]
/. pwns you (Score:3, Funny)
News results for mount st. helens - View today's top stories
Mount St. Helens Alert Status Increased - Slashdot - 9 minutes ago
Experts Predict Mount St. Helens Eruption - ABC News - 10 minutes ago
Yes, that's right.
Re:/. pwns you (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:/. pwns you (Score:5, Funny)
News results for mount st. helens - View today's top stories
Mount St. Helens Alert Status Increased - Slashdot - 9 minutes ago
Experts Predict Mount St. Helens Eruption - ABC News - 10 minutes ago
Yes, that's right.
Good to know that other
Re:/. pwns you (Score:5, Funny)
Sorry, couldn't resist...
Re:/. pwns you (Score:3, Funny)
Serves me right for trying to score some karma points when I've been awake for 10 minutes.
Breaking News... (Score:4, Funny)
Be afraid if the volcanoes ever stop (Score:5, Informative)
Once the Earth's crust cools enough, it will lock up and stop the cycle and CO2 will inexorable drop in concentration. I can't remember when this is predicted to happen, but I believe it is scheduled to occur before the Sun becomes a red giant. Of course, I'm sure our descendants (assuming we have them) will invent their own C02 extract factories to keep the Earth nicely carbonated when the time comes.
Re:Be afraid if the volcanoes ever stop (Score:3, Funny)
You think Mt. St. Helens was big... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:You think Mt. St. Helens was big... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:You think Mt. St. Helens was big... (Score:3, Interesting)
Mt. Rainier even more potential than St. Helens? (Score:3, Interesting)
Does the activity at St. Helens make Mt. Rainier and more or less likely to also erupt?
Re:Mt. Rainier even more potential than St. Helens (Score:4, Interesting)
Although both Mt Rainier, Mt St Helens, and all the other dormant and volcanoes in Washington and Oregon are due to the same subduction zone; an eruption at Mt St Helens will not influence Rainier in any way.
The USGS is currently predicting a high likelihood of Rainier experiencing a small eruption in the next 50 years. This will melt Rainier's icecap and produce lahar flows (heavy, fast mud flows - these will take out bridges and buildings). The outskirts of Seattle are built on the deposits of old lahars from Rainier...
Early this year, a warning system (a bit like the tsunami system in the Pacific) has been put in place between Rainier and Seattle. This should give warning of lahars as they start. This could give enough warning to get people out of valley bottoms, etc - but how much of the populace knows what a lahar is and what the danger is???
Incidentally, a couple of days ago, I plotted the ongoing Mt St Helens earthquake swarm on some earthquake hazard maps and put the results here [mp2kmag.com].
Richard (yes I was a seismologist 10 years ago)Re:Mt. Rainier even more potential than St. Helens (Score:3)
Like any earthquake in the area, St. Helens can affect Rainier. The question is: Is Rainier stable enough to shrug these off? In 1980, the answer to
Comparisons of the 1980 eruption with others (Score:3, Informative)
Lahars (Score:5, Interesting)
I read something similar to this once: To get an idea of a lahar, imagine a 30 ft wall of mud, boiling in temperature with the consistency of wet cement traveling at speeds up to 60 mph or so. If you go driving through the river valleys of Washington State (Carbon Rv, Puyallup Rv) that are fed by the Rainier glaciers, you'll see Lahar evacuation route signs everywhere. Not only that, but I believe recent evacuation simulations have been abysmal. Scary stuff.
Ahh, may have found the article [tribnet.com] that I read.
Re:Lahars (Score:3, Interesting)
Collapse of the Kolka Glacier [nasa.gov]
Volcano alert system: Levels 1 to 3 (Score:4, Informative)
Any other boys from Longview area (Score:5, Interesting)
Ash was so fine (there was several inches on the street) that it would ruin your engine. So everyone put women's pantyhose over their air cleaners to keep the dirt out. Also the local timber company bought out the auto parts stores of all the extra air cleaners to keep their trucks moving.
people kept emergency supplies in their car trunks for years after that. probably until 86 or 87
Also, their were some great slogans on bumper stickers and t-shirts that we'll revive if necessary.
"Mt St. Helen's lost her ash in 1980, I saved mine."
Plus the song about harry truman was popular.
wow, amazing what you can remember...
A problem that Slashdotters can conquer! (Score:4, Funny)
Volcano news site (Score:4, Informative)
Seach runs chartered volcano tours and has amassed quite a collection of pics which are up on the site too.
Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam (Score:5, Interesting)
Oblig Simpsons Quote (Score:4, Funny)
-Homer
St. Helen's Cam -- Watch it blow (Score:4, Informative)
SEP seismograph? (Score:3, Funny)
Somebody Else's Problem seismograph? What does it do, make the volcano disappear if it becomes too inconvenient?
Stevenson Live Motion Web Cam (Score:3, Insightful)
PS: We installed a Qorvus Meshcam(tm) [qorvus.com] on the top of the Skamania County Government building as part of the Stevenson Wifi Project [skamania.org], which was the first municiple public access mesh network to go live in the US.
My 1980 eruption anecdote (Score:5, Funny)
During one of the many ash-falls that used to regularly dust us, my brother and I ran out one morning to play in the new ash before our parents woke up. There was about 1-2 inches coating everything, like new snow, and it had just rained making all of the ash into an interesting clay-like consistency.
Kids being kids, my little brother and I ran out to the driveway and started writing our names with our fingers into the ash covering my dad's brand new 1 day old VW Scirroco in the driveway. It started out with "Hi" and "Cool" and progressed to "Van Halen kicks ass" and "KISS rules" and liberal scrawlings of "dork", "shit", "Tony sucks dick", drawings of boobies and penises, you get the idea.
Well, we got into a hell of a lot of trouble when my dad saw the car when he had to wipe all of the ash off to drive to work. Our trouble later escalated when he discovered that, after going through a car wash to rinse off the rest, everything that we had written on his car was now premanently scratched into the paint and windows of his car, ash being a fine gritty silicate. Our dad's co-workers ribbed him endlessly about his "custom paint job" as it took him several weeks before he could get his car repainted and the windows replaced.
All told, a few thousand dollar "oops" for us kids
Re:Updated news for my post (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Updated news for my post (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know what webicorder readings you've been watching, but you're reading them wrong. As St. Helens webicorders reached saturation, the Rainier ones started registering the quakes from St. Helens.
You know you're doomed when... (Score:5, Funny)
On the "harbingers of doom" ratings scale, hearing I'm moving to town is like running into Jim Cantore in a hotel lobby.
Re:If only... (Score:3)
Bill Gates = Sauron
Microsoft Bob = The Ring of Power
Mount St. Helens = Mt. Doom
It's all coming together now...