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Science

Possible 'Hazardous Event' At Mount St. Helens 67

Posted by timothy from the stock-up-on-little-jars dept.
babynerd writes "Seismologists believe there's an increased likelihood of a hazardous event at Mount St. Helens due to recent changes in the mountain's seismic activity. That increased activity on Sunday prompted the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Washington to release a "notice of volcanic unrest.""
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Possible 'Hazardous Event' At Mount St. Helens More

Possible 'Hazardous Event' At Mount St. Helens

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  • Where's the kaboom? (Score:4, Funny)

    by MikeSweetser ( 163852 ) * on Sunday September 26, 2004 @10:38PM (#10359523) Homepage
    There's a possibility of there being an earth-shattering kaboom!

  • Remember, it's only a possibility. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mind21_98 ( 18647 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @10:38PM (#10359529) Homepage Journal
    People who live near Mt. St. Helens shouldn't panic just yet. This just means it's possible, not that it's going to happen within the next few days. Just thought I'd point that out.

    • Re:Remember, it's only a possibility. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 26, 2004 @11:13PM (#10359723)
      People who live new the mountain shouldn't panic at all, because whatever the mountain does is unlikely to be very big.

      One interesting thing (of many, really), however, is that St. Helens is one of the few fairly low latitude mountains in the Western hemisphere with a low-elevation glacier acumulating ice. The glacier is accumulating at only between about 6500 or 7000 feet.

      That ice, however, if it were heated suddenly, could be one of the more notable volcanic hazards on the mountain. My instinct tells me it probably couldn't cause much damage because it would have to flow a long ways before reaching anything too critical, and over that distance the flood wave would be much attenuated, and there's really not much redevelopment (there wasn't too much development before the initial eruption either) downstream of the crater.

      In the near vicinity of the crater rock fragments, ash, and small landslides might be possible, but only researchers are allowed in that area anyway, so these represent little threat to the general public.

      Personally, I think it would be kind of neat to see some activity out of this volcano. It's pretty been quite for several years now. A rumble from St. Helens would certainly be better than an eruption from most other other Cascade volcanoes -- a sizeable eruption from Hood or Ranier could be very dangerous.

      • If Hood goes, Portland probably goes too. I'm in Eugene, and if one of the Sisters goes in the winter, we're looking at some nasty flooding to come from Bend. Or, from what's left of Bend.

        My take on it all: life's too short to worry about life being too short.

    • Re: Remember, it's only a possibility. (Score:5, Funny)

      by Black Parrot ( 19622 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @11:14PM (#10359730)


      > People who live near Mt. St. Helens shouldn't panic just yet. This just means it's possible, not that it's going to happen within the next few days. Just thought I'd point that out.

      That's easy for you to say from Flori...

      Never mind.

    • Re:Remember, it's only a possibility. (Score:5, Funny)

      by CaptainCheese ( 724779 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @11:56PM (#10359940) Journal
      I doubt they'll panic. Heck, if Mount Vesuvius and the behaviour of the Neapolitans is anything to go by, The USGS is plain lucky that people are not living inside the caldera and stealing their sensors for fun and profit.

      P.S.
      To the public: You don't even know what caldera means, do you. Yes, you there reading /. The one who thinks it's just the old name for the SCO group. That's right, I mean you, the one who only knows what a gnu is because of the FSF logo.

      • Caldera (Score:2, Flamebait)

        by TWX ( 665546 )
        "To the public: You don't even know what caldera means, do you. Yes, you there reading /. The one who thinks it's just the old name for the SCO group. That's right, I mean you, the one who only knows what a gnu is because of the FSF logo."

        Are you referring to that landform created through planetary vulcanological processes comprising a large portion of the plateau that Utah is made of, which the software development company based in that region named themselves after?

        • Re:Caldera (Score:1, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward
          "Are you referring to that landform created through planetary vulcanological processes comprising a large portion of the plateau that Utah is made of, which the software development company based in that region named themselves after? (emphasis added)"

          Ummm, dumbass? You might want to take a quick look at what caldera [reference.com] actually means.

          Who lets these freakin' idiots in here?

      • You mean, "heap big boom"?

        /me likes to go hiking in the eastern sierras...near the long valley caldera...
        --

    • Re:Remember, it's only a possibility. (Score:5, Funny)

      by Kris_J ( 10111 ) * on Monday September 27, 2004 @01:44AM (#10360282) Homepage Journal
      People seem to be a bit bi-polar at the core. Jumping straight to panic from complacency is a little extreme, but all too common. If you do live in the area, what the warning means is that you should be activily monitoring the news for more information. Carry a radio for example, or subscribe to an SMS news alert system is one is available for your area. Other things you could do is make sure the car doesn't get low on petrol. Or contact friends out of the danger zone to see who's got a spare bed if you're required to evacuate. Have an exit strategy (generally a good idea no matter what the situation). Subtle stuff that makes life easier if mother nature tries to make it difficult.
  • ... Couldn't be, I sincerely hope I don't eat my words, but CNN's headline: Scientists: "Small eruption possible for St. Helens"
    Whereas the /. article makes it sound more scary by the wording it leaves out.
    • Sensationalism in /. posts?

      You treat that as an interrogative rather than a known fact.

      You must be new here.
    • Though I agree with you that Slashdot's really bad about sensationalism (like the 'vulnerability' in XP SP2 last week), in this case I wouldn't say it's so bad, though. They put 'quotes' around the moneymaker part of that headline. At least when I read the headline, I didn't panic even though my family's not too far from there.

  • In other news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Your_Mom ( 94238 ) <slashdot@inNETBSDnismir.net minus bsd> on Sunday September 26, 2004 @10:40PM (#10359543) Homepage
    Upon hearing this, I raised my "Volcano Alert" level of my pants to "Code Brown"

  • Tree Huggers : Unite! (Score:3, Funny)

    by binaryspiral ( 784263 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @11:03PM (#10359669)
    Quick... all tree huggers meet at the summit and wait for further instruction.
    • Sorry, nearest trees are almost 4,000 feet lower on the mountain.

      No trees to hug there.

      Being a tree hugger myself, I wouldn't mind a few getting burnt to a crispy crisp to see a real live lava flow.

      Unfortunately, there aren't too many trees near the crater.

      gregg

  • In laymans terms... (Score:5, Funny)

    by BladeMelbourne ( 518866 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @11:07PM (#10359697)

    Sizemologists who explore and come in contact with Helen's Mountains have an increased chance of a hazardous event. This is also known as a slap in the face (not to be confused with a lap in the face).

    Helen should probably see a doctor - recent changes to her mountains could be signs of cancer.

  • Peace Ridge (Score:5, Funny)

    by cgenman ( 325138 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @11:10PM (#10359705) Homepage
    Upon hearing of this, the FBI and CIA enlisted the help of local SWAT and sniper squads to redirect the state of Washington to an unoccupied portion of Wyoming. Despite protests from geologists complaining that St. Helens has been a US native for thousands of years, she was immediately deported back Switzerland and told never to return again.

    "The US will not be lulled into complacency," US Undersecretary for Homeland Security Asa Hutchinson announced Sunday morning, "From here on out, all major regions of geological activity will be monitered closely for any hints of unAmerican activities."

    "I'm looking at You, San Andreas," he added meanacingly.

  • Yeah. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by floamy ( 608691 ) <floam@sh . n u> on Sunday September 26, 2004 @11:18PM (#10359751)
    I live less than 100 miles away from Saint Hellens. The local news is reporting that there have been hundreds of small earthquakes per hour, and they havn't been like this since it blew in 1980. I can't wait to see what happens!
    • Errr... 1986, I meant.

    • Re:Yeah. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Exocet ( 3998 ) *
      I can tell you what *might* happen:

      If it explodes, your property value will go down. :P

    • Re:Yeah. (Score:3, Interesting)

      by real_smiff ( 611054 )
      I live less than 100 miles away from Saint Hellens. The local news is reporting that there have been hundreds of small earthquakes per hour, and they havn't been like this since it blew in 1980. I can't wait to see what happens!

      You're not... worried at all?
      I seem to remember doing St. Hellens in geography and it was a pretty big explosion. If we don't get another post from you (apart from correcting the date) we'll know what happened :) good luck! you might want to start digging, or running! but then, i

      • Re:Yeah. (Score:3, Informative)

        by XO ( 250276 )
        Although it was a fairly big explosion, some 1500+ feet of the mountain were completely blown off. It's probably not likely to be anywhere near that big of a boom again.. also, even though it was a pretty large boom, only something like 57 people died as a result of it..

        *numbers may be a little fuzzy

        I was just researching the whole thing on Friday,when I saw this article come up on Fark.. was trying to explain to a coworker of mine (who was born in 1981, in South Africa.. so had never heard of Helen) th

        • Re:Yeah. (Score:3, Interesting)

          by jd ( 1658 )
          IIRC, most of the 57 who died were tourists trying to get to the mountain during the eruption. (It's been a while since I went to the visitor's center there.)


          Most of the rest were geologists and vulcanologists who (again, according to the visitor's center) decided to hang around and talk about the eruption over the phone, rather than get the hell away.


          Mind you, vulcanologists almost deserve a special category in the Darwin Awards for "good attempt".

          • Re:Yeah. (Score:4, Interesting)

            by XO ( 250276 ) <blade.eric@gmEIN ... minus physicist> on Monday September 27, 2004 @02:28AM (#10360434) Homepage Journal
            Not so sure about that - They are doing something known to be incredibly stupid, knowing that it's incredibly stupid, and doing it for science.

            I doubt I'd even remember the last eruption, if it weren't for the fact that it was the day after my 4th birthday, and that I remember my mom seeing it going on on the news and saying that it "looked like someone dropped an h-bomb on the mountain".. and i can't remember anything else she ever said.. hmm.
          • Mount St. Helens erupted on a Sunday. If it waited a day, it would have taken out quite a few loggers ...

            I know a guy who was with his family camping a ridge or two north of the mountain on May 18, 1980. They weren't sure they were going to make it.

            They were the closest north of the blast zone survivors. (If I remember correctly, someone was camping just west of the mountain, less than five miles. Imagine the freak out they experienced.)

            gregg

      • Re:Yeah. (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Blakey Rat ( 99501 )
        Last time, places 100 miles away just got an annoying shower of ash that turned to instant mucky-sticky-crap in the rain and was a pain to clean off the roads.

        Now, 10 miles away...
      • You're not... worried at all?

        I've lived within 200 miles of St. Hellens all of my life. I remember the 1980 explosion. It wasn't very amazing in Oregon- just about 6" of ash coming down from the sky. I think I still have a bottle of it stored at my parent's house. No big deal at all- if you were ouside of the 12 mile blast range anyway.
        • I take that back- not all. I spent 6 years in Klamath Falls getting my degree- and in 1992 I was in every major earthquake in the State of Oregon, since I was back up at my parent's house during Spring Break.

  • Mauna Loa in Hawaii also active (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jangobongo ( 812593 ) on Sunday September 26, 2004 @11:32PM (#10359832)
    CNN is recently had a story about Mauna Loa showing signs of erupting. [cnn.com] Mauna Loa is on the Big Island and hasn't erupted since 1984, although the well-known Kilauea volcano has been erupting continuously since 1983. Both of these volcanoes are located within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

    It'll be interesting to see if volcanologists can use these events to hone their eruption prediction skills based on the increased seismology and more sensitive tracking equipment.

  • We need another Harry Trumen (no not the ex pres) (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Almost-Retired ( 637760 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @12:42AM (#10360080) Homepage
    So he can say its nothing to worry about. He hasnt had anything to worry about since it blew up in 80, carrying him and his cabin on the side of the mountain away without a trace.

    I was living in N. CA in 80, and it cost me a windshield to turn on the wipers and wash/wipe away the dust that morning because I was in Salem OR at an aunts house at the time. Damn that stuff was abrasive. And it started the demise of the motor in my pickup because unknown to me, the factory recommended air filter did not actually fill the air cleaner, it left about an eight of an inch clearance above the paper element for dust to blow right on by.

    Anyway, I hope the locals pay a bit more attention to the warnings this time, although memories can get faded in 24 years.

    Cheers, Gene

  • Oh man, again? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by legLess ( 127550 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @01:36AM (#10360253) Journal
    In May of 1980 I was flying from Argentina, where I'd lived for two years with my family (I was 9). We stopped in Portland on our way home to Ohio so my dad could visit his oldest daughter. We arrived on May 20, two days after the eruption, and stayed for a week.

    I remember some people walking around in gas masks, the grey skies, ash everywhere. Really trippy. Now I actually live in Portland. Maybe if St. Helens goes again I can get bragging rights over my brother in LA. "Earthquakes? Call me when there's 6 inches of ash on your car, pansy!"

  • Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @01:54AM (#10360297)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Dang nab it! My uncle and I were planning to climb MSH two weekends from now...

    In 1980, I saw it erupt while on the way to pick up my dad at the airport (PDX). Yes, the plane was flying over. Yes the pilot announced it and turned the plane for a better look. Yes my dad was in the lavatory at the time, and missed the whole thing!
  • As it so happens, I'm taking a geology course, right now. We already went over St. Helens, but since my prof. is of the "vulcanism and igneous rock" variety, I might be able to convince him into a more detailed look at the prior eruption and the present cirucmstances.

    As it also so happens, I'm a bit of a severe asthmatic, and I am thus hoping--completely selfishly--that the volcano does not blow, but that if it does erupt, it does so without much ash or other atmospheric particulates. Unselfishly, I'm hopi
  • On the one hand, I'm living in Portland and I'd rather the volcano didn't obliterate the landscape just yet. Only recently moved here.

    On the other hand, Romans used volcanic ash to make some of their strongest cements. It was also the first cement that could set underwater. There simply isn't any good volcanic ash around Mt. St. Helens to see if the volcanic ash from that specific volcanic chain would be as good. From a geek standpoint, it would make a great experiment, but does require the volcano to blo

    • Re:Mixed feelings (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 27, 2004 @03:44AM (#10360667)
      The Cascade volcanoes, including St. Helens, Ranier, Hood, Jefferson, Three Sisters, Mazama, Adams, Jefferson, Lassen, Shasta, etc... are formed by the same general phenomenon: subduction of the Juan De Fuca and Gorda plates at the Cascadia subduction zone off the coast of Washington, Oregon, and California.

      Based, however, on extensive worldwide research of volcanoes, including those in the Pacific Northwest, it is very safe to conclude that the magma system of the volcanoes are not linked. In other words, activity on any one peak is completely unrelated to activity anywhere else in the Cascade Range. There is no readily imagined mechanism by which pressurization in one magma system of one Cascade volcano could pressurize the next.

      As I stretch my imagination, I suppose a large earthquake could theoretically destabilize an already critically pressurized system, as happened in the St. Helens 1980 eruption (although in that case the mountain caused its own triggering earthquake), but the scenario is really a bit outlandish for one volcano triggering another: one mountain triggering another would require a very large earthquake as the quake amplitude would be considerably attenuated by the time it reached any other Cascade volcano, and these mountains can't readily produce very large earthquakes, let alone that the fact that none of the other Cascade volcanoes is about to blow its top!

      It's also worth noting that volcanoes are really good about giving lots of advance warning before they blow up. Earthquakes basically can't be predicted, but volcanic eruptions make themselves known long before they finally go off. It's not like you wake up one morning and discover that Mt. Hood all-of-a-sudden dropped 550 million tons of Ash on downtown Portland. For a volcano to erupt, the magma that is going to erupt needs to reach the surface. As it moves up through the earth you get lots, and lots, and lots of warning, particularly before a really big eruption: ground inflation, earthquake swarms, frequent small earthquakes at shallow depths below the mountain, changes in groundwater chemistry, changes in hot springs, changes in outgassing, volcanic tremors, etc... If these things didn't occur, you wouldn't be reading this article or these comments!

      Finally, what Mt. St. Helens is doing is not like what it did before the 1980 eruptions. Right now we're looking at small earthquake swarms. They could amount to nothing, but they most certainly are not a multi-hundred-meter bulge on the side of the mountain.

      Another large eruption like the 1980 eruption is also unlikely because much of the original volume of the mountain collapsed away during that eruption, so even in the very unlikely event that any really sizable volume of magma reached the surface, it wouldn't result in the huge lateral blast and landslide that swept away a huge piece of the mountain 24 years ago.

      It's also worth noting that these mountain-destroying eruptions are uncommon in Cascade volcanoes. Usually the mountains erupt out of a fairly nice clean crater, or pour a bit of sticky lava down a flank. When another Cascade volcano erupts, it will likely not result in the collapse of the entire mountain. The greatest danger is probably from lahars -- volcanic mudslides -- that form when snow and glaciers on the mountain melt and mix with ash to form a fast flowing torrent of hot wet mud with all the typical material properties of moist cement. (Rainier in particular poses a large threat in this respect.)

      Anyway, I'd worry a lot more about the weather when visiting Hood than about a small, hypothetical, eruption of Mt. St. Helens, or even a large eruption on Mt. St. Helens (although a lot of ash could make the climb down rather uncomfortable if it blew your way). As for Tabor, it is part of the Boring volcanic fields (no, I'm not making that up!) which are not part of the Cascades and were probably formed by almost totally unrelated processes. The Boring lavas last erupted at least 100,000 years ago, and pos
      • "changes in outgassing,"

        Obviously spending to much time eating frijoles at the local greasy spoon Tex-Mex establishment.

        okay, enough of the bad jokes. Back to work.

    • Re:Mixed feelings (Score:3, Informative)

      by acd294 ( 685183 )
      Mount Tabor [wikipedia.org] (here as well [usgs.gov]) is an extinct volcano on the east side of Portland, OR. There are many homes on it and a park on top. It is only around 650 feet above Sea Level and 400 feet above the surrouding area. It is not in the same chain as Mt. St. Hellens.

      Mount Hood [wikipedia.org] is a "potentially active" volcano appoximately 60 miles to the east of Portland. This one is in the same range as Mount St. Hellens and could be potentially active. On the other hand, I am very sure that there would be signs coming
    • There simply isn't any good volcanic ash around Mt. St. Helens to see if the volcanic ash from that specific volcanic chain would be as good. From a geek standpoint, it would make a great experiment, but does require the volcano to blow up first.

      EBay to the Rescue! [ebay.com] I figured there'd be some there- everybody I knew collected a jar before the rain started.
    • Mount Tabor isn't volcanic to begin with- and really it's only in the foothills to the Cascades. Hood is in the same chain as MSH though.

  • Don't panic! (Score:3, Informative)

    by tod_miller ( 792541 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @02:27AM (#10360428) Journal
    Worse could happen:

    People of Earth, your attention please. This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council....

    In seriousness:

    Seismic activity at Mount St. Helens has changed significantly during the past 24 hours and the changes make us believe that there is an increased likelihood of a hazardous event, which warrants release of this Notice of Volcanic Unrest.

    So there have been changes of a large magnitude, in a small time scale.

    The swarm of very small, shallow earthquakes (less than Magnitude 1) that began on the morning of 23 September peaked about mid-day on 24 September and slowly declined through yesterday morning. However, since then the character of the swarm has changed to include more than ten larger earthquakes (Magnitude 2-2.8), the most in a 24-hr period since the eruption of October 1986. In addition, some of the earthquakes are of a type that suggests the involvement of pressurized fluids (water and steam) or perhaps magma. The events are still occurring at shallow depths (less than one mile) below the lava dome that formed in the crater between 1980 and 1986.

    I think it is time to change the alert, even if it means changing the lightbulb!

    Damn I love British comedy!!!

  • Mount Asama just erupted (Score:5, Informative)

    by morcheeba ( 260908 ) * on Monday September 27, 2004 @03:42AM (#10360662) Journal
    Mt. Asama [nodak.edu] in Japan (near Nagano) has been erupting the last few weeks. Check out this short video [maushammer.com] of a continuous stream of ash leaving the top. Some of it reached Tokyo!
    • Mt. Asama [nodak.edu] in Japan (near Nagano) has been erupting the last few weeks. Check out this short video [maushammer.com] of a continuous stream of ash leaving the top. Some of it reached Tokyo!
      For some reason, I'm expecting to click on your site and find something like this [imdb.com]...

  • 2 words (Score:1, Funny)

    by mike_sabatino ( 814895 )
    Mag-Ma! Muahahahahah!

  • In the early 80s I knew a guy who was one of the c (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ChrisInSF ( 140519 ) on Monday September 27, 2004 @10:33AM (#10362872)
    In the early 80s I knew a professional juggler, a guy who was unfortunately one of the campers who were in the area when it went off. He actually saw the explosion and was blown an undeterminable distance by the shock wave. His companions were presumably killed and their bodies never found. He was lucky to have been blown into a ravine and he climbed out of a pile of debris in a daze. Trees were on fire and chunks of ice and ash were raining down from the sky. He saw animals wandering around in a state of concussion from the huge shock.. He put some ice in a bandanna to make a face mask and hiked his way out, following the direction of the fallen trees. When I knew him, he was still struggling with the lung condition that he had gotten from inhaling the sharp, glass-like ash...

    Pretty intense experience...
  • An unchecked buffer overflow is going to cause a coredump!
    rimshot

    Sorry. Too many requirements documents <sigh>
  • I live a mere 60 miles from the mountain.

    No need to panic. It might just provide some cool pictures/video.

    Me and my brother were climbing Mount St. Helens on Feb. 28, 2001.

    We were about halfway up, and the ground started shaking quite well. Completely disoriented us.

    No avalanches. Just quiet. The loudest noise was my hear pounding.

    Got back down pretty quick.

    Turns out it was the Nisqually earthquake (6.8?) near Seattle. Messed things up fairly good.

    gregg

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