About Mount St. Helens

[Duckster]

I originally started the Ask Me About Mount St. Helens shortly after the volcano began its public happy dance. Since my last update to that thread in early December, Mount St. Helens has been far from quiet, judging from the publicly available scientific evidence and not the media reports, or lack thereof.

The volcano continues to extrude magma in the crater at a rate of about seven to ten cubic meters/second. There have been one, if not two instances where the growing new dome (called the “Whaleback” dome by scientists because its outward appearance reminds people of the back of a whale) has come up against the south wall of the crater and deformed the external cone of the volcano, but only to about an inch. There has been no more cone deformation detected. (This compares to the growing bulge prior to the 1980 eruption when the cone deformation was growing at a rate greater than five feet a day.)

Pacific Northwest winter weather has hampered quite a bit of field observations, and even played havoc with some of the monitoring equipment, according to the USGS. Still, the USGS continues to express in its daily reports that Mount St. Helens is running hot and heavy with no indications of volcanic activity decreasing, nor increasing. On a clear day it is now possible to see from the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam that the new dome is visible above, behind and just to the right of the old dome.

We’ll just have to wait and see …

… Or so my update would have ended, had there not been two events within the past week and a half.

During the early evening of 13 January 2005, around 8:30 pm PST, the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam captured what I describe as a “supernova” glow event that diminished during the next hour. Talking with USGS scientists after I sent them several raw images of the event, they surmise a significant slab of the west flank of the new dome collapsed, exposing hot magma underneath to the open air. It was this sudden collapse that the VolcanoCam captured in the first frame as a large and very bright glow that diminished over time during the next hour.

Then this past Sunday morning around 3:00 am PST, there was another event. Today’s USGS report states, “Additional analysis of seismic and other data from about 3 a.m. Sunday morning, when two instruments on and near the new lava dome ceased functioning, suggests that a steam and ash emission occurred, perhaps accompanied by ejection of ballistic fragments. The event lasted about 18 minutes. During that time radio-telemetry signals from a few other instruments in the crater were interrupted temporarily, probably as the result of ash in the air.”

The USGS states “additional analysis” because a number of monitoring packages installed within the crater all failed about the time of the event. With a 24-hour period prior to this second event, growth of the new dome upward and southward grew at a rate of about eight meters, far above the “normal” readings of about two meters per 24 hours.

The Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam recorded this second event but we could not capture the images. There was a weekend web server maintenance in progress that took down the entire FS web during the weekend. So while the VolcanoCam captured the event and the VolcanoCam web server transmitted the images, the images were lost to cyberspace because there was no operating receiver. Bummer. Still, from the weekend weather reports, the VolcanoCam would have been hard-pressed to show anything because of the large rain, ice and snow storm that moved through southwestern Washington. Perhaps it may have caught a supernova glow event (if there was one) but we will never know.

The USGS should have another crop of new images up on their web site sometime tomorrow. From the several I’ve seen from their FTP site, there are some awesome closeup views of the new dome. The “supernova” glow images should be up on the VolcanoCam web site within the next week or so, complete with an all-night movie of the event, as well as an enhanced movie (meaning, we reduce the signal noise in the images). There will also been some other individual images taken by the VolcanoCam during the past month that offer some, shall we say, “imaginative views” of Mount St. Helens. I know one will be what looks like a ejection of material from within the crater, but is something entirely different. Another image will be what some viewers are calling the “polar bear” view, but I prefer to call it the Mount St. Helens Yeti.

[Yeticus_Rex]

Will somebody please stop the exploitation of strapping fricken cameras to Yeti’s head! I burned my hair off on the last encounter with the dome!

[Ca3799]

Thanks for the update!

[capybara]

Man, I’ve been doing the Spokane-Portland run pretty frequently lately, and flying already makes me nervous, so I’m REALLY not digging the inevitable pilot announcement each time, “Well, folks, if you look off to the left side of the aircraft, you can see a bit of action. . .” “Miss! Another Black Butte Porter please, and quick!”
I’d hate to be where you are. But it does all sound exciting.

[Duckster]

@capybara

Man, I’ve been doing the Spokane-Portland run pretty frequently lately, and flying already makes me nervous, so I’m REALLY not digging the inevitable pilot announcement each time, “Well, folks, if you look off to the left side of the aircraft, you can see a bit of action. . .” “Miss! Another Black Butte Porter please, and quick!”
I’d hate to be where you are. But it does all sound exciting.

Perhaps before you fly, check out the
NWS Ash Projections for Mount St. Helens.

You would have been fine flying today had there been a major eruption. The Mount St. Helens project ash forecast has ash falling fron North Dakota to Missouri. Your Spokane-Portland flight would have been fine.

[El_Kabong]

Thanks for the update. Due in part to provious discussions on this board, I make daily stops at the USGS, the VolcanoCam, and the Pacific Northwest Seismograph sites to see what’s new. Hey, I’m a geek, what can I say.

Have to say I’ve been fascinated by how steady the extrusion of lava has been since October.

[Polycarp]

I appreciate the update, Duckster!!

It’s interesting that what seems to be happening is more characteristic of basaltic volcanoes than andesitic/rhyolitic types like the Cascades volcanoes (including St. Helens’ own big past eruption). Am I misinterpreting things, or is it in fact doing a “quiescent”-active number like Kilauea?

[lieu]

I’ve wondered about that too, Poly. Duckster, are they actively collecting magma samples and, if so, has there been any change in the gas or mineralogical composition?

Your updates are a wonderful source of information and perspective. Whenever possible, please keep 'em coming!

[Duckster]

Last Sunday morning’s event really took its toll on some USGS equipment. A new USGS video camera installed on the new dome was destroyed. Well, they think it’s destroyed because they cannot find it. There are pictures of the equipment base where it was attached but the camera is gone.

The USGS posted several images of MSH taken after the last Sunday’s event (see http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/Images/MSH04/framework.html ). There is quite a bit of ash in the east end of the crater and east flank of the cone.

There is also an update on the flow rate. An analysis of the past month reveals the flow rate has dropped from about 7-10 cubic meters/second to about 2 cubic meters/second. Still, according to the USGS, the new dome is huge! Something like 700 plus meters in length and more than 400 meters wide. It’s now taller than the old dome by almost ten meters. IIRC, around 34 million cubic meters in size since this entire episode began on the surface on October 1.

Today was a good day to view Mount St. Helens with the VolcanoCam. We’re coming up on a full moon, and already tonight its possible to view the outline of the volcano in the moonlight amid the signal noise in the image. Let’s hope we have a clear full moon night on January 25.

MSH does not have magma flows like the Hawaiian chain. The lava is too thick with silica. Kinda like chunky homemade fudge. That’s what makes Cascade Range volcanoes quite explosive.

Yes, they are actively collecting samples. I am not aware they are collect hot samples, but they are collecting samples. When thet installed the last sets of equipment in the crater (before last Sunday’s event), I’m told USGS scientists were on the ground in the crater for about 45 minutes. As scary as that certainly is, I’m jealous!

[Duckster]

An update for ya’ll …

Mount St. Helens continues to build the new dome. It is now very easy to observe the new dome above and behind the old dome via the Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam. The past two days not only have had excellent weather with clears skies for viewing all day long, but we were treated with several events as well.

Yesterday there was one ash event in the late afternoon captured by the VolcanoCam (the movies of it should be on the VolcanoCam web site tomorrow). It made Groundhog Day turn out to be a Bill Murray Groundhog Day because we had another ash event this afternoon as well (No movies - I got busy with other things.).

According to the USGS, the old dome took six years to grow in size to about 94 million cubic meters. Since October 11 of last year (coming up on just four months), the new dome has grown 44 million cubic meters and shows no signs of stopping. In fact, one of the USGS “Spyders” riding atop the new dome is apparently moving at a rate of 30 feet a day.

[Ca3799]

Thanks for the update!

[Antigen]

@El_Kabong

Thanks for the update. Due in part to provious discussions on this board, I make daily stops at the USGS, the VolcanoCam, and the Pacific Northwest Seismograph sites to see what’s new. Hey, I’m a geek, what can I say.

I do the same, so at least you have some company in your geekiness. Check e-mail, check the Dope, check the news, check the volcano… It’s slipped right into my routine somehow.

Thanks, Duckster! It’s so much more interesting to hear about things like this from someone who’s actually there.

[lieu]

The Jan 2005 issue of PE&RS (Vol. 71, No. 1) has an amazing lidar model acquired in 9/03 on it’s cover. The online picture doesn’t do the actual cover justice though as the copy in my hand is absolutely stunning. I’m hoping a future compilation will again be available so that such detailed observations can be compared to document the growth.

[Cervaise]

Weather today in the Northwest is sunny, clear, and gorgeous, which makes the volcanocam image particularly nice right now, for anyone who wants to check it out.

[5que]

So how soon can we start yelling, “She’s gonna blow!” ???

Please see if it can be timed to get the Michael Jackson trial off the news.

[Duckster]

Yesterday afternoon, a rockfall off the lava dome produced a widely visible ash plume that rose to a couple of thousand feet above the crater rim. Extensive cracking recently identified on the long, smooth, whaleback-shaped dome suggests that increased rockfall activity and similar small plumes may occur in the coming weeks. Analysis of recent aerial photos reveals that as of February 1, the high point on the whaleback reached to an altitude of 7,650 feet, nearly 1,400 feet above the 1980 crater floor and 500 feet above the top of the old lava dome. The top of the new dome is now only about 130 feet below the level of Shoestring Notch on the southeast crater rim and about 700 feet below the south crater rim.

Source: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Cascades/CurrentActivity/current_updates.html

For those who missed the rockfall yesterday, just imagine a gigantic car misfire with a huge dark plume that appeared in just a few minutes and then dissipated. All day today the weather has been clear, despite NWS reports that it was supposed to be cloudy. There have been all sorts of tiny white plumes rising from the new dome and swirling within the crater.

As for the statitistics as to the height of the new dome, it’s grown 1,400 feet in a wee bit more than four months. To put that into perspective, the dome is as tall, or taller than these four world’s tallest buildings graphic. Even Donald Trump can’t build a building that fast!

[Boyo_Jim]

Thanks for your original thread, which lead me to the camera. I check out the view almost every day from work, and occasionaly I look at it before local sunrise. There was a glowing spot visible for several weeks straight in the predawn hours that was not visible in daytime.

The spot has disappeared from view over the last few weeks, but the new dome growing inside the old one does seem substantially larger in the same time frame.

And let me add my thanks fro the update as well. I am relieved to be far enough away that, even if it blows violently, I’ll just see some beautiful sunlight effects.

BTW, I recall reading somewhere that large volcanic ejections to the atmosphere could affect world climate, kind of like a “nuclear einter” scenario. Anybody looking into whether enough volcanoes might cancel out the industrial stuff alleged to be causing global warming?

[Duckster]

Yesterday morning about 3 am PST, part of the new dome along the northwest side collapsed, exposing inner layers of the new dome. The collapsed section measures about 100 meters by 50 meters. This is not unexpected considering the new dome continues to grow faster than any support it may create for itself.

The Mount St. Helens VolcanoCam caught the event in all its glory. More importantly, and for the first time, a NOAA weather satellite also captured the IR signature from space. That image is also available from the same link. What is significant about the NOAA satellite image is that its pixelation size is about 4 sq km per pixel. The IR signature overwhelms three of the pixels. The actual size of the magma exposure is only about 5,000 square meters (100x50), however, the resulting IR signature in excess of 500C is way off the scale for a camera that normally records temperatures ranging from 10C to 15*C this time of the year. Hence, the three pixel signature.

Today, the USGS posted on its web site several images taken by USGS staff taken later the same day of the collapse. The images offer striking views of the whaleback dome (you will understand why it’s called that by viewing the images), including details of the collapsed section. While some of the images were taken from the air, the USGS did place several staff on the crater rim for a period of time to observe the new dome and the glacier. They were located at a tripod the USGS put in place last fall to record events from a defined location.

The USGS surmises there was probably an ash event associated with the collapse. The crumbing rock released hot gases into the atmosphere, but at 3 am the ash cloud was not visible, nor was it thick enough nor rise high enough for normal ground radar to detect it.

The USGS also observed yesterday on site that there are several large cracks along the surface of the new dome. They believe there will be several other collapses set to occur in the coming weeks (and months) similar to yesterday’s collapse. This is a normal process as the new dome continues to grow.

Also, as the new dome expands it is putting pressure on the crater glacier (Still officially unnamed, however, the USGS is calling it Crater Glacier). Apparently, the on site equipment have detected the new dome has generated a “wave” within the glacier moving at a rate of about four feet a day (this is a rate faster than the actual movement of the glacier itself). It is believed that this wave will arrive at the snout of the glacier sometime near the 25th anniversary of the 1980 eruption sometime in May. There is measuring equipment on top of the glacier, and the placement of more measuring devices is being discussed to watch the wave. However, it is expected as crevasses develop, some equipment will be lost inside the glacier.

The new dome is now clearly visible from the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center, about nine miles from Mount St. Helens. Coldwater Ridge is open all year, however, this time of the year it is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. One should expect that if this very dry and sunny weather holds through this weekend (meaning southern California is getting the PNW weather) there will be crowds at Coldwater. If you live in the area and want to visit, just be aware of early morning weather (potential fog) and animals on the road. Rangers are reporting quite a bit of elk on the road in early morning.

The Johnston Ridge Observatory (closest to the volcano and where the VolcanoCam sits) is normally closed this time of the year. The JRO normally opens in mid-May (weather permitting) on or near the anniversary date of the 1980 eruption. As of today, there is no firm date for a 2005 reopening of the JRO for obvious reasons. My personal view it it will reopen this year, however, safety is the prime decider in its reopening.

[Duckster]

@Boyo Jim

Thanks for your original thread, which lead me to the camera. I check out the view almost every day from work, and occasionaly I look at it before local sunrise. There was a glowing spot visible for several weeks straight in the predawn hours that was not visible in daytime.

The spot has disappeared from view over the last few weeks, but the new dome growing inside the old one does seem substantially larger in the same time frame.

The glow is only visible at night when the limited IR capabilities of the VolcanoCam come into play. If you haven’t seen a glow at night, chances are this is because there hasn’t been any exposed new magma to be picked up by the VolcanoCam (notwithstanding my comments posted immediately above).

And let me add my thanks fro the update as well. I am relieved to be far enough away that, even if it blows violently, I’ll just see some beautiful sunlight effects.

There is no evidence that Mount St. Helens will blow violently anytime soon. Current gas emissions indicate the magma is gas poor. Of course, just when you are not looking …

BTW, I recall reading somewhere that large volcanic ejections to the atmosphere could affect world climate, kind of like a “nuclear einter” scenario. Anybody looking into whether enough volcanoes might cancel out the industrial stuff alleged to be causing global warming?

The 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines did generate enough into the atmosphere to change the average world temperature. From the USGS web site:

The June 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo was global. Slightly cooler than usual temperatures recorded worldwide and the brilliant sunsets and sunrises have been attributed to this eruption that sent fine ash and gases high into the stratosphere, forming a large volcanic cloud that drifted around the world. The sulfur dioxide (SO2) in this cloud -- about 22 million tons -- combined with water to form droplets of sulfuric acid, blocking some of the sunlight from reaching the Earth and thereby cooling temperatures in some regions by as much as 0.5 degrees C. An eruption the size of Mount Pinatubo could affect the weather for a few years.

A similar phenomenon occurred in April of 1815 with the cataclysmic eruption of Tambora Volcano in Indonesia, the most powerful eruption in recorded history. Tambora’s volcanic cloud lowered global temperatures by as much as 3 degrees C. Even a year after the eruption, most of the northern hemisphere experienced sharply cooler temperatures during the summer months. In parts of Europe and in North America, 1816 was known as “the year without a summer.”

Source: USGS Web Site

[Viscera]

@Duckster

More importantly, and for the first time, a NOAA weather satellite also captured the IR signature from space. That image is also available from the same link. What is significant about the NOAA satellite image is that its pixelation size is about 4 sq km per pixel. The IR signature overwhelms three of the pixels.

Hi Duckster, do you know which satellite it was?