|
|
That's what we get for not signing that darn Kyoto Treaty. |
Posted on 10/03/2004 11:21:25 AM PDT by tbeatty
Experts Detect Tremor at Mount St. Helens
2 hours, 9 minutes ago U.S. National - AP
By DAVID AMMONS, Associated Press Writer
MOUNT ST. HELENS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Wash. - Scientists detected a volcanic tremor at Mount St. Helens early Sunday, just hours after officials raised the volcano's alert level, cleared hundreds of visitors from the area and warned a major eruption was imminent.
AP Photo
Reuters Slideshow: Mount St. Helens Erupts
Sunday's tremor lasted about 25 minutes and was milder than the 50-minute tremor that followed a steam release Saturday, said Jeff Wynn, chief scientist for volcano hazards at the U.S. Geological Survey (news - web sites)'s Cascade Volcano Observatory.
"It just means that what's been happening is still happening" and the volcano is moving toward an additional eruption, Wynn said.
Scientists expect the impending blast to be much smaller than the May 18, 1980 explosion that killed 57 people and coated much of the Northwest with ash. But the tremors and steam detected since quake activity began Sept. 23 signaled more seismic energy than at any point since the 1980 explosion.
The volcano alert was raised to Level 3, which "indicates we feel an eruption is imminent, or is in progress," said U.S. Geological Survey geologist Tom Pierson. He said Saturday afternoon that an explosion probably would happen within the next 24 hours.
On Friday, the volcano spewed a plume of steam and ash thousands of feet into the air, but there was a scant release of steam Saturday — a puff of white cloud, followed by a dust-raising landslide in the crater. A volcanic tremor signal that came next was what prompted the heightened alert level, and scientists detected elevated levels of volcanic gases later in the day.
Hundreds of visitors at the building closest to the volcano — Johnston Ridge Observatory five miles away — were asked to leave Saturday. Some relocated several miles north to Coldwater Ridge Visitors Center, which officials said was safe.
People pitched tents alongside park roads and spent the night waiting to see what the rumbling volcano would do. Saturday was the busiest day ever at visitors' centers on the mountain, with thousands of people packing buildings, crowding parking lots and sitting alongside roads in lawn chairs.
Barbara Jardin, 53, of Camas, said she saw the plume at midday and was afraid she'd miss something if she left the area. "I just stare at it and stare at it. It's too awesome to leave," she said.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton, who flew over the mountain Saturday, said the seismic activity has weakened the 1,000-foot lava dome that began forming in the volcano's crater after the 1980 eruption.
"The greatest concern at this point is an ash plume and the spread of ash itself that might come from an explosion," Norton said. "This is a concern for aircraft travel."
Saturday's tremor lasted about an hour before it was drowned out by a series of earthquakes — one or two a minute, with a maximum magnitude of "well over 2," said Tom Yelin, a USGS (news - web sites) seismologist at the University of Washington's seismic laboratory in Seattle.
The growing consensus among scientists is that new magma is probably entering the volcano's upper levels, bringing with it volatile gases that could lead to eruptions, said Bill Steele at the University of Washington lab.
Late Saturday, scientists flew past the volcano to measure its emissions. USGS spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna said for the first time in this Volcano Alert the instruments are detecting elevated levels of carbon dioxide, which escapes as magma rises toward the surface from the Earth's interior.
The increasing rate at which a volcano releases gases like CO2 and sulfur dioxide reflects changes in the volume of magma rising within its reservoir. Scientists at the rim of the volcano smelled hydrogen sulfide, similar to rotten eggs, Wynn said.
The USGS said explosions from the crater could occur without warning, possibly throwing rock onto the flanks of the volcano. Still, scientists said the evacuation of the observatory was primarily a precaution in case of heavy ash, which could make it difficult to drive.
"We still feel the risk is confined to this area," Pierson said.
No communities are near Mount St. Helens; the closest, Toutle, is 30 miles west. Few people live near the mountain, the centerpiece of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest about 100 miles south of Seattle.
The 1980 blast obliterated the top 1,300 feet of the volcano, devastated miles of forest and buried the North Fork of the Toutle River in debris and ash as much as 600 feet deep.
Until late Saturday, air sampling had detected only tiny amounts of the volcanic gases that new magma produces, but scientists said the gases could have been sealed inside the system or have been dissolved by water on the mountain. The volcano holds a 600-foot-deep glacier and has received several inches of rain recently.
Melting of the glacier could trigger debris flows down onto the barren pumice plain at the foot of the mountain, the USGS said, noting a "very low probability" that downstream communities would be affected.
Mount St. Helens...an SUV for the ages!
And...if/when she blows, there will be more greenhouse gasses released than all of human kind has released in the history of the planet...
And it's all Bush's fault too. :)
Damm Bush! If only Algore had won!
At least it wasn't Helen Thomas.
Al Gore has contacted John Edwards and Robert Kennedy Jr. to prepare a class action suit against God!
--and I remain sorely disappointed that the green movement has done nothing about Mt. Erebrus, which last I heard was still spilling 500 tons a day or so of hydrogen chloride over Antarctia---
|
|
That's what we get for not signing that darn Kyoto Treaty. |
Famous last words.
But John Kerry has a plan! And summits!
"Damm Bush! If only Algore had won!"
Then it would probably release whore house gasses!
It's Bush's fault because he didn't sign the Kyoto treaty.
Put a cork in it.
Wonder what the penalty will be for Mount St. Helens under JFKerry's Kyoto treaty?
Ruh Roh, the EPA will be after Miss Helen for sure now!
LOL!...Attack of the Mutant Flies.
Oh, saw the gasses quote and thought this was a Kerry story.
tell the sierra club!! this must stop!!!!
file a complaint with the EPA!! ! LOLLOLOLOLOL
And in the tree hugging NW even!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.