gods_fist

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...on/9793152.htm

Mount St. Helens volcano warning level raised

BY SANDI DOUGHTON

The Seattle Times

SEATTLE - (KRT) - Federal scientists raised the volcano warning at
Mount St. Helens to the equivalent of an orange alert Wednesday, as
earthquake intensity increased and preliminary measurements showed
magma may be moving into the crater.

Volcanic explosions could occur at any time, and an eruption that
spews rock and ash up to three miles from the crater is possible, said
Cynthia Gardner, of the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascades Volcano
Observatory. A larger eruption is also possible, but not likely,
scientists said.

Because the area around the volcano is uninhabited, the risk to human
life and property is low, said USGS geologist Dan Miller.

"I can't imagine a small to moderate eruption having an impact on
people or property," Miller said at a briefing Wednesday.

It's also possible the volcanic activity will die out, Gardner added.

"At this point, we're saying there's a heightened possibility of an
eruption," she said. "We're not guaranteeing you an eruption."

Overnight, the pace of earthquakes beneath the volcano more than
doubled, to about four a minute, said USGS seismologist Seth Moran.
The size of the shaking also intensified, with several quakes
registering at magnitude 2 to 2.5 - strong enough to be felt by
somebody who was standing in the crater. Previously, most of the
earthquakes ranged from magnitude 1 to 1.5.

A monitor installed Monday on the small dome inside the volcano's
crater also detected about two inches of upward bulging over the past
12 hours.

That means magma is almost certainly moving into the dome, making an
eruption more likely.

Seismograph printouts at the University of Washington show how much
things have changed at Mount St. Helens in the space of a few days.

Early last week, the pages were blank, except for an occasional, tiny
blip. Tuesday, they were almost solid black, each dark scrawl
representing another small earthquake from beneath the volcano.

"It's continuous," said University of Washington seismologist Steve
Malone. "We know there's a lot of rock breaking, and sooner or later
something's got to give."

When it does, the result could be small explosions or eruptions,
possibly accompanied by an outpouring of lava onto the 925-foot dome
that has built up in the crater since the volcano's massive eruption
in 1980, scientists say.

But the fact that volcanic gases are not escaping from the mountain in
high levels means that fresh magma has not been welling up from deep
underground, said Willie Scott, a volcanologist at the volcano
observatory. And in the absence of new magma, any eruption will not be
major.

"That makes us think we're not in a situation where, imminently, we
could have a large, sustained, explosive eruption," Scott said.

Field crews spent the day Tuesday placing instruments around the
volcano to measure any bulging that would be expected if magma does
begin to move upward. Some of the instruments will deliver continuous,
real-time data from fixed stations, while others will be moved around
from place to place, to collect information over as many points as
possible, Scott said.

As recently as last month, instruments already deployed around the
volcano showed no evidence of any bulging, Scott said. In the two
months before the May 18, 1980, eruption, the mountain's northern
flank bulged outward more than 200 feet.

Convinced the volcano was already going off Tuesday, many people
around the region called the volcano observatory to report what they
thought were eruption plumes. What they really saw were wisps of
clouds or dust from rockfalls in the crater, Scott said.

State and regional emergency planners participated in a conference
call with scientists Tuesday to get an update on the volcano's status


landslide in recorded history.

Although the plan has been updated in recent years, some of those on
the conference call couldn't remember where their copies were, Malone
said.

"It's been awhile," he laughed.

Scientists say any hazards from a small explosion, eruption or mudflow
would be confined to the mountain's unpopulated flanks.

However, it's likely the mountain also will throw up an ash plume,
which could kill the engines of any aircraft flying in the area, Scott
said. If a plume occurs, the volcano observatory would notify the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal
Aviation Administration, which would reroute air traffic away from the
drifting plume.

Mount St. Helens has rumbled several times since 1980, with thick,
pasty magma pouring out and creating the lava dome that now sits
inside the lopsided crater. The last lava outpouring was in 1986.

bob harrington

And us good ol' Blue State folks are just waitin' to kiss our ash
hello...

gods_fist

St. Helen's is in a Red District in a battleground state, and downwind
for 1,000 miles is nothing but RED. You Bush-people are SOOOO dumb you
can't see god hates your mass-murder-for-oil guts.

Likewise the earthquakes are in the Red Zone of the Blue California,
as was the great fires of 2003.

Got another storm brewing south of Haiti right now. Guess God don't
like voodoo anymore than voodoo economics.

bob harrington

Hoo boy...