Images

Monitoring and upgrading ground-based sensor networks at the most active volcano in the Cascades is an on-going process. Crews made significant modifications to a seismic monitoring station on the southwest flank of Mount St. Helens, greatly improving its operability in winter.

Crater Glacier, located inside the crater of Mount St. Helens, continues to move at an average rate of about 11 cm per day (4.3 inches). During warm weather months, meltwater creates erosional channels on the crater floor.

Monitoring stations need to be portable. Weighing about 500 pounds, this "swing set" structure can be airlifted into place or moved, as volcano monitoring needs change. An additional 1,000 pounds of equipment will need to be added to make the station fully functional.

A survey base station is established using a RTK-GPS receiver with mobile units to collect data points in and around the crater. Information will be used to monitor surface changes, deformation, erosion and aggradation inside the crater. This type of technology is precise to the centimeter. View to the south, toward Crater Glacier and the lava domes.

Fieldwork includes direct observations of changes to streams and stream beds to determine how changes will affect the downstream transportation of sediments. Here, the braided North Fork Toutle (left) joins Carbonate Springs Creek (right). View to the east.

The vehicle-based UV spectrometer is routinely driven beneath the summit and East Rift Zone gas plumes to measure sulfur dioxide gas emissions during typical trade-wind conditions.

View of upper Loowit Canyon shows where Crater Glacier is spilling into the canyon (dark gray) and where an earth flow deposit (medium gray lobe inside canyon) occurred in early summer. View to the south.

Visitors watching an eruption of Old Faithful Geyser from the Old Faithful Inn's balcony.

Mount Rainier is the backdrop for Eatonville, Washington.

Visitors stand on the observation deck at Johnston Ridge Observatory at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.

Educators hiking at Mount Rainier with CVO and NPS staff during a training at Mount Rainier, Washington.

The Hawaii County Fire Department captured this image of Isaac Hale Park and boat ramp during their overflight of the area late this afternoon.

The CVO Sediment Laboratory works closely with scientist in providing authentic and reliable data to support their research.

Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes (CSAV) students Javier Pacheco (Costa Rica) and Syegi Kunrat (Indonesia) participate in field studies at Mount St. Helens.

Several birds take a closer view of the ocean entry. Narrow streams of lava were battered by the surf as they poured into the water.

Burned area within the Yarnell Hill Fire near Yarnell Arizona.

The ocean entry at Kupapa‘u Point remains active, with several lava steams entering the water creating a moderate plume.

USGS scientists Jeff Cordova and Fletcher Brinkerhoff conducting LiDAR scans and a GPS survey within the burned area of the Yarnell. 

USGS scientists Jeff Cordova and Fletcher Brinkerhoff set up the LiDAR and GPS equipment to survey a burned watershed within the Yarnell Hill Fire.

Island residents are encouraged to practice "Drop! Cover! Hold on!" during the Great Hawaii ShakeOut drill at 10:17 a.m. on October 17, 2013. Taking these actions during an earthquake will greatly reduce your risk of injury or death. For more information, please visit http://shakeout.org/hawaii/.

At Mount Baker, Washington, observers noted continuing landslide activity in the upper Middle Fork Nooksack drainage that resulted in small debris flows and muddy floods. Scientists from multiple agencies and institutions coordinated observations, surveying, and sampling to gain an understanding of the situation.